Oregon Ducks Baseball Wins Home Opener vs Illinois State
Oregon Baseball started the season 4-0 and won their home opener on Thursday night against Illinois State.
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The Oregon Ducks baseball team started their season with a three series road sweep over San Deigo State and returned home on Thursday to begin a four game series with Illinois State. The Redbirds come in at 1-2 having also started the season on the road at Belmont. Illinois State did break open one game 23-5 and have travelled across the country to take on the 12th ranked Oregon Ducks.
Oregon would see the bases first and not just see them, but load them as the first three Ducks ended up on base to start the game off Illinois State Starter Jeffrey Barton. Phil Craig-St. Louis came to the plate with just one hit on the season so far. He could boost his stats with one swing of the bat.
Oregon vs Illinois State Statistically Speaking
- Batting: Ducks, .238 Red Birds, .380
- Runs: Ducks 22 Red Birds, 38
- ERA: Ducks, 2.00 Red Birds 9.0
Craig-St.Louis belted a triple to center field clearing the bases and giving Oregon a 3-0 first inning lead. There were still no outs in the inning. Travis Moniot would walk later in the first inning to again load the bases with Oregon Ducks. It was already 4-0 and with Daniel Patzlaff coming to the plate George Horton’s team batted a round in the first inning.
Oregon would finally strike out following a 34 minute 1st inning plating 5 runs on 3 hits and leaving six men on base. The Ducks would have the bases loaded three times in the inning
Illinois State would battle back to score two runs in the Top of the 2nd. The Ducks would find themselves in scoring position again in the bottom of the 3rd inning, but would leave the bases loaded. The Redbirds would waste no time and score a run two runs in the Top of the 3rd to pull within a run of the lead at 5-4.
Carranza would go six innings for Oregon giving up 8 hits and 4 earned runs with 3 strikeouts. Jacob Bennett would come in for the Ducks to pitch the 7th. Illinois State would tie the game with an inside the park homerun in the Top of the 7th. Oregon put three runs on the board in the bottom of the 7th.
Entering the game Illinois State came in hitting at .380, Oregon at .238. Through seven innings on Thursday, the Redbirds were true to form out hitting Oregon .345 to .231. The Ducks game was timely hits, with several coming on bases loaded situations.
Cooper Stiles threw in the 8th and 9th innings to close out the game and secure the 8-5 win for the Oregon Ducks.
Next: Chris Boucher Leads Oregon To Win Over Washington State
Game two of the four game series is set for Friday at 6pm at PK Park.