Oregon Wins Second Game of Civil War
By Brian Spaen
The Ducks grabbed the second game of five games that they will play against their in-state rivals, Oregon State, after hitting the ball early and holding on to a 3-2 victory to even the series.
Oregon (35-14) took a three-run lead in the first inning and it would be all they would need to beat the Beavers (35-11) who had great pitching throughout most of the night. The action all happened against Taylor Starr (4-2) with two outs. After Aaron Payne and Aaron Jones got their outs, Ryon Healy tripled and scored when Brett Thomas doubled. Kyle Garlick would walk, and both Thomas and Garlick would steal their next bases. With both players in scoring position, Ryan Hambright would drive both runs in. Those were just Hambright’s eighth and ninth runs batted in all season.
Starr would finish the night with only 2.2 innings pitched. He surrendered five hits, three earned runs, two walks, but did have three strikeouts. Joey Housey (3-0) would get the win in relief for Oregon, but starter Thomas Thorpe played well in his four innings he pitched facing two less batters than Starr but only giving up one hit and also having three strikeouts.
Oregon reliever, Jordan Spencer, had a good seventh inning but couldn’t get out of the eighth. He gave up two hits and two earned runs before closer, Jimmie Sherfy, was able to come in and seal the deal. Sherfy faced the last nine batters and gave up one hit, two walks, and also had three strikeouts.
The first two meetings are split between the schools and both count as non-conference games. They will meet again in both their season finale series that begin on May 25th. The Pac-12 conference does not have a conference tournament to end the regular season.
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