By Mario Nordi

EUGENE, Ore. – The Ducks originally had the rivalry matchup against the University of Washington scheduled for an outdoor bout, but the weather had a change of mind and moved the match indoors. Oregon practiced throughout the week outdoors in preparation for their first outdoor match at home, yet the move inside had no effect on the Ducks” performance. Oregon started off hot with a sweep in Doubles play earning the team the respective point. The No. 54 ranked Oregon duo of Mathew Burton and Quinn Vandecasteele handed UW’s No. 59 ranked Cesar Bouchelaghem and Dzianis Zharyn a (6-4) loss in their set. Then to close out doubles UO’s Vlad Breazu and Avi Shugar took a swift (6-4) win over UW’s Heman Nama and Ivan Sodan.

When it came to singles play things got tense with UW on the verge of a comeback with the Huskies’ Dzianis Zharyn defeating UO’s David Cierny in only two sets (6-4),(6-1) and UW’s Nedim Suko taking down UO’s Mathew Burton in a three-set thriller (6-2),(1-6),(6-4). But wins from UO’s Ray Lo and Lenn Leumkemann set up Oregon’s Breazu for the win. Breazu closed out his singles match in the third set, winning (6-4) marking a sweep on the season against the Huskies for the Ducks.

Post match Oregon Head Coach, Nils Schyllander, said, “Knowing that Vlad is there (mentally) in the third set, he’s going to get the job done.”

The Ducks will have a “day off and a lot of us ice baths,” said Schyllander as Oregon prepares to take on the Arizona schools next weekend to close out their five-match homestead and an end regular season play. Starting with Arizona State on Friday, April 19 and The University of Arizona on Sunday, April 21

Audio Story by Jason Hardrict

By Isaac Dubey

On a wet and grimy Saturday at PK Park, the Ducks sneaked past USC in the second game of the series 5-3. With a 90 minute delay of first pitch due to rain, Grayson Grinsell started at the mound and had a roller-coaster performance in the first five innings. Grinsell didn’t allow a run in the first two innings, but gave up two runs off his throwing error in the third and allowed a one-run homer in the fourth. However, he ended strong with three consecutive strikeouts in the fifth inning that ended his day.

After Grinsell exited the game, the Oregon infield shined as the Ducks completed double plays to end the seventh and eighth inning. These double plays proved to be instrumental as Oregon hung on to a two-run lead beyond the fourth inning. After the game, Grinsell credited his defense calling them “one of the best in the country.”

With the Ducks down 3-1 Oregon’s only substantial scoring run came as they piled up RBI hits in the fourth inning. As USC’s new pitcher Fisher Johnson stepped up to the mound, Meggers, Molony, and Boettcher all helped Ducks score. The most heroic of the three was Molony’s unselfish sacrifice bunt which sent two runners home. Oregon led 5-3 after that inning which would prove to be the final.

Coach Wasikowski said he knows his team has a high ceiling, but today was a “get it done day,” and that Baseball “isn’t ice skating. There’s no beauty points.” With this win, Oregon secured their fifth series win against PAC-12 opponents. The Ducks will have one more game to go against the Trojans on Sunday at 12:05 PM.