Oregon’s bats came alive early in the game to account for three home runs, including a go-ahead three run homer by Tyler Baumgartner, to give the Ducks an 11-7 win over Portland Tuesday afternoon.
As promised, it was pitching by committee for the Ducks, who used five pitchers in nine innings. Cole Wiper got the official start, but only threw two innings. Jared Priestley, Jeff Gold and Darrell Hunter all checked in for two innings apiece before handing the game over to closer Jimmie Sherfy, who shut the Portland bats down, throwing a one-two-three ninth.
Six Oregon players had a multi-hit game, led by Brett Thomas who went 3-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Baumgartner wasn’t far behind, going 2-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Connor Hofmann, J.J. Altobelli and Shaun Chase also chipped in a pair of hits.
Portland struck first in the bottom of the first inning, but the lead wasn’t long lived. The Ducks shot back in the second, scoring three runs on four hits to claim a 3-2 lead. However, Portland came back and tied the game with a run in the bottom of the second.
Turning Point. Baumgartner took the lead back for Oregon in the third inning with his three RBI homer, followed by a solo shot by Chase to give the Ducks a 7-3 lead. Portland struck back in the bottom of the inning with three runs scored, but the Ducks were able to retain their lead.
Oregon put up four insurance runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings while only giving up one more to Portland, coming out with an 11-7 victory.
On the Horizon. Oregon will take on Stanford in a three game series at PK Park this weekend. Game one will kick off at 6 p.m. with projected number one overall draft pick Mark Appel taking the mound for the Cardinal. The starter for Oregon has yet to be announced, but will be either Tommy Thorpe or Cole Irvin.