Mitchell Tolman propelled Oregon baseball to an 8-2 win over Portland with six RBIs on three hits Tuesday night at PK Park. He slugged 1.000 on the night.
“I don’t know what it is, but when season time comes, I feel like something clicks for me,” Tolman said after the game. “Hitting is so contagious, and that just fuels me, and all the other guys.”
Freshman Jacob Corn introduced himself with a dominant outing on the mound, allowing seven hits in seven innings to earn his first win in his first college start.
“It was delicious,” Corn, who struck out three and gave up just seven hits, said of his performance.
Head coach George Horton was satisfied with Corn’s first start, but identified one area for Corn to improve.
“He may have been guilty of throwing too many strikes at times,” Horton said. “Part of pitching is pitching just outside the strike zone effectively. In a few spots I thought he let them off the hook.”
Horton admitted, however, that there are worse problems he could have.
“For a young pitcher, if he’s throwing too many strikes instead of nibbling at or walking guys, I’ll take that every day of the week.”
Tolman began the scoring in the first inning. He clobbered a double to the fence in right-center that scored Matt Eureste.
In the top of the seventh, Portland showed signs of life with a two-out rally to tie score 1-1. Turner Gill got on with a single up the middle and scored from first when Eric Sapp crushed a double to right-center. Oregon center fielder Nick Catalano juggled the ball on the warning track, allowing Gill to score and Sapp to advance safely to third. Davis Tominaga then scorched a line drive but second baseman Mitchell Torman was there to steal the RBI and end the inning.
The Ducks bounced right back, however, batting ten in the bottom of the seventh to put Portland in a 5-1 hole. Catcher Tim Susnara got things started with a one-out single up the middle and Catalano moved him to third with a crushed double to left. Matt Eureste then yanked a ground ball to the second-baseman with infield in, but the throw was late as Susnara slid safely into home on a bang-bang play. Susnara’s hand got caught on the catcher’s cleat as he slid into home; he left the game with a hand injury after the play.
Mitchell Tolman drove in two more with a single up the middle shortly thereafter to score Eureste and Grebeck, who was hit by a pitch.
Portland put an unearned on the board in the top of the eighth off reliever Joe Reta, but Tolman squashed any remaining hope with a bases-clearing double in the bottom of the eighth to extend the Ducks lead to 8-2. Tolman totaled six RBIs in the game.
The Ducks leave town for a three-game series in Santa Barbara starting Friday at 1:00 p.m.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @kennyjacoby