Ducks Capture First Pac-12 Series Win in Civil War
Photo by: Stephanie Lovell/DuckTv
The civil war started off on a high note as the Oregon Ducks took down the Oregon St. Beavers on Friday, April 9th, with a walk-off walk by pinch-hitter Kyle Kasser. This was Kasser’s first appearance in Pac-12 play, and he made the most of his opportunity. He displayed brilliant patience in drawing a two-out, full-count walk with the bases loaded and the game on the line.
In the second game of the series, the Beavers got their revenge when they capitalized on Duck’s pitcher David Peterson’s struggles. Peterson dropped his fourth game of conference play while accumulating four earned runs, which proved too much of a task for the Ducks to overcome. One of the bright spots for the ducks this season has been relief pitching. Cooper Stiles continued to shine as he pitched 5 2/3rds scoreless innings in relief for Peterson. Unfortunately, the ducks could not capitalize and they ended up dropping the game by a final score of 4-2. After the game coach Horton had some harsh words for his players saying, “If that was, they say, ‘Civil War,’ we’d all be dead, including me.”
The rubber match came on Sunday and featured two prolific offenses, which combined for 18 runs in just the first four innings. The Ducks have struggled hitting as of late but the team hit its stride on Sunday night. Also new for the ducks was their power hitting. Their two home runs on the evening were in stark contrast to the three they hit in the previous 11 conference games. The major players in deciding the game were Craig St-Louie who hit a three run home run, and also knocked in the game winning single. The relievers also played a crucial role as Josh Grahah pitched six innings of relief before the Ducks brought out Garret Cleavinger who put the game away.
This was the first conference series win for the Ducks and it couldn’t have come against a better opponent, or in a better way. The Ducks were down six runs, but the team’s attitude allowed them to stay in the game. After the game Coach Horton was pleased with his teams response to the deficit, and their ability to bounce back after last nights disappointing performance. Horton said, “As disappointed as I was in my ball club last night, I’m that much proud of them today.” He then followed it up with “that would have been a real easy one for them to go oh no, not again and show weakness and not battle and we were the antithesis of last night.”
The Ducks will take on the University of Portland on Wednesday before heading down to Los Angeles for a three game series over the weekend against the USC Trojans.
