#3 Beaver Baseball Slips Up In Eugene, Loses To Oregon Ducks 4-2
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While the excitement certainly lived up to the hype, the small contingent of Beavers fans who made the trip down I-5 to Eugene left PK Park unhappy on Friday night as the No. 13 ranked Oregon Ducks defeated the No. 3 Oregon State Beavers 4-2 in the first of four games the in-state rivals will play.
Nelson Keljo got the start on the mound for the Beavs, ultimately taking the loss and falling to 2-2 on the year.
OSU totaled five hits, compared to four by the Ducks. Neither team was credited with an error.
Grayson Grinsell was the starting pitcher for the Ducks. He had a strong first inning, which was perhaps a sign of things to come for Oregon as he sent down the Beavs in order while striking out Arquette.
Keljo was equally impressive in the first for Oregon State, striking out the side to send things scoreless to the second inning.
It was deja vu in the second inning, with both pitchers retiring the opposing sides in order.
Trent Caraway collected the first hit of the ball game with a double to left field. Aiva Arqutte would bat Caraway home with two gone in the top of the third. With runners on the corners and no outs, Gavin Turley collected an RBI of his own to extend the Beavs lead to 2-0 going into the bottom half of the third.
Keljo got into trouble in the bottom of the third. Mason Neville took him deep for Neville’s 20th long bomb of the season. Nelson Keljo finished the inning collecting a strikeout while keeping the damage to one run.
The Beavs lead was short-lived, as Oregon took it in the bottom half of the fourth and wouldn't give it back the rest of the game. Second baseman Ryan Cooney sent a changeup from Keljo into deep left field for a two-RBI double. There were two outs and two strikes to Cooney when he connected.
Grinsell dominated the top half of the fifth inning and turned things over to the bottom of the fifth with the Ducks nursing a one-run lead. Keljo would get two outs before plunking Jacob Walsh. Beavs coach Mitch Canham immediately went to the bullpen and brought on Eric Segura in relief. Segura walked the first two batters he faced, but would get out of the jam with a pop out.
The Beavers had no answer for Grinsell, who retired the side once again in the sixth. Segura would surrender a hit in the sixth, but a low fastball induced a double play that saved the Beavs and got them out of the inning trailing 3-2 with six full innings played.
Grinsell would retire the side once more in the seventh to turn things over to the bottom half. Jacob Walsh homered off of Segura to give Oregon an insurance run. Segura worked well to get out of the inning and limit the damage to just one.
Both sides went into their bullpens in the final two innings, but the Beavs' bats fell quiet for the final stretch as they would drop this one 4-2. Game two of this four game series will be Saturday afternoon with first pitch slated for 4:05 p.m. PT on Big Ten +.
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Kyle is a 2019 graduate of Southern Oregon University and currently does play-by-play for SOU football and men’s and women’s soccer. He hosts a daily sports show in southern Oregon on The Ace Sports Radio, 107.9 FM and 1300 AM. Kyle also does play-by-play for the Rogue Valley Royals hockey team and the North Medford High School Black Tornado for TableRockSports.net. Kyle lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife and a Dalmatian named Penny.