Duck Baseball Captures First Pac-12 Series Sweep
Photo by: Stephanie Lovell/DuckTv
As the college baseball season comes to a close, the Oregon Ducks baseball team is finally finding its groove. The team has won its last six games, and has swept a pac-12 opponent for the first time all season against the Utah Utes. Although Utah is one of the worst teams in the Pac-12, the Ducks have struggled with consistency all season. Any series sweep is a huge achievement for Oregon.
The series didn’t seem to start off on the right foot. The score was 2-2 in the sixth inning when the Ducks attempted to intentionally walk a Utah batter with a runner on third base. Ducks catcher, Tim Susnara, let the ball get passed him and gave the Utes the lead. However, this is an Oregon team that never quits. Despite the Ducks being down entering the ninth inning, the team went on a run, scoring six runs to secure an 8-3 victory.
The second game of the series was eerily similar to the first. The Ducks went down 3-1 when Susnara couldn’t get the handle on an inning ending strikeout from Ducks pitcher, David Peterson. The ball got past Susnara and allowed Utah batter, Cole Taylor, to reach first. The Utes then strung together a pair of hits after that and got two runs in an inning that should have been over. Oregon being an extremely resilient team, the Ducks exploded for another six run inning when trailing 4-2 in the eighth. That was the second time in as many days that the Ducks buried the Utes despite a late-game deficit. With the 8-5 victory for Oregon, the team entered Sunday looking for its first series sweep of Pac-12 play.
The Ducks put star pitcher, Josh Graham, on the mound for the crucial Sunday game. He shut down the Utes, giving up only one run in seven innings. Jakob Goldfarb opened the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly. The Ducks never trailed all game as the team secured a 5-1 victory.
This sweep was crucial for the Ducks playoff chances as the team enters the final week of the season. The team has an impressive 9-3 record in May. With ranked matchups against Oregon State and UCLA coming up, the Ducks have a chance to get some high-caliber wins on its resume that could help sway the committee’s opinion. If the team can pick up even just one win against the #2 team in the nation, UCLA, the Ducks have a good chance of getting an invite to a regional series.
