Drew Cowley leads Oregon to 8-5 win over Arizona to complete series sweep
Senior shortstop Drew Cowley was a one-man wrecking crew for Oregon on Sunday.
Cowley went 3-for-5 with two homers, a double, and five RBI to lead the Ducks to an 8-5 win over Arizona at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson. With the win, Oregon (18-7, 6-3 Pac-12) completed a series sweep of the Wildcats (14-12, 3-9).
Tasked with slowing down an Arizona lineup that is stacked with power bats, freshman starter Leo Uelmen delivered one of his best outings of the season. He tossed 4 1/3 innings and struck out three while surrendering one earned run, four walks, and three hits.
Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-4 for the Ducks and improved his season batting average to .326, and Tanner Smith went 2-for-5 with a double.
After winning Saturday night’s game in dramatic fashion with a late-game rally, the Ducks picked up right where they left off on Sunday.
Nishida drew a leadoff walk to start the game and scored two batters later on Ceballos’ single to right to open the scoring.
One inning later, Walsh smashed a solo homer to make it 2-0. That marked Walsh’s eighth homer of the season and his third of the series.
Arizona got a run back in the bottom of the second when Tyler Casagrande lifted a sac fly to deep center to plate Cameron LaLiberte.
But as the afternoon went on, Draw Colwey almost singlehandedly took hold of the game for Oregon.
Cowley crushed a two-run homer in the third inning — his fourth of the year — to make it 4-1. In the seventh inning, he smashed his second dinger of the day to push Oregon’s lead to 7-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski found himself in a prime position with a six-run lead and his two best bullpen arms available. He deployed senior righty Matt Dallas — who entered the day with a 1.25 ERA in 21 2/3 innings this season — to try to face the heart of Arizona’s batting order.
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Dallas gave up a leadoff triple to Nik McLaughry to start the inning. Then Chase Davis and Kiko Romero crushed back-to-back homers, trimming Oregon’s lead to 7-4 in the process.
In the bottom of the eighth, Emilio Corona tagged Dallas for another homer to make it 7-5. Wasiwkoski then turned to Oregon closer Josh Molerus with one out.
Molerus gave up a single to Mac Bingham, who then advanced to second on a wild pitch. McLaughry followed by flying out to right, and Molerus then walked Davis to put the tying run on first.
But Molerus escaped the jam when he got Kiko Romero to strike out looking.
In the top of the ninth, Cowley came through in the clutch once again with a double to score Colby Shade and make it 8-5.
Molerus stayed on in the bottom of the ninth and hit leadoff man LaLiberte. But he bounced back and retired the next three batters to end the game.
Oregon will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Portland for a non-conference matchup at PK Park at 5:05 p.m. PT.
Then, they will begin a three-game set with rival Oregon State Thursday at 7 p.m. PT.
