If the 2023 Oregon Ducks baseball season opener is any indication on how this year is going to go for Mark Wazikowski’s team, it’s not going to be for the faint of heart.
Alabama transfer Owen Diodati hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth to score fellow newcomer Rikuu Nishida and the Ducks grabbed the season-opening win 3-2 over Xavier.
Oregon was down 2-1 for the longest time as Musketeer starting pitcher Ethan Bosacker was mowing down Ducks left and right. He pitched seven excellent innings, allowing just one run on two hits. But once Xavier dipped into the bullpen, Oregon took advantage with a run in the eighth and the game-winner in the ninth.
These two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday and one more on Sunday to complete the four-game series.
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- Owen Diadoti put the Ducks on the board early on with a run-scoring double down the left-field line for the 1-0 first-inning lead.
- Xavier starter Ethan Bosacker buckled down after that as he retired 17 straight Ducks before allowing a single to Tanner Smith in the seventh inning. He wasn’t the loser of the game, but Bosacker, who missed the entire 2022 season due to injury, deserved a better fate.
- Carter Hendrickson put the Musketeers on the board with a homer in the third. Xavier took the lead on a double play groundout in the fifth.
- It was the fifth where the Ducks can put to and saw that was here momentum changed. Reliever Jacob Hughes walked the bases loaded on 13 pitches. But thankfully for him and Oregon, he coaxed Andrew Walker to hit into a double play. Although the run scored, Xavier’s rally was halted and the Ducks were down by just a run at the end of the inning, an inning that could have been far worse.
- It wasn’t until the eighth that Oregon tied things up. Josiah Cromwick doubled to begin the inning off of reliever Bryce Barnett. After a flyout, Xavier gifted the Ducks a run on second baseman Jared Cushing’s error. He led the ball go right through the legs and Cromwick scored.
- In the ninth, Nishida singled, Drew Cowley and Smith both followed with walks before Diodati’s heroics.
- Owen Diodati: 1-for-3, double, 2 RBIs
- Josiah Cromwick: 1-for-3, double
- Logan Mercado: 4 IP, 1 run, 2 hits, 7 strikeouts
- Ethan Bosacker (Xavier): 7 IP, 1 run, 2 hits, 6 strikeouts
- Carter Hendrickson (Xavier): 1-for-3, homerun
These two teams are back at it again…
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