After a promising opening weekend of baseball in Lubbock, the Ducks opened up at home against the Saint Mary’s Gaels, a team fresh off a four-game sweet against Washington State. The first four innings featured a pitching dual between a pair of juniors who refused to give up a run. Oregon’s Cole Stringer only allowed three hits in six innings of work, but one of those hits was a double by Kevin Milam that brought Joe Vranesh home for the game’s first run. This was the only run Stringer gave up, having also tallied six strikeouts and two walks to his total line.

Saint Mary’s ace Ken Waldichuk looked like he was in mid-season form, striking out eight Duck-batters, including clean-up hitter Gabe Matthews three times. It appeared that Waldichuk was cruising into the sixth, but a walk and two hit-batters later forced him into a jam. Jakob Goldfarb capitalized on a soft single to shallow left field that drove in two runs to give Oregon its first lead.

Oregon threw Christain Ciuffetelli in the 9th, but he could not get the job done as he walked two batters and allowed the tying run home. Oregon responded in the bottom frame, when Tanner Smith hit a sacrifice flyball to right field, scoring Goldfarb and winning the game,

The Ducks could only muster six hits, but only allowed three for the Gaels. Goldfarb accounted for half of Oregon’s hits and was the game-winning run. The Gael’s were led by Joe Vranesh, who tallied a hit and a run in four trips to the plate. The two teams continue the series with a doubleheader on Saturday.

Game Story (by Jonathan Rifkind):

Postgame Audio

Head Coach George Horton

Starting Pitcher Cole Stringer

Left Fielder Tanner Smith

–Jonathan Rifkind