It was senior night on Sunday at PK Park as the No. 5-ranked Oregon Ducks (38-13, 19-8 Big Ten) took on the unranked Washington Huskies (27-25, 15-12 Big Ten) for the final regular-season home game for the Ducks. This was also the series finale of the Cascade Clash as Oregon looked to sweep the bitter rival Huskies to make it 7-0 against the main rivals, Oregon State and Washington.
At the top of the eighth, the Ducks were up 5-2, but were in an uncomfortable position as the bases were loaded with one out. Senior right-handed reliever Jaxon Jordan was on the bump in a crucial spot. Jordan secured the second out with a flyout, then was caught in a long at-bat and a full count to junior left fielder Cooper Whitton. On the sixth pitch, Jordan struck out Whitton swinging, sending fire into the PK Park crowd as Jordan pumped his fist with energy. Washington would threaten again in the ninth, but the Ducks would hold on to get the 5-3 win.
Leading the way for the Oregon offense was junior catcher Chase Meggers, who was 1-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs.
The Ducks were coming off a series-clinching win on Saturday against the same Husky crew. In that game, junior center fielder Mason Neville and senior first baseman Jacob Walsh hit solo homers, propelling Oregon to the 6-4 victory.
Junior right-handed skyscraper Jason Reitz got the start for the Ducks with a 12:05 p.m. first pitch
Fans couldn’t even take their seats before the scoring got started for the Ducks. On the first pitch in the bottom of the first, Neville launched a pitch deep to right-center field for his 26th blast of the season.
Junior left fielder Anson Aroz would tail Neville in the bottom of the second with another solo shot. Behind in the count 0-1, Aroz got a hold of one and sent it over the Oregon bullpen. After two leadoff no-doubters in two innings, the Ducks had a 2-0 lead.
More damage would come in the second inning when sophomore shortstop Maddox Molony lined a double into the left-center field gap. Up next was Meggers, who got involved in the home run party with a two-run nuke that made it 4-0 Ducks.
That was Meggers’ first homer of the season and Aroz’s 15th.
“It felt really good,” Meggers said. “I think the biggest thing is that my mom’s here and it’s Mother’s Day and I wouldn’t be here without her, so it was kind of special to hit that in front of her. I’ve been working really hard to get comfortable in the box. I’m seeing the ball way better, and it’s paying off.”
Ducks would tack on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth after back-to-back singles from junior designated hitter Dominic Hellman and Walsh. Junior right fielder Drew Smith then walked to load the bases with nobody out, but only one would come across as Molony sent one to the warning track to score Hellman on the sac-fly.
Reitz’s fantastic start (6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 Ks and 91 TP) would come to an end in the top of the seventh when junior left-handed reliever Ian Umlandt took over.
“I just had to get into a rhythm,” Reitz said. “After the second inning, I was pretty frustrated about the two walks, but I tried to let that go and go out there and find the rhythm.”
Umlandt would get hit around as the Huskies scored two via the long ball. A lead-off double came around to score after Whitton slapped a homer into his own bullpen. With two swings, the Oregon lead was cut to three.
After the bomb, sophomore right-handed reliever Ryan Featherston stepped in for Umlandt (0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K and 10 TP). Featherston would shut the frame down with two strikeouts to send the Ducks back up to bat.
Another pitching change was made for Oregon in the top of the eighth after Featherston gave up a lead-off single. Sophomore right-handed reliever Cole Stokes took the hill for Featherston (0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 Ks and 16 TP) as he looked to keep up his strong pitching.
Stokes would pick up one out, but back-to-back hit by pitches loaded the bases with only one away. A wild pitch let senior first baseman Casen Taggart score from third, then Stokes walked the batter to reload the bases. Oregon Head Coach Mark Wasikowski had seen enough and pulled Stokes (0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 Ks and 11 TP) and sent in Jordan.
Jordan came through.
A fly out notched the second out, and an electric strikeout fired up the PK Park crowd as Jordan pumped his fist in excitement.
In an interesting move, sophomore left-handed reliever Toby Twist got the opportunity to close after Jordan (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K and 18 TP) picked up one out in the ninth. Twist inherited a runner from a Jordan walk, putting the tying run at the plate and Twist in a big spot. Fans' hearts dropped when Taggart gave the full count pitch a ride to the warning track, but Aroz reeled it in for out number two. This would be the only batter Twist would get (0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 Ks and 6 TP).
Senior right-handed reliever Seth Mattox took the ball from Twist, only needing one out. He let up a single that put the tying run on first, but the hero for the Ducks was Meggers when he caught that tying run trying to steal second to end the game.
“We figured they might run in the 1-2 count right there with two outs,” Wasikowski said. “Coach elevated a fastball to give Chase a good chance to throw on it, and he gunned him. That was a tremendous play. That’s a leadership play.”
This secured the sweep and the 5-3 Oregon win in the thriller.
Also chipping in for the Ducks’ bats was Neville, who was 1-for-3 with a homer and an RBI.
Oregon will head to Iowa City to take on the Big Ten-leading Iowa Hawkeyes for the final series of the regular season. That series will begin Friday with a 4:05 p.m. first pitch.