By Dylan Farrell

EUGENE, OR — After besting Portland State on Tuesday, Oregon will look to turn a one-off win into a meaningful streak against the Washington Huskies on Friday. Wins have been a rare commodity for this Oregon team in April, as they have logged just two wins in the ten games they’ve played this month. Washington has been a different story, posting a 5-1 record against notable teams like Arizona and Oregon State, the former of which won their series against the Ducks last weekend.

Washington, ranked 11th in the nation, will be a major test of Oregon’s mettle as a team down the stretch. The Ducks have struggled with previous ranked opponents, dropping series against Arizona (25), Arizona State (16) and UCLA (3) consecutively, winning just one game of the nine they played against those teams. Oregon came out of that stretch needing to make a statement against PSU, which they accomplished… somewhat. Oregon led 5-0 going into the top of the seventh inning before Makenna Kliethermes allowed two earned runs in her lone inning pitched. For the first six innings, Stevie Hansen did what she’s done all season: dominate. Hansen’s 0 earned runs came alongside 12 strikeouts and just 2 hits — the kind of statement Oregon needed to make on defense against the Vikings. Despite dominance on the mound, Oregon failed to make a real statement at the plate. A 5-run outing means a very different thing against PSU than 4 runs against UCLA. If Oregon wants to make this series work for it, it has to change two things: find a reliable pitcher not named Stevie Hansen and get their back on track.

The Huskies will no doubt be a formidable foe for the Ducks in the coming days. A look at the stats reflects that: Oregon betters Washington in every offensive category except HRs (where they trail by 2, with 56) and OBP (Washington’s 0.401 to Oregon’s 0.376). On the mound, the story is inverted: Washington leads Oregon in ERA, runs and earned runs by wide margins. Oregon leads only in walks and batting average against.

Pitching Preview: Washington

Washington’s undisputed number one this season has been fifth-year senior and Australia native Gabbie Plain. Plain has posted an ERA of 2.36 over 22 appearances and a total of 106 innings pitched. Look for her to be starting one or two games this weekend. The Huskies have liked to rely on Plain so far this season, so the latter is more likely, especially given that she started two of three games last weekend against Oregon State and has had six days of rest. Washington’s go-to number two for this series will likely be junior Kelley Lynch, who started the Huskies’ Saturday game last weekend on Plain’s rest day. Lynch boasts a 3.75 ERA and a 4-3 record over her cumulative 50.1 innings pitched. A dark horse started could be Brooke Nelson. Nelson is the only pitcher on Washington to post an ERA below that of Plain at a whopping 1.99. She hasn’t seen much playing time this year, only throwing for 24.2 total innings. It’s unlikely that she’ll start this weekend given that, but it’s something to look out for.

Pitching Preview: Oregon

Oregon’s will be relying heavily on freshman Stevie Hansen, just as it has all season long. Despite her start on Tuesday vs. Portland State, it wouldn’t be surprising to see her on the mound against the Huskies on Friday to make sure the Ducks get an important series off on the right foot. Hansen’s been the clear number one starter since Brooke Yanez was injured some weeks ago. Despite her struggles, manager Melyssa Lombardi has continued to put Makenna Kliethermes on the mound in Hansen’s stead. She’ll likely be the number two option, starting on Saturday for Oregon. Should anything happen to either, there’s a good chance that Jordan Dail will make a start. Any other pitcher making a start is unlikely based on the team’s track record however, as only two pitchers outside of those listed are healthy and have started for Oregon — Allison Benning and Raegan Breedlove — but neither has more than a single start to their name so far this year.

Projected Lineups

Washington:

1. #11 C Olivia Johnson
2. #27 1B Kelley Lynch
3. #20 2B Kinsey Fiedler
4. #3 3B Rylee Holtorf
5. #8 SS Baylee Klingler
6. #10 LF Sami Reynolds
7. #42 CF Jadelyn Allchin
8. #9 RF Madison Huskey
9. #2 DP Megan Vandegrift

Oregon:

1. #51 2B Allee Bunker
2. #24 CF Hanna Delgado
3. #11 C Terra McGowan
4. #20 3B Rachel Cid
5. #13 1B KK Humphreys
6. #3 RF Ariel Carlson
7. #9 DP Allison Benning
8. #22 LF Kai Luschar
9. #38 SS Paige Sinicki

Keys for Oregon

• Find a pitcher that you can count on not named Hansen or Yanez
• Get the bats hot — you need a lot more offense than you’ve put out of late to make a run at a serious team like Washington
• Get the Ws, no matter what — Oregon has a 5-10 conference record going into this series. The schedule from here on out isn’t a cake walk, but you need to prove that you can hang this year.

Final Thoughts

Oregon desperately needs convincing conference wins to get themselves taken seriously in the PAC-12. They’ve previously lost to Utah, ASU, Arizona and UCLA. They have a 5-10 record in conference play. This team needs to get wins against Washington this week and Oregon State next to look like they belong this year.

Prediction:

Oregon’s pitching will likely be its downfall if this weekend swings either way. Stevie Hansen can’t pitch 21 innings in three days, so unless Kliethermes really steps up, I’m saying that Oregon goes 1-2 this weekend.