EUGENE, Ore. – Rutgers baseball used a dominant outing from Landon Mack and a pair of big innings to beat No. 9 Oregon 8-0 on Saturday afternoon at PK Park in Eugene.
The Scarlet Knights (10-13, 2-3) were propelled by seven shutout innings from the true freshman Mack, while the offense scored three in the third and four in the seventh to overpower the Ducks (18-5, 6-2) and even the series.
In total, three true freshman in Landon Mack (7.0 IP), Hunter Hoxie (0.1 IP) and Luke Fithian (1.2 IP) combined for a two-hit shutout against a team in Oregon that entered the weekend leading the Big Ten and ninth in the country in runs scored.
Strong pitching from both sides had the game scoreless going into the top of the third. A hit-by-pitch and single put on a pair for Ty Doucette, who launched his team-high fifth home run of the season to give RU a 3-0 lead.
With his offense giving him a cushion, Mack settled in and dominated the Ducks lineup. After a leadoff single in the first, Mack went on a run to retire 18 straight Oregon hitters, including four strikeouts. He emptied the tank in the seventh, working around a double and hit-by-pitch to get a strikeout and flyout to end the frame and his outing. In total, Mack threw seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits while walking none and striking out four. It was his second straight scoreless outing after throwing six shutout last week in the win over Cal Baptist.
Peyton Bonds led off the fifth with a walk and scored after a productive groundout from RJ Johnson Jr. to make it 4-0.
The Scarlet Knights all but put the game away in the seventh with a four-spot. Brennan Hyde ripped an RBI single into left to score one and Nick Tomasetto came around to score as well after the left fielder kicked the ball away. Yomar Carreras followed with a two-out, two-run double to make it 8-0.
Hunter Hoxie came in and got the first out of the eighth inning. After two Ducks reached, Luke Fithian came in and got a pair of flyouts to end the threat. Fithian remained in the game and threw a 1-2-3 ninth, punctuating the victory with a strikeout to close it out.
Notes
- Trevor Cohen recorded his ninth multi-hit game of the season and his fourth multi-hit game in just five Big Ten contests.
- Yomar Carreras recorded his fourth multi-hit game of the season and second straight.
- Brennan Hyde tied a season-high with three hits and had his third multi-hit effort of the season.
- Matt Chatelle recorded his second multi-hit game of the season.
- Nick Tomasetto recorded his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
- Rutgers recorded its second shutout of the season and second in the last two weeks.
- After retiring 13 straight against Cal Baptist, Landon Mack now has back-to-back weeks with at least 13+ consecutive batters retired.
- Landon Mack has an active streak of 13.1 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to March 8 against Iowa.
- The Rutgers defense has not committed an error in its last 11 games, raising its fielding percentage to a Big Ten-best .984.
Career Highs
The series finale and rubber match between Rutgers and Oregon is set for 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.
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