University of Oregon
21-23
UC Irvine
27-18
Big day by Steer and Goldfarb not enough for Ducks
05/05/18 | Baseball
How it happened: Steer crushed the homer over the left-field wall one pitch after what appeared to be a run-scoring double was called foul by third base umpire Chuck Lyon. The homer gave Oregon a 10-9 lead but UCI rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings.
In the 11th, Jesse Hobaica (0-1) walked leadoff batter Mikey Filia who moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and stole third against Peyton Fuller. With one out, Christian Koss delivered a game-winning sacrifice fly scoring Filia.
Oregon (21-23) jumped out to a 6-0 lead with two runs in the first and four runs in the second. Steer put the Ducks on the board first for the second straight day. After homering in the third inning in game one of the series on Friday, Steer doubled in the first to score Jakob Goldfarb and Kyle Kasser.
In the second inning, Oregon sent eight batters to the plate scoring the four runs. Goldfarb came up with the big hit with three RBI on an inside-the-park home run. With two outs and runners on second and third, Goldfarb lifted a ball up the left-field line that neither Koss, the UCI shortstop, nor left-fielder Jake Palmer could reach. Koss dove for the ball, ricocheting the ball past Palmer allowing Goldfarb to score.
Kasser followed Goldfarb's home run with a double with Steer driving Kasser home with his third RBI of the game on a single.
UC Irvine (27-18) cut into the lead in the bottom of the second inning on a Konnor Zickefoose solo home run. The homer was the second in as many days for Zickafoose against the Ducks. The Anteaters added two more to cut the lead to 6-3 on a sacrifice fly by Palmer and a RBI double by Koss.
Goldfarb added to Oregon's lead in the top of the fourth with his fourth RBI of the game, driving in Taylor Travess with a double to left-center field. UCI countered with a run in its half of the inning, another in the bottom of the fifth and three in the seventh to take an 8-7 lead.
Box score notes: Steer was 3-for-5 with a home run, five RBI and a double … Goldfarb went 2-for-3 with four RBI and three runs scored … 1-2-3 in the Ducks order (Goldfarb, Kasser, Steer) combined for seven of Oregon's 10 hits and six of the team's nine runs … UO used eight pitchers, while UCI had seven pitchers throw … The game time of 4:40 was the second longest of the season.
Duck notes: Steer's five RBI were a career high … The last time two Ducks' had four or more RBI was on Feb. 21, 2015, against New Mexico State when Matt Eureste and Austin Grebeck both had five RBI in a 22-7 win … Goldfarb's inside-the-park home run was the first for a Duck since Tim Susnara hit one vs. UCI on April 9, 2017 … Oregon's six runs scored in the first two innings were the most since the Ducks scored 13 (3 in the first, 10 in the second) in a 14-0 win over Seattle on Feb. 27 … Oregon starter Matt Mercer left the game in the bottom of the fifth with a 2-2 count against the leadoff hitter because of an injury … Oregon pitchers hit seven UCI batters which set a school record previously set against UC Santa Barbara on March 5, 2016 … The Ducks are 2-2 in extra-inning games.
On deck: Oregon will look to salvage the series finale at UC Irvine Sunday at noon. Freshman Kolby Somers (1-6, 4.06) will pitch for the Ducks while Trenton Denholm (4-4, 4.56) is scheduled to pitch for UCI.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Anderson, Nick (3-1)
L: Hobaica, Jesse (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Goldfarb, Jakob 1 ; Kasser, Kyle 1 ; Steer, Spencer 1 ; Travess, Taylor 1
HR: Goldfarb, Jakob 1 ; Steer, Spencer 1
RBI: Goldfarb, Jakob 4 ; Steer, Spencer 5
SH: Kasser, Kyle 1 ; Nelson, Ryne 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Goldfarb, Jakob 3 ; Kasser, Kyle 2 ; Steer, Spencer 1 ; Matthews, Gabe 1 ; Soderman, Ray 1 ; Travess, Taylor 1
CS: Goldfarb, Jakob 1 ; Yovan, Kenyon 1
HBP: Goldfarb, Jakob 1
Batting:
2B: Koss, Christian 1 ; Kreuter, Cole 1 ; Coss, Parker 1 ; Filia, Mikey 1
HR: Zickefoose, Konnor 1
RBI: Palmer, Jake 1 ; Johnston, Ryan 1 ; Koss, Christian 2 ; Kreuter, Cole 1 ; Zickefoose, Konnor 1 ; Fitzpatrick, Ryan 2 ; Reitano, Matt 1 ; Damla, Adrian 1
SH: Johnston, Ryan 2 ; Coss, Parker 1
SF: Palmer, Jake 1 ; Koss, Christian 1 ; Kreuter, Cole 1 ; Fitzpatrick, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Palmer, Jake 1 ; Kreuter, Cole 1 ; Zickefoose, Konnor 1 ; Fitzpatrick, Ryan 2 ; Anderson, Nick 1 ; Reitano, Matt 1 ; Castro, Jacob 1 ; Filia, Mikey 2
SB: Filia, Mikey 1
HBP: Palmer, Jake 1 ; Kreuter, Cole 1 ; Zickefoose, Konnor 1 ; Fitzpatrick, Ryan 1 ; Anderson, Nick 1 ; Filia, Mikey 2
