Ducks title hopes dashed with loss at Cal
BERKELEY, Calif. — Oregon saw its hopes of a Pac-12 Conference title end on Friday night at California with a 10-3 loss at Evans Diamond.
How It Happened: Like game one of the series, Oregon got off to a fast start. The Ducks scored three in the top of the first, one more than on Thursday night.
Kenyon Yovan started the rally with a single of the left field wall and moved to second on a throwing error when Cal shortstop Keshawn Ogans threw it away trying to throw behind Yovan after a big turn at first.
Aaron Zavala walked and Gabe Matthews singled to left-center to load the bases. Josh Kasevich picked up where he left off in game one. The Ducks' shortstop, who had three RBI on Thursday, delivered a two-run single to put the Ducks on top. After an Anthony Hall walk, Sam Novitske jumped on the first pitch he saw and flew out to right field allowing Matthews to score for a 3-0 lead.
Cal (29-25, 15-14 Pac-12) took control from there. The Golden Bears cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the inning before exploding for six runs, on two 3-run homers, in the bottom of the fifth before adding two more in the sixth. Cal tacked on a run in the eighth as well.
Oregon (36-14, 19-10 Pac-12) had a chance to extend the lead before Cal broke it open. The Ducks loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Kasevich and Hall both flew out to center to end the threat.
Inside the Box Score: Zavala (1-for-3, R, BB, HBP) tied the Oregon single-season walks record with his first inning base on balls … It was his 48th of the season, tying Guy Krause (1972) … Zavala reached base three times putting his conference best OBP at .537 … Kasevich (2-for-4, 2 RBI) extended his hitting streak to 13 games, tying Brett Thomas (2013), Ryon Healy (2013) and Danny Pulfer (2011) for the fifth longest in modern-era Oregon history … Kasevich moved into the team lead in multi-RBI games with 16 while also tying Spencer Steer (2019) and Healy (2013) for the most in a single-season at Oregon … He also moved into a tie for the team lead in RBI with 48, the fourth most ever in a single season at Oregon … Tanner Smith (2-for-4, BB) started his 97th consecutive game.
Up Next: Oregon and Cal both wrap up their regular seasons with a 12:05 p.m. first pitch on Saturday. The game originally scheduled for 1 p.m. was changed on Friday to accommodate Oregon's travel plans home. Brett Walker (6-2, 3.84) will pitch for the Ducks while Grant Homan (1-3, 3.61) is scheduled to throw for Cal.