EUGENE, Ore. – Cesar Salazar hit two home runs to lead the Arizona Wildcats to a 10-4 win over Oregon on Thursday night at PK Park in the opener of a three-game series.
 
Salazar hit a two-run shot in the third inning and then went deep for a three-run home run in the ninth to put the game out of reach and help the Wildcats secure a win in the series opener. The junior catcher finished 3 for 5 with a career-high six RBI and two runs scored. He also threw out his 14^th potential base stealer of the season.
 
The win improved Arizona to 33-21 on the season and 13-15 in Pac-12 play. Oregon fell to 25-28 and 11-17 in the league.
 
Arizona struck first Thursday, plating one run in the top of the first. Cameron Cannon dumped a single into left field with one out and advanced to second on an error by left fielder Taylor Travess. Alfonso Rivas then hit a hard ground ball up the middle that was muffed by second baseman Kyle Kasser, allowing Rivas to reach and Cannon to move to third with one out.
 
Following a strikeout, Salazar delivered a two-out RBI single, singling through the right side to score Cannon and make it 1-0.
 
Cody Deason went to work in the bottom half of the first with a lead and retired the first two men he faced. The Ducks then got back-to-back two-out singles to put two men on with two gone for centerfielder Jonny DeLuca. Deason got DeLuca to ground out to Rivas at first to get out of the inning without any damage.
 
In the second, the Wildcats added another run. Freshmen Jacob Blas and Donta Williams opened the inning with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with no outs. Blas came home to score on a double play to make it 2-0.
 
Oregon got one run back in the bottom half of the inning when Daniel Patzlaff lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Gabe Matthews and cut Arizona's lead in half.
 
But Arizona had a response right away one inning later. Rivas led off the inning with his 15^th double of the season. After a fly out, Salazar blasted a two-run home run to right field to increase the lead to 4-1. It was Salazar's second home run of the season and fourth of his career.
 
Deason tossed a zero up on the scoreboard after Salazar's home run and then his offense got him another run of support in the fourth. Williams opened the inning with a single through the right side and then moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ryan Haug. Cal Stevenson followed with a base hit to center to score Williams and make it 5-1.
 
The Ducks got one run back in the sixth and found themselves with two on and two out against Deason. The right-hander got leadoff man Jakob Goldfarb to hit a shallow fly ball in foul territory past third base. Haug came charging in from left field and made a diving catch against the wall for the final out and keep it a 5-2 game.
 
One inning later, Arizona extended the lead back to four runs when Rivas hit a one-out solo home run to make it 6-2. The home run was Rivas' seventh of the season, tying a career-high.
 
That remained the score until the ninth inning when Nick Quintana came through with an RBI single to make it 7-2. Salazar then hit his three-run shot to make it 10-2 and ice the game. Senior left-hander Jason Seever came in to pitch a perfect ninth and close it out.
 
Williams finished 3 for 5 with a run scored. Stevenson was 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. Rivas was 2 for 5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Deason went six innings, giving up eight hits and two runs. He didn't issue any walks and struck out two to improve to 6-5 on the season.
 
The Cats and Ducks will continue their three-game series Friday night at 7 p.m., on Pac-12 Arizona and Pac-12 Oregon. Michael Flynn will start for the Wildcats. He'll be countered by Kenyon Yovan from Oregon.