Written Story by Wilder Lewis
After taking the first game of the series 4-0 yesterday night Oregon looks to stay hot and grab game 2 against Stanford today at home in PK Park. The game however didn’t start all too well for either team's offense as they both started 0-0 through the first 2 innings. Logan Mercado was able to record 2 early strikeouts and Stanford was able to stay level thanks to some good fielding.
Things didn’t last long though, as in the 3rd inning Oregon’s offense was able to get things going. After gaining momentum off of 2 more strikeouts from Mercado and a stolen base from Nishida, the Ducks bats got hot as a single from Shade got Nishida to 3rd, then Cowley had a big RBI double scoring Nishida. Ceballos then grounded out to 1st but Shade was able to score, giving Oregon the 2-0 lead at the end of the 3rd.
The momentum didn’t slow down for Oregon as they then had 3 straight innings with an HR. In the 4th leadoff batter, Jacob Walsh hit his 7th of the year to left field for a solo shot giving the Ducks their 4th run. Then in the 5th Sabin Ceballos had a nuke of a 2-run HR after following a double from Cowley. Lastly in the 6th Jacob Walsh got his 2nd of the game (8th on the year) as it was nearly identical to his first, a solo shot to left field.
Oregon still yet to let up though as in the 7th after back-to-back hits from Ceballos and Smith found them on 2nd and 3rd, an RBI groundout from Walsh and RBI single from Cromwick would score both runners giving Oregon their 7th and 8th runs of the day. The Cardinal would also get 1 run in the 6th as Graham had an RBI single allowing the baserunner Cobb to score from 3rd but the offense just wasn’t there as Logan Mercado’s dominance nearly shut out Stanford.
The Junior threw a complete game today (the second in a row for Oregon) as he recorded 7 strikeouts with just 1 ER and 5 hits. He was nearly untouchable from the mound, and in the 2 games so far Oregon has let up just 1 run to Stanford. Will the defense and offense of Oregon continue allowing them to claim game 3? Or will Stanford be able to win 1 game in the series that they have already lost?
The game will be tomorrow 4/16/2023 at PK Park Eugene Oregon at 12:05. KWVA will be there for all the updates so make sure to check it out.
Audio Story by Eli Thomas