By Mario Ponce

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon Ducks women’s lacrosse team (6-3, 0-2 Pac-12) will host the University of California Davis Aggies (8-3, 1-1 Pac-12) tomorrow in their third Pac-12 game of the season. The Ducks lost their opening two conference matchups and look to bounce back against the Aggies.

Oregon Ducks:

The Ducks have enjoyed their best start to a season in many years so far, but after going 5-1 before conference play, they lost back-to-back against the Cal Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal. The Ducks have historically struggled in this sport, and they finished last season in the last position in the conference with a 1-9 Pac-12 record. This year, every team will play every other team only once, and after tomorrow’s game, Oregon has four games in April. The Ducks lost to the Bears in a narrow squeaker but were outgunned by the Cardinal by double digits. Their offensive leader so far is senior midfielder Morgan McCarthy. She leads the team in goals, assists and points.

UC Davis Aggies:

The Aggies will play in the Pac-12 for only this season, as they will move to the Big 12 next year. They finished their pre-conference schedule 7-2 and had five consecutive wins at one point before losing to the No. 11 Florida Gators. Last season UC Davis finished with an 8-6 record, but it didn’t play any conference games. The Aggies actually traveled to Eugene and faced the Ducks last April and lost in an overtime thriller 13-12. So far this season they lost to the No. 17 USC Trojans and then beat fellow conference newcomer San Diego State Aztecs at home. Their best offensive performer is junior attacker Grace Gebhardt who leads the team in goals and points.

Prediction:

This will be a close matchup. Last season these teams went to overtime and Oregon won narrowly. The Ducks are a very different team now than in years past, and after two tough losses to open conference play, they look for their first Pac-12 win, but the Aggies have shown they can be very competitive. I predict a 12-9 win for the Ducks.

EUGENE, Ore – A night after the Ducks could push across just one run in regulation, Oregon baseball (17-7, 6-3 Pac-12) seemed to have an easier win in the bag. Through two innings, Oregon was cruising. The Ducks led 4-0 and had their top-of-the-rotation starter RJ Gordon seemed to have his A-game on. 

But the script flipped for Oregon. The team which has had such a hard time starting games, but had the middle third of the game be a breeze, would struggle in the middle as the Seattle Redhawks (7-18, 3-6 WAC) continued to fight back. 

However, as it has all year, Oregon would ride its bullpen depth. Ian Umlandt, Cole Stokes, Brock Moore and Colin Clarke gave Oregon four innings of one run baseball. Most importantly, the true freshman Stokes and Clarke inherited difficult situations and rewarded the coaching staff with double play balls.

Oregon secured at the very least a series split against the Redhawks, winning 10-2.

Gordon was coming off one of the better Pac-12 starts of his career and had similar success early on. His fastball, though a few ticks lower than usual, still sat in the low 90’s, and his curveball featured consistent dive that got multiple hitters fishing. Through three innings, Gordon had struck out three batters and stranded four on the basepaths. 

And the Ducks offense would match that hot start. Atop the lineup, Bryce Boettcher would reach on an error, Chase Meggers would single him to second and Jacob Walsh would walk to load the bases. Foreshadowing the rest of his evening, Jeffrey Heard singled home two runs. Mason Neville added another on a single of his own.

In the second, the Ducks would continue their death-by-a-million-papercuts approach. In Maddox Moloney’s third start, the local product led off the inning with a single, was moved to second on a Boettcher bunt and to third on a Meggers groundout. Yet again, Jeffrey Heard knocked him in, already with three RBI through two innings.

That’s where the game would begin to turn. For the Redhawks, Sam Kane would turn on a 2-0 fastball and hit it into the away team bullpen. The teams traded zeros for three frames before the Ducks added one in the sixth.

Inserted for Gordon in the top of the sixth, Umlandt made easy work in his first inning. But in the seventh, two walks and a single sandwiched a strikeout. Oregon made the call to Stokes, who had only 4.2 innings coming into the game. After walking his first hitter, Stokes induced a 4-6-3 double play to keep the Ducks ahead by four.

That would be mirrored in the eighth. Moore entered, presumably to finish the game. Moore allowed a leadoff double and struck out a batter, but as he walked Kellen Carr, Moore would grip his right elbow and call the coaching staff. Clarke, with just 12 innings and 10 earned runs on the season, would watch a 2-2 fastball get grounded right into the glove of Carter Garate, who turned a slick 5-4-3 double play.

Oregon would add three more in the eighth on a home run by Mason Neville, his fourth of the year, and Clarke would close it out with relative ease in the ninth. 

Injuries to Moore and Justin Cassella, who was removed from the game after legging out an infield single, as well as a scare to Garate, would cloud what ended up being a convincing win. Oregon will look to take the series tomorrow with first pitch at 5:05.