Oregon’s bullpen, its undoing in the postseason for several years, melted down in both ends of a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Ohio State — the worst Power Four baseball team in the country this season.
The No. 10 Ducks blew a four-run lead in the final three innings, falling 11-10 to open Saturday. Then a four-run eighth inning sent the last-pace Buckeyes to an 8-6 win to cap the afternoon at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus.
It’s the first two conference wins of the season for Ohio State (8-16, 2-7 Big Ten), which entered the weekend No. 205 in RPI, worst among Power Four teams.
Oregon (20-7, 8-4) drops to third in the Big Ten and has six losses in Quadrants 3 and 4.
Five relievers combined to allow six runs, five earned, in the first game of the day.
The Ducks scored the first four runs via an Anson Aroz sacrifice fly and three-run home run by Maddox Molony.
The Buckeyes tied it at 4 after two, then Aroz hit a three-run homer to put UO back in front. Ohio State got within 7-6 after four, then Molony hit a two-run homer in the fifth.
Jacob Walsh led off the seventh with a shot to make it 10-6.
But in the bottom of the seventh Santiago Garcia walked three and threw three wild pitches to allow one run to score and a wild pitch by Jason Reitz plated a second run.
A throwing error got Ohio State within 10-9 in the eighth, then Matthew Graveline hit a two-run single to right off Cole Stokes to give OSU the lead.
Garcia allowed two runs on three walks over 1.1 innings. Reitz (0.2 IP) allowed one walk, Jaxon Jordan (0.2 IP) allowed tow runs on one hit and one hit batter and Stokes (1-1) allowed one run on one hit and one hit batter in 0.1 IP.
In the second game of the day, Ohio State led 4-1 after three, then Molony tied it with a three-run home run.
The Ducks took a 5-4 lead in the sixth on a fielding error, but the bullpen could not hang on.
With one on and out out in the eighth, Kellan Knox hit a batter and issued a walk to load the bases. Lee Ellis tied the game with a sacrifice fly, then Tyler Pettorini hit a three-run home run to put Ohio State back in front.
Knox allowed three run on one hit, one walk and a hit batter over 1.0 IP and Michael Meckna (3-1) allowed one run on one hit over 0.2 IP.
Molony homered for the fourth time on the day in the ninth, but Blaine Wynk (3.1 IP, one run on two hits and one walk with seven strikeouts) closed out the win for OSU.