The No. 5-ranked Oregon Ducks (36-13, 17-8 Big Ten) had an opportunity to take the series against the unranked rival Washington Huskies (27-23, 15-10 Big Ten) in the Saturday Game 2 matchup.

At the bottom of the fifth, senior first baseman Jacob Walsh was up to bat with the score knotted at four. Walsh took a strike to make the count 1-1, then stepped up like a true veteran and blistered the next pitch over the right-center field wall and into the PK Park parking lot. The ball bounced off the roof of a car as Walsh watched it fly and pointed at his dugout. This gave Oregon a 5-4 lead that it would never give up as it grabbed a 6-4 win.

Leading the charge for the Ducks offense was junior center fielder Mason Neville, who was 2-for-5 with a double, a homer and three RBIs.

The Ducks entered this one coming off a 5-0 shutout win on Friday against the same Washington crew. In that game, junior left-handed starter Grayson Grinsell pitched an incredible seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts on 121 pitches.

Sophomore right-handed starter Collin Clarke took the helm for the Ducks today as he looked to notch his 4.10 ERA down into the threes.

It was the Huskies that struck first in this one as the senior first baseman Casen Taggart led off and reached on an error from sophomore second baseman Ryan Cooney. A flyout, single and walk would load the bases, but Clarke would strike out the next for the second out.

Chaos then ensued when sophomore catcher Colton Bower poked one to left field. One scored, and the throw home was late to score another. Washington’s aggressive baserunning would cost them, though, as junior catcher Chase Meggers would hose the runner at third to end the inning. Despite the nice play from Meggers, the Huskies lead 2-0.

Oregon was able to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second when junior right fielder Drew Smith ripped a double down the left field line to start the frame. A groundout from junior left fielder Anson Aroz advanced Smith to third, and he would trot home after sophomore shortstop Maddox Molony poked a single right back to left field. 

After two innings of play, it was 2-1 Washington.

The bottom of the fourth seemed like a quiet inning for the Ducks as Aroz and Molony both got out to quickly give Washington two outs. Meggers had other ideas as he sparked a huge two-out rally with a single to right field. Cooney then got plunked to put runners on first and second, but the inning appeared to be over as Garate rolled a grounder to the Husky shortstop. Inexplicably, the ball was bobbled as Garate flew up the first baseline. Shortstop Sam DeCarlo panicked, then threw it wide to the first baseman. Meggers came around to score, and the game was tied.

Excitement pulsed through the PK Park crowd as they saw the leading run at third with another runner at second and their star, Neville, up to bat. He nearly brought everyone home as he got a hold of a pitch the opposite way, but it sailed left of the foul pole for a long strike. He would make up for it when the green light was on in a 3-1 count and he pulled it down the right field line, plating Cooney from third and Garate from second.

PK Park was rocking, and Oregon was up 4-2

That momentum would be sucked out of the building in the top of the fifth, when Clarke’s three straight scoreless frames streak came to an end with a solo shot from Husky junior left fielder Cooper Whitton. A strikeout calmed things down, but not for long, as Taggart blasted another solo shot. Suddenly, it was a new game at 4-4.

The leader, Walsh, wasn’t going to let the Oregon energy die for long. In the bottom half of the frame, Walsh launched a 1-1 pitch into the parking lot. He stood in the box and watched it fly as he gave the Ducks a 5-4 lead.

Clarke’s (5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks and 70 TP) day would come to an end in the top of the sixth when sophomore left-handed reliever Santiago Garcia took the hill.

“Collin Clarke, after his first inning, I’ve seen pitchers that don’t have a great first inning and then they just bag it and they quit on themselves. He didn’t do that,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “He battled and gave us five innings and gave up only four hits. It wasn’t a perfect outing, but his competitiveness — I was really proud of Collin. When he didn’t have his best stuff, his competitiveness was there.”

Neville tacked on some insurance in the bottom of the sixth when he, again, got the green light, this time ahead 3-0. The heavy shift was on as there was nobody on the left side of the field. This did not matter as Neville tanked the pitch the opposite way to left-center field and over the wall to make it 6-4 Oregon.

That was Neville’s 25th bomb of the season.

Garcia would lock the Husky offense down with 2 ⅓ innings of scoreless relief (2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks and 31 TP), tying his season high of innings pitched.

“It felt really good to just go out there and throw,” Garcia said. “I’ve been wanting to do that for the past couple weeks, and I’m glad Hawk gave me the chance to get out there and go and do it.”

Sophomore right-handed reliever Cole Stokes stepped in for Garcia in the top of the eighth with a two-run cushion.

Substitutions were made on the Oregon side when junior designated hitter Dominic Hellman got plunked and was pinch-run for by freshman designated hitter Jax Gimenez.

Another Oregon pitching change came in the top of the ninth when senior closer Seth Mattox, who has become the go-to guy in the ninth for the Ducks, replaced Stokes (0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K and 9 TP).

Mattox shut it down. After striking out the first two, he hit the next batter to put the tying run at the plate. This would prove no threat as he popped the next batter up to center field to secure the series win with a 6-4 victory.

Helping out Neville on the offensive side of things was Walsh, who was 2-for-5 with a homer and an RBI.

“Those are the Vegas boys, that’s the duo,” Neville said. “I’m proud of him, he’s having a fantastic year. To see him do what he’s doing and to be from the same town as him, it’s pretty sweet.”

The series finale of the Cascade Clash will be Sunday with a 12:05 p.m. first pitch. Junior right-handed starter Jason Reitz will be on the bump for the final home game of the regular season for the Ducks.