Tyler Baumgartner hit his first home run of the season and Oregon baseball (27-10, 7-5 Pac-12) came from behind to win 6-5 and complete the sweep of UC Riverside.
Baumgartner’s solo shot was the first of two runs the Ducks scored in the sixth inning to tie the score at three. Baumgartner hit a towering fly ball down the right field line that easily cleared the fence. What was unclear was which side of the foul pole it crossed. First base umpire Mike Whitty originally called it foul, but after an all-umpire conference, the call was reversed.
“I didn’t know if it was fair or not,” Baumgartner said. “Off the bat it looked like it was going to hook foul but it stayed fair.”
Oregon head coach George Horton asked the umpires to get together.
“I saw that it was close, then when I came out I saw (assistant coach) Brett (Hambright’s) reaction,” Horton said. “I think with the reversal of the call they got the call right.”
Mitchell Tolman followed Baumgartner with a double and scored on J.B. Bryant’s pinch-hit single four batters later.
In the seventh, Baumgartner hit a one-out double and Tolman was plunked to put two on. Kyle Garlick doubled to right-center on a 3-0 fastball, scoring both runners, and advanced to third on the throw home. The big hit gave Oregon its first lead since 1-0 in the first.
“I was just looking for a fastball, something up in the zone,” Garlick said. “I knew he had a pretty good breaking ball and he threw it a couple times in the dirt and then got to 3-0 and (coach Mark Wasikowski) gave me the green light. I just took a good swing at it … 3-0 is an automatic take unless you get the green light so I was pumped when he gave me (the green light).
Horton said Garlick handled a 3-0 count like a trained professional.
“Coach (Wasikowski) let Garlick hit 3-0 and he stayed short, used the right-center gap like a trained professional,” Horton said. “A lot of times when you let young hitters hit 3-0 they get sloppy, they get long, try to hook and think about the spectacular at-bat and (Kyle’s) was spot on. That might have been the difference in the game.”
Catcher Shaun Chase perfectly executed a squeeze bunt to score Garlick from third and increase Oregon’s lead to 6-3.
With two outs in the ninth, Highlanders first baseman Francisco Tellez hit a two-run homer to right-center off closer Jake Reed to keep Riverside’s hopes alive. Reed got Nick Vilter to pop out to end the game.
Freshman Trent Paddon made his first Oregon start and lasted four innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Paddon ran into trouble in the fourth. After throwing eight consecutive strikes, Paddon hit David Andriese and gave up a double to Matthew Ellis, giving Riverside runners on second and third. Drake Zarate singled home both runners, giving the Highlanders their first runs of the ballgame.
Paddon was yanked after one batter in the fourth but pitched well enough to earn another Sunday start if Matt Krook is still injured, according to Horton.
“Was I pleased with him? Yeah. He was walking the tightrope a little bit and they were getting pretty good swings so we had (Jordan) Spencer fresh and I thought that was enough for him … Hopefully, he can build on that and get deeper into the game next weekend.”
That being said, Horton recognized room for improvement in his young hurler, noting that “his secondary pitches weren’t too sharp.”
“I think a lot of the time I would throw two of my better pitches and get two strikes then I would have count leverage and I would throw not as good quality of a pitch and they really punished me today on my pitches that weren’t quality,” Paddon said.
Spencer, Darrell Hunter (3-1), Porter Clayton and Reed combined to pitch the final six innings.
Aaron Payne scored Oregon’s first run in the bottom of the first on Tolman’s RBI single after he was hit my a pitch and stole second. The steal was Payne’s 40th in his Oregon career, tying Donnie Reynolds for the school record.
The Ducks host San Diego (25-10, 10-4 West Coast Conference) for one game on Monday afternoon before welcoming Washington State to town for a Thursday-Saturday three-game set.
Follow Madison Guernsey on Twitter @guernseymd