Ducks Drop Opening Weekend Finale

Sunday, February 18

Arlington , Texas

12:30 PM

University of Oregon

2-1

Texas Tech

2-1

Oregon

Texas Tech

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

02/18/24 | Baseball

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Oregon fell in an early hole to Texas Tech on Sunday and lost 11-7 despite four-hit days from Drew Smith and Carter Garate.

By: Rob Moseley

ARLINGTON, Texas — An early deficit was too much to overcome for the Oregon baseball team Sunday, when the Ducks lost 11-7 to No. 21 Texas Tech and finished 2-1 in the season-opening Shriners Children's Showdown at Globe Life Field.

The Ducks gave up a six-run second inning, and outscored the Red Raiders the rest of the way. Spurred by four-hit days from Drew Smith and Carter Garate, they pulled within 7-6 in the top of the sixth but couldn't get completely out of the early hole.

"They battled like crazy; I'm proud of the team that I coach," UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. "We didn't do as good of a job as we could have with runners in scoring position (6-for-20); we had guys like crazy out there, plenty of opportunities. You can see how good the club's gonna be. They're super competitive, and we're super good."

The Ducks posted wins over Oklahoma and Baylor earlier in the tournament. They now return to Eugene for their home opener Friday, kicking off a four-game weekend series with Lafayette at PK Park.

"It's a disappointing loss, that's for sure; we always want to win," Wasikowski said. "But at the same point in time, there were some things obviously that you learn a lot when you play against good people, which is great. Lot of positives to take away from this weekend, for sure."

How It Happened: Oregon starter and 2023 postseason hero Turner Spoljaric pitched around a two-out double in the first, but found trouble in the second. After a two-run double got Texas Tech on the board, a walk and a single loaded the bases before a sacrifice fly made it 3-0. Freshman left-hander Toby Twist entered and allowed a three-run homer, before settling in.

After escaping the second without further damage, Twist faced the minimum over the next two innings.

"He did a tremendous job of keeping us in the game, to where we had a chance to win the game," Wasikowski said. "You saw a lot of freshmen out there. I saw a lot of guys competing — nobody backed down. I didn't see anybody with deer in the headlights or anything like that. A lot of positives to take away from that."

Oregon's bats got rolling in the top of the fifth, sparked by the bottom of the lineup. Bryce Boettcher singled to open the inning and Garate followed with a double, on a day the Ducks' No. 8 and No. 9 hitters combined to go 6-for-8 with four runs scored.

Smith plated both in the fifth with a single, and moved up on a walk to Jacob Walsh. The next two Ducks were retired, but Jeffery Heard continued a strong opening weekend with a base hit to score Smith, and Bennett Thompson provided another two-out RBI with a single to score Walsh.

Twist allowed a run in the bottom of the fifth, before Boettcher and Garate reached to open the top of the sixth and scored when Smith singled and took another base on an error. That got the Ducks within 7-6, thanks in no small part to the spark from the bottom of the order.

"That kind of production is fantastic," Wasikowski said. "If you have that kind of production at the bottom of the order and the rest of the order chips in a little bit too, then you walk out of here with three wins. You can say a lot of things though; you don't usually win a lot of games when you give up 11 runs. So there's some things on both sides of the ball that we can try to kind of touch."

Again in the bottom of the sixth, Texas Tech answered an Oregon rally with one of its own, scoring twice before UO freshman right-hander Ryan Featherston came on to get the third out. Thompson tripled to open the seventh and scored on a two-out infield hit by Garate, but again the Red Raiders answered in the bottom half for a 10-7 lead.

Freshman right-hander Collin Clarke made his UO debut in the bottom of the eighth, allowing one run.

Notable: Home plate umpire Mark Winters left the game in the middle of the third inning after taking a foul tip off the mask during the leadoff batter of the game. … Smith's two-run single in the fifth extended his career reached-base streak to 29 games, which includes every game he has had a plate appearance during his career. … Oregon got 11 of its 17 hits from the bottom part of their order (5-9) with six from Boettcher and Garate and four coming from Heard and Thompson. … Garate had a career-high four hits (4-for-4) while reaching base five times (BB). … Boettcher matched a career high with two hits while walking once. … Thirteen Ducks made their program debut during the weekend tournament.

Up Next: The Ducks play their home opener against Lafayette on Friday at 4 p.m.