Oregon Ducks Baseball Tops USC 12-8 For Fourth Straight Win

Oregon Starter Cole Irvin regroups to throw seven innings and the Oregon Offense led by Stephen Packard and Travis Moniot led to a series win over USC.

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Cole Irvin did not have his best outing of the season on Saturday against the USC Trojans, but his team mates kept him in the game. Earlier this week when the Starters for the series was announced, there was a switch in the rotation. Typical Friday starter, Irvin was bumped to Saturday and Matt Krook was moved from Saturday to Friday. In making the move Head Coach George Horton appears to have put his best pitcher of the two, of late, in the best position to get not just one win, but two and go for the sweep of the USC Trojans on Sunday.

Irvin gave up a home run in the first inning, followed by a hit that led to a 3-0 lead on the scoreboard in favor of the USC Trojans, but Oregon would battle back. In front of over 2600 fans and their largest crowd of the year the Oregon Ducks put up 7 runs in the second inning cranking out 13 hits in the win and hitting over .400 with runners in scoring position. The lead in the second allowed Irvin to build some confidence and get through the seventh inning for his 17th career win in an Oregon unifrorm.

After another rough start, Irvin settled down and sat down 12 of 14 Trojans to get into the 5th inning. He finished his time on the mound in the 7th throwing a perfect inning to pickup his third win on the year. It was a combination of pitching and hitting that found balance on Saturday for a big 12-8 win over the USC Trojans putting Oregon one game over .500 in Pac-12 play.

Travis Moniot has shown over the last two games that he has brought his bat. He has hit two home runs. On Saturday he made the most of his three at bats with a walk, two hits and an RBI. One of those hits was a home run, following the one he hit on Friday night. It is the kind of production this team has been looking for from the bottom of the order and confidence can only help moving forward with a road trip next week to UCLA.

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The Oregon Ducks will look to take the series on Sunday against USC. First pitch is set for Noon at PK Park.