Oregon Baseball: Ducks Continue Offensive Struggles In Loss At Portland

The Oregon Ducks again struggled at the plate despite a better pitching effort on Wednesday at Portland.

Head Coach George Horton has a young team that is learning in key positions. Midweek games are typically games where the usual Starter gets to rest and the Starting Rotation is more of a platoon-style which was the case against the Portland Pilots.

For Portland, Tate Budnick threw five scoreless innings for the win. The Pilots swept the season series with Oregon. A second inning home run by Hunter Montgomery gave Portland an early lead. Pitching took over from there.

The Oregon Ducks were behind from the start giving up two runs in the first three innings. Oregon tied the game in the top of the third inning at 1 run a piece before giving up the winning run in the bottom of the frame. The top of the Ducks lineup was silenced by Portland pitching. Kyle Kasser and Jakob Goldfarb combined for just one hit going 1 for 8 from the plate combined.

Taylor Travess was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two-way player Ryne Nelson had a double. Oregon hit just .133 as a team and were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. This has been an area that has been an issue for the entire season. The Ducks had a two game stretch earlier this month leaving over 30 runners on base through consecutive games.

A bright spot was James Acuna. He closed out the game with two innings pitched, not allowing a hit and striking out three Portland batters in the 2-1 loss.

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The Oregon Ducks return home to PK Park and re-enter Pac-12 Conference play hosting the USC Trojans for three games this weekend. The first game is set for Friday with a 6 pm PT first pitch.