EUGENE, Ore. — The No. 16 Oregon Ducks returned to PK Park on Friday after a 2-1 loss on Thursday to the No. 17 USC Trojans. After Thursday night's game went into extra innings and ended with USC (42-12, 20-8) defeating the Ducks (36-15, 18-10), both teams hoped to win in the last series of the regular season, which is now even after a 4-3 win over the Trojans.
Oregon's defense started the day strong, with RHP Will Sanford striking out the first three batters. In the bottom of the first, the Ducks were unable to put up any runs, ending the inning 0-0.
USC became the first on the board at the top of the second after a triple by Jack Basser, who was then brought home after a groundout to shortstop by Augie Lopez. After being walked, Andrew Lamb advanced to second after a single by Dean Carpentier, and came home after a single by Walter Urbon. After a groundout to third, the Ducks ended the inning for the Trojans with a score of 2-0.
After going scoreless in the bottom of the second, the Ducks allowed no runs in the top of the second, leaving the score at 2-0. This drought continued for both teams until the top of the fourth.
After a throwing error by USC, Ryan Cooney reached second base in the bottom of the fourth. On a homerun to left field by Brayden Jaksa, Cooney and Drew Smith came home to make the score 3-2.
“All of us go up there with an approach, and to see the other guy succeed, it's the best thing in the world,” Jaksa said. “We all put hours into this, grinding every single day this year.”
During the next at-bat, Naulivo Lauki Jr. scored a solo home run, increasing the Ducks' lead to two.
Oregon entered the top of the fourth with a 4-2 lead and kept the Trojans from scoring. Both teams went scoreless until the top of the eighth inning. After a fielder's choice, Isaac Cadena scored for the Trojans before the Ducks sent it to the bottom of the eighth.
The Ducks went scoreless in the bottom of the eighth, but Oregon ended it in the top of the ninth with a 4-3 win.
As the Trojans and the Ducks head into the last regular season games of the year, both teams look to take the series with the final game on Saturday, May 16th, back at PK Park.
“We're showing up. It's great,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “This is going to be a lot of fun. Obviously, you can tell the two teams are evenly matched, and it's a really competitive series.”