Saturday afternoon the Oregon Ducks (28-11) faced off against the Washington Huskies (17-22) in game two of their three game series this weekend. It was a sluggish start from the Ducks offensively, who only got three hits in the first six innings, however a rally in the seventh lead to the 5-1 victory.
The rally was led by Sophomore Outfielder Tanner Smith who got things rocking for the Ducks with a three-run homer. The Ducks efforts were saw through in the eighth by an RBI triple from Josh Kasevich and a RBI double from Sam Olsson to push the Ducks run total to five.
Kolby Somers came to relief in the eighth and earned the Save. Here’s what todays closer had to say about the Duck’s resiliency, “I think we are in a really good spot right now, it doesn’t matter if we’re down 5,10 runs, we always believe we are going to win the game until the very last out, that’s what makes this group pretty special…”
Washington pitcher Tyson Guerrero got the start today and played well, pitching six innings, allowing zero runs and only three hits. For the Huskies, things fell apart in the seventh after Gabe Smith gave up the three-run shot. The Huskies weren’t able to recover, and only recorded one more hit after the seventh inning. Their only run of the day came from a wild pitch that allowed DH Michael Brown to steal home plate in the fifth inning.
Coach Wasikowski spoke after the game about the Ducks performance.
“[It] Would have been an easy game in several situations to give in and allow runs, or give in and have quicker innings and at-bats and we didn’t do either. I thought it was a good sign.” He later stated, “You gotta earn beating them, and I think that’s what we did today.”
The Ducks bullpen stayed strong today as Coach Wasikowski used four pitchers. Cullen Kafka started the game and pitched 5.2 innings with six strikeouts and one ER. Nico Tellache relieved him after a two-runner-on-base situation, but was able to get the Ducks out of the sixth inning. Andrew Mosiello faced two batters earning one strikeout, and as mentioned before, Somers came in and earned the save. In total, the Ducks threw 14 strikeouts, against just six hits.
Today’s victory can be equated to resiliency from the Ducks, who saw connections with the bat early on, but good fielding from the Huskies resulted in no offense.
Both teams batted in the .200s, with the Ducks finishing at .233, and Washington at .214. The Huskies struck out looking eleven times, and couldn’t muster any offense while on base earlier in the game, leaving a total of eight runners on base. Oregon Outfielder Tanner Smith finished today’s game with a HR and 3 RBIs, and was helped out by teammates Josh Kasevich and Sam Olsson who both added RBIs as well.
The Ducks will host the Huskies in the final game of the series on Sunday at noon here in Eugene, Oregon. Follow live on Twitter with KWVA - @KWVASports.