As he does after every game, head coach Mike White looked at the box score before debriefing with reporters on Friday night. One number caught his eye. The Ducks had just four hits.

Oregon’s eighth-year coach laughed. “Oh well,” he mumbled.

But it turns out four hits were just enough in the No. 4 Ducks’ 4-1 win over No. 12 Washington on Friday at Jane Sanders Stadium. Oregon (37-3, 10-3 Pac-12) bounced back from its first home loss of the season on Thursday.

Megan Kleist pitched her team-leading 11th complete game for the Ducks, giving up one run and five hits while striking out five batters. She improved to 13-1 and lowered her ERA to 1.17.

“She really mixed her speeds and she didn’t let her defense behind her — at times when we did make mistakes — she didn’t let it get to her,” White said. “She trusted her defense in the end and rolled up those double plays.

“It was a very mature effort for her.”

After giving up a run in the first inning, Kleist settled into a groove, allowing the defense to pick her up on a few standout plays. Oregon’s offense got rolling in the third when the Ducks scored three runs, highlighted by a two-RBI Nikki Udria single. Mia Camuso and Alexis Mack scored.

Danica Mercado got the inning started with a base hit. She later scored on an error.

The offensive attack was a weight off Kleist’s shoulders.

“I think it’s really important that you just don’t score a lot in the first inning,” Kleist said. “You have to score all throughout the game to kind of keep the momentum. … It was important that we kept that momentum today. I think that’s what we did.”

Washington (30-10, 7-7) scored its lone run of the game in the first inning after Kleist hit a batter and Camuso committed an error. The Ducks got out of the inning by way of a double play.

“If you dig a hole, you have to fill it back in and get out of it,” White said. “That’s what we did.”

The Ducks added an insurance run in the fifth inning when Mack singled, stole second and then scored on a Washington error.

Washington’s Taran Alvelo got the start for the second consecutive game, pitching three innings and allowing three runs (one earned). She’s thrown 180 pitches over the two games.

White said he’s looking forward to seeing his squad improve its approach at the plate. The Ducks have struggled on offense in the last five games, save for a 11-run effort in the series finale at UCLA.

“We still chased some bad pitches,” White said. “So I want to see us improve on that. But again, I thought we swung the bats better off two very good pitchers.”

Jenna Lilley, who went 1 for 4 at the plate, had an impressive grab in the top of the fifth inning to get Kleist out of a jam. The Huskies had the tying run at the plate with two outs.

“As I said all year, she hasn’t let her offense — which is struggling a little bit — but it hasn’t hurt her defense,” White said. “She’s playing great for us.”

Oregon goes for the series win on Saturday at 12 p.m. on Pac-12 Network.

Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne

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