Under threatening gray skies, cold and damp when the ball won't carry, the Ducks adjusted their game. After bashing teams with the long ball to build a 16-3 record, the Ducks used pitching and defense to hold off Minnesota 4-2 in PK Park Saturday.
Oregon had hit 37 home runs in the first 19 games of the young season (most in the Big Ten by a dozen, in a lineup that hits .325) but today they relied on the leather and smoke. In the fourth inning shortstop Maddox Molony dove for a ball up the middle, scrambled to his feet and threw out the runner at first. In the fifth, catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus gunned down a runner at second. Little league hilarity ensued when the runner slid wide of the bag, got up and started running for third, only he hadn't touched second. Molony applied the tag to erase the runner.
In the 7th, Mabeus completed a strike 'em out/throw 'em out double play as starting pitcher Collin Clark struck out Gopher DH Charlie Sutherland, then his catcher threw a laser strike to second to end the inning.
Minnesota got the tying run to the plate in the 9th trailing 4-2, but second baseman Ryan Cooney erased the threat by completing a double play, fielding a sharply-hit ground ball up the middle, touching second and firing the apple to first, taking a hard slide from big Jake Elbeery but completing the play to end the game. Nails, like a good second baseman should be.
The fortunate son and beast of burden for the Webfoots was sophomore pitcher Collin Clarke, a 6-3, 205 righthander from Irvine, California who gave them seven strong innings on the mound. Clarke struck out eight and walked three, allowing one unearned run in a bulldog effort that eased the burden on a tired bullpen.
Ryan Featherston closed it out over the final two innings. He pitched a flawless 8th, a flyout, a groundout and a K before getting into a jam in the 9th, giving up a leadoff double to Ground Rodent rightfielder Brayden Hellum, who scored on a one-out single by Elbeery. He buckled down, though, getting Jake Perry to ground into the game-ending DP. The two Jakes took it on the nose today.
At the plate, the Ducks took the lead in the 7th when Cooney smashed an RBI double, a hot shot off the glove of the Goph third baseman. He trucked home like Forrest Gump when leadoff hitter Mason Neville followed him with a single for a 3-1 lead. Like a good neighbor, the Ducks added a much-needed insurance run in the 8th when Cooney worked the pitcher for a walk with the bases loaded, his second RBI of the game out of the eight hole.
Oregon goes for the series sweep tomorrow in a game scheduled for 12:05 p.m. PDT, though they went early today. It will be live on radio on the Oregon Sports Network, available on Big Ten Plus TV with an appropriate subscription.