By Knight Jarecki

It was a pitching dual Friday night as #13 Oregon Baseball (35-11) battled with #17 Stanford (29-13) winning a close one 2-1. The game marked the first of 3 ranked match-ups for the weekend series that has major implications for the Pac 12 standings.

The first game of the series featured two of the premier pitchers in the Pac 12 in Brendan Beck for the Cardinal and Robert Ahlstrom for the Ducks. Both pitchers came into the series with 6 wins and have dominated as of late.

The highly anticipated pitching matchup lived up to its hype as both players pitched into the 8th inning. Ahlstrom pitched 7.1 innings allowing 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 10 batters. Beck gave up 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 9 and walking none in 8 innings pitched.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, Aaron Zavala led off with a single before Gabe Matthews hit a no doubt home run over the right field wall to give the Ducks the lead 2-0.

The Cardinal answered back in the 8th inning with a couple of hits off Ahlstrom to put runners at the corners with 1 out. This forced coach Wasikowski to pull Ahlstrom and put in closer Kolby Somers. Somers allowed 1 run on a fielders choice but retired the next two Cardinal batters to preserve the lead.

Somers closed the door in the 9th allowing only a walk before Tommy Troy grounded out to end the game. It was Somers 10th save of the season.

Robert Ahlstrom was credited with his 7th win on the year improving his numbers to (7-3, 2.03ERA) while Brenden Beck suffered his first loss of the season falling to (6-1, 3.28ERA).

Gabe Matthews' home run was his 6th of the season and during that plate appearance he broke JJ Altobelli's record for most at bats in an Oregon Duck uniform.

The Ducks will look to stay hot for the remaining 2 games against the Cardinal as Oregon now has won 7 straight games.