EUGENE, Ore. –
Chase Anderson hit his first home run at Utah to put the club ahead in the late innings, but Oregon rallied to plate five in the eighth as the Utes fell, 8-6, on Saturday at PK Park.
Three different players had multi-hit efforts for Utah (11-6-1, 2-3 Pac-12), including Anderson (2-for-4),
Davis Cop (2-for-4) and
Landon Frei (3-for-5). Anderson and Frei each scored twice and Anderson tallied his first three-RBI game with the Utes, two coming on his seventh-inning homer.
TJ Clarkson had a base hit to extend his reached base streak to a team-leading and career-best 16 consecutive games, and
Kai Roberts singled and walked to push his own streak to 14 games in a row. Cop now owns a five-game hitting streak as well.
Oregon used the long ball to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Starting pitcher
Randon Hostert worked a quick grounder and fly ball for the first two outs, but Brennan Milone followed up sending the payoff pitch over the left center field wall.
The deficit was short-lived though, as the Utes capitalized on an Oregon error with two outs in the third inning.
Carter Booth reached on the Ducks' miscue, then after a walk to Roberts, Frei dropped a single into left field scoring Booth to level the score at one. Clarkson and Anderson followed with RBI singles to put the Utes in front, 3-1.
Roberts, playing left field, came up with a beautiful diving catch in the fourth inning. Then with outstanding defensive awareness, he sent a laser to
Alex Baeza at first base to double off the Oregon baserunner.
The teams traded runs in the middle frames, with the Ducks leveling the score at three only for Utah to pull back in front, 4-3 in the sixth. Anderson led off the sixth with a walk, advanced to third on Baeza's single, then scored when Cop put a line drive off the third baseman's glove and into left field.
Frei set the stage for Anderson's dinger in the seventh with a one-out single. He stole second base before Anderson worked back from down 0-2 to a full count, clubbing the 3-2 offering to left-center and over the wall.
Hostert went 4.2 innings in a no-decision before being relieved by
Zac McCleve for 2.2 innings. Each allowed three runs and struck out two batters. The loss went to
Ben Kibbe (2-2).
Utah will close out the series with Oregon on Sunday, March 20 in a Noon MT first pitch. The game will be televised on both Pac-12 Mountain and Pac-12 Oregon.
Follow Utah baseball on social media (@utahbaseball).