Written By Jonah Bruneau
A huge weekend for Oregon Baseball was capped off Sunday as the Ducks completed a three-game series sweep at home against the Utah Utes, who held a solid 11-4-1 record coming into the weekend. The Ducks were able provide plenty of offense once again Sunday, which helped lead to a 7-2 victory on a crisp and overcast early afternoon inside PK Park. This is now Oregon's second series sweep this season, with the first coming against St. John's back in February. However this sweep seems to have more meaning and impact, coming against a talented PAC-12 opponent. Between both Stanford and Utah, the Ducks are now 5-1 in their conference.
Junior Caleb Sloan got the start in Sunday's series finale, an unfamiliar position for him as it was just his second start of the season. Sloan has become a staple in the bullpen for the Ducks, but Head Coach Mark Wasikowski has made it visually clear that he wants to see adaptability this season from the pitching staff of the Ducks. The stat line for Sloan looks solid as he went 3.2 innings, giving up four hits and allowing two earned runs while striking out four. The struggle for Caleb was walks, as he allowed five batters on base off walks, including two hit batters as well. Logan Mercado, who was credited with the win, came in for relief in the top half of the 4th inning and inherited a bases loaded jam left by Sloan. Mercado walked the first batter he faced which brought home the runner from third, but was able to strikeout Alex Baeza to avoid further damage. With the score standing at 2-2 at this point, the Ducks' bats came to life as Sophomore Anthony Hall took Utah starter Cam Day deep to right-center field for a lead off home run. Later in the inning with Sophomore Josiah Cromwick on base, Junior Tanner Smith did his best Anthony Hall impression with his own added twist as he sent a blast over the right field fence for a two-run home run. From there, Oregon held control over the rest of the game. On the mound, the Ducks had seven different pitchers throughout the game. Following the two runs credited to Caleb Sloan, Oregon's bullpen held strong in shutting out Utah and recording eight strikeouts.
Oregon now looks ahead to a very competitive week of play as they will travel to Spokane, Washington for a one-game series against the 14-4 Gonzaga Bulldogs beginning at 3:00 PM PT on Tuesday March 22. Then the Ducks will head back home to Eugene to host a three-game weekend series against the currently 12-6 USC Trojans starting on Friday March 25.
Audio Story
Coach Wasikowski Post Game
Anthony Hall Post Game
Tanner Smith Post Game