Oregon Baseball: Ducks Win Over Utah as Thorpe Pitches 7 Hit Free Innings, 6-2
Sophomore Tommy Thorpe had quite the performance on Friday night in Utah. He threw 7 innings of no hit ball and helped the Ducks to a win. Meanwhile, Oregon State lost to Washington State and Stanford topped UCLA. Oregon now stands one game back in the Conference with two to play. Things could get interesting by the end of the weekend.
Press Release from the University of Oregon:
GoDucks.com
SALT LAKE CITY – Tommy Thorpe threw seven hitless innings to lead No. 7 Oregon to a 6-2 Pac-12 Conference win at Utah in Spring Mobile Stadium on Friday night.
Thorpe (7-4) left the game with a 6-0 lead after the seventh. He struck out five and walked five. Tyler Baumgartner led the Ducks going 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Aaron Payne was 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Scott Heineman went 2-for-5 with a run scored. Ryon Healy drove in two runs to push his season total to 50 RBI.
Oregon scored single runs in the second, third and fourth innings to take a 3-0 lead. Josh Graham drove in Heineman, who led off the inning with a single, on a squeeze bunt in the second. Baumgartner led off the second with a double to right-center field and scored on a Healy fielder’s choice. Healy added a RBI single in the third.
The Ducks (44-13, 21-7 Pac-12) added three runs in the sixth to break the game open and take a 6-0 lead. Baumgartner had an RBI single to start the scoring. He drove in Connor Hofmann who led off the inning with a ground-rule double to right center. Payne picked up with an RBI on the Ducks’ second squeeze bunt of the game, before Mitchell Tolman single to right scoring Baumgartner.
Utah (20-30, 6-22 Pac-12) cut the lead to 6-2 in the eighth while picking up its only two hits of the game. The Utes committed six errors, with three of them coming on Oregon bunts.
Oregon and Utah will play game two of its series Saturday at 3 p.m. (PT). The Ducks will send freshman Cole Irvin to the mound looking for his 11th win.
Oregon Ducks This Week:
Athlon Sports Preseason Top 25 Has Oregon At #3, Winning Pac 12 NorthOregon Football Announces Kickoff Time For Game At Virginia On September 7th2013-2014 Bowl Schedule Announced, Pac 12 In 6 (Possibly 8)