Jake Reed gave up a few basehits early, but was able to pitch his way out of trouble every time as Oregon took down Arizona 2-1.  Reed scattered six hits in as many innings but was able to settle down and produce ground balls when Arizona threatened.  No ground ball was bigger than the bases-loaded double play that Trent Gilbert hit into. The run still came home to tie the game at one, but Oregon was able to avoid the monster inning.

It was a moral victory for Reed, who has been victimized by the big inning several times in his career. Reed said it was simply a matter of settling down and trusting his defense.

“It’s that easy with JJ Altobelli at short,” he said.

Oregon re-took the lead in the next inning on a RBI double by Tyler Baumgartner before George Horton turned things over to the bullpen. Christian Jones struck out the side in the seventh inning prompting Horton to leave him in the game for the eighth. The original plan was to give Jones—still easing himself back into play after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery—an inning tonight an an inning later in the series, but Horton opted to leave him out there for the extended outing on Friday.

Jimmie Sherfy then slammed the door in the ninth for his seventh save of the year.

The Ducks could have had a little more wiggle room but a baserunning blunder in the fourth inning kept the Ducks off the scoreboard. With runners at first and second and two outs, Scott Heineman and Baumgartner misread the steal signal from the Ducks third base coach leading to Heineman being tagged out at the plate after a long rundown.

Oregon moves to 16-8 with the win, including a 3-1 mark to open conference play.

“It’s a typical Friday Pac-12 conference game,” Horton said. “One or two situations here or there or a couple opportunities cashed in on, it feels good to be on top.”