Sunday saw both Diamond Duck teams in action in conference play. Baseball had a rubber match against Illinois on the road and Softball had the opportunity to sweep Washington at home.
Baseball
The Ducks lineup got to work early on Sunday thanks to a leadoff double from Jax Gimenez followed by an RBI single from Brayden Jaksa to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead 2 batters into the game.
Shortly after, in the bottom of the 2nd, Illinois would take the lead on an RBI double that would score 2 runs. After being redhot in games 1 and 2 of the series Oregon’s bats couldn’t get much going early as they could only manage 3 singles over innings 2 through 4. But in the 5th inning they would be contained no longer.
First it was Ryan Cooney going yard, followed by Naulivou Lauaki, and then Maddox Molony as the Ducks put on a classic Oregon display of power hitting with 3 solo home runs in the inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Junior had the hardest hit of all 3
In the bottom half Illinois would answer with a solo home run of their own but the Ducks kept the lead after 5 innings 4-3.
In the 6th Oregon would extend their lead thanks to Ryan Cooney’s 2nd home run of the day
Once again Illinois would answer with a solo home run in the bottom half but for every run the Illini were getting Oregon was putting up multiple as in the 7th Jax Gimenez would hit a delayed inside the park grand slam (Bases loaded triple and then would score himself on a wild pitch)
That would give the Ducks 11 runs on the day which was more then enough as Illinois could only manage 1 more run and the Ducks were able to take the series with a Sunday win by a score of 11-5
After a shaky weekend from the bullpen the Ducks were able to get 6 outs from Cooper Markham and he kept Illinois off the board in his two innings of relief.
With the series win the Ducks vault into 4th place in the B1G, trailing undefeated UCLA, Nebraska (whom they defeated this season and have the tie breaker), and Purdue (whom they also defeated and have the tiebreaker).
Up next is a mid week game in Corvallis for game 2 of the Civil War season series against the Beavers before welcoming last place Penn State to town on the weekend.
Softball
Back in Eugene the softball team looked to pickup the sweep over hated rival Washington. The Huskies came into this weekend undefeated in conference play but after Oregon took the first 2 games of the series Sunday’s game was for the right to jump into 2nd place in the B1G.
After pitching 8 total innings in games 1 and 2 (starting in game 1 for a complete game and 1 inning of relief on Saturday) Lyndsey Grein got the start for Sunday and remained dialed in kicking the game off with her first of 3 strikeouts on the day.
And then getting some help from her defense in the 2nd
In the bottom of the 3rd the Ducks would strike first thanks to career home run number 50 for Elon Butler
That was enough to give the Ducks the lead as Grein continued to deal in the circle to keep the Huskies off the scorebaord.
It continued to be the Grein and Butler show, as Grein continued to deal in the circle Butler continued to mash at the plate with her 2nd home run of the day in the 5th
In the 6th inning Grein finally was starting to run out of gas as she allowed the first two huskies to reach base. Coach Lombardi elected to bring in Elise Sokolsky to relieve Grein in a tight a game with runners in scoring position and no one out.
Sokolsky would help her own cause starting a 1-4 double play on a liner right back to her
Sokolsky would get the next Husky batter to strike out and Oregon preserved it’s two run lead going into the bottom half where Amari Harper would give the Ducks an additional insurance run
Washington would get a solo home run of their own in the 7th to cut the lead to 3-1 but it was too little too late for the puppies and Oregon was able to secure the win and the sweep to jump Washington in the standings.
Coach Lombardi post-game
Up next for Oregon is a mid-week game against the Beavers in Eugene for game 3 of the civil war season series before Ohio State comes to town next weekend.
