The Oregon Ducks (16-3, 4-0 Big Ten) seemed safe in the top of the ninth of Friday’s series opener at PK Park against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-9, 1-3 Big Ten). The Ducks were up 5-2 and had junior right-handed reliever Jason Reitz on the mound, who had put up a zero in the inning before.
The Gophers were looking to make it interesting though as they got the first two batters on. Sophomore right-handed reliever Cole Stokes then came in to replace Reitz, and showed his dominance by striking out the first batter he saw. He walked the next, though, and the bases were juiced. He got the next batter to pop out with no harm done to put Minnesota’s back against the wall.
Stokes fell behind in the count 2-0, but got right back in it with two consecutive strikes. On the next pitch, Stokes kicked, fired and delivered a nasty breaking ball that slid into the strike zone to ice the win for Oregon. Stokes let out a roar for the 16th win of the season for the Ducks.
“The first goal is, can you get through with only throwing two guys,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “Jason probably could’ve done it, but you don’t leave a situation like that to wonder if you could’ve done it if he wasn’t able to do it. You bring in your closer. You get him in the game. When Coach Hawk did, it was exactly the right time, and Cole did his job.”
Leading the way for the Oregon offense was sophomore shortstop Maddox Molony, who went 2-for-4 with a homer and an RBI.
The Ducks were coming off a series split with the Grand Canyon Antelopes which was capped off by a 16-6 victory on Wednesday.
Junior left-handed starting pitcher Grayson Grinsell got the nod for the 4:05 p.m. start in this one.
The first score of the game came in the bottom of the second inning. Senior first baseman Jacob Walsh walked on four pitches to start the inning, then moved to second off a wild pitch. Junior left fielder Anson Aroz capitalized on the Gophers’ mistake by doubling to right center, which scored Walsh.
“We’re working on shorter strokes and stuff like that,” Aroz said. “We’re letting the strength play. As an offense, we’re all working on a few things and it’s showing.
Afterwards, senior right fielder Jeffrey Heard got plunked to move the runners over. Junior third baseman Carter Garate also got doinked to load the bases. Minnesota nearly got out of the jam in the next at-bat, but a fielding error from the second baseman allowed in a free run. After that, junior designated hitter Dominic Hellman worked a walk to let in another. Junior catcher Chase Meggers drove in Garate as he poked a single up the middle, but junior center fielder Mason Neville got hosed at the plate to end the inning.
After the second, Oregon was in command with a 4-0 lead.
The Ducks tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the third thanks to a solo blast to left field by Molony. This would be the only offense from both sides until the top of the seventh.
At the top of the sixth, Grinsell was pulled for Reitz. Grinsell finished with 5.0 innings pitched, five hits, zero earned runs, one walk and seven strikeouts.
“Solid game, Hawk called a good game,” Grinsell said. “I got, what I think, the best defense in the country behind me, so I’m going to go out there and throw it over the plate.”
The Gophers finally punched back in the seventh. It seemed like a lockdown inning from Oregon after the first two batters got out, but junior first baseman Jake Elbeery singled to keep the inning alive. Sophomore shortstop Jack Spanier then doubled and brought Elbeery all the way around from first to score. Junior second baseman Easton Richter singled to plate Spanier, and the score was 5-2 as Minnesota inched closer.
It was the last of the scoring, however. Oregon stayed quiet and the combination of Reitz and Stokes shut down any further Gopher threat.
Reitz held strong in the late innings for Oregon as he made an out of the ordinary bullpen appearance. He finished his outing with 3.0 innings pitched, five hits, two earned runs, one walk and three strikeouts.
The Ducks will look to win their first Big Ten home series Saturday against the same Golden Gophers at 11:05 a.m.