Your Oregon Ducks baseball and softball teams were both in action on Wednesday evening, both facing off against the Oregon State Beavers. Let’s kick things off with the ladies, who were playing host to the Beavs, and looking to keep their winning streak going. Oregon would jump ahead real early, going up 2-0 on a two RBI double from Emma Cox, who would come around to score herself on a Rylee McCoy RBI single, to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead after the first inning. The bats for both teams would be quiet
until the bottom of the 5th, where the Ducks would put up another 3 runs on a triple, a throwing error, a double, a single, and a sac-fly, giving Oregon a 6-0 lead.
The Beavers would finally push a couple (unearned) runs across in the top of the 6th inning, but Elon Butler would get one of them back on her own in the bottom of the 6th with a solo home run, which would seal the win for Oregon 7-2. Despite those two unearned runs, Elise Sokolsky was absolutely dominant, tossing a complete game (her first of the season) and striking out 7 batters (season high) in a whopping 113 pitches.
Now, on to the baseball team, who found themselves down 1-0 just 5 pitches into the bottom of the first inning, with OSU hitting a solo home run to lead off their half of the first. There would be plenty of traffic on the basepaths from both sides from the 2nd to 5th innings, but nobody from either side would come around to score, with the Beavs maintaining that 1-0 lead through five innings. But then, life. The Ducks would load the bases with two outs in the top of the 6th inning, before Jax Gimenez would single home a run, tying the game at 1-1. And then Brayden Jaksa would reach on a throwing error, bringing home a 2nd run, keeping the bags packed. Then Ryan Cooney would work a walk, to bring in yet another run, 3-1 Oregon.
In the 7th, the Ducks would start to add on to their lead, with Naulivou Lauaki Jr. doubling down the rightfield line and bringing home two more runs, giving the Ducks a 5-1 lead. The Ducks would grab two more runs in the top of the 9th inning on yet another OSU throwing error, giving Oregon a 7-1 lead heading into the last half inning of the ballgame. The Beavs would push two runs across with two outs, cutting the lead to 7-3, but that would be all she wrote, and the Ducks would hang on to win the ballgame. Fun fact, this was a bullpen day for the Ducks, with only two pitchers going longer than an inning. And they held the #6 ranked Beavers to 3 runs on 8 hits. Incredible effort from everyone involved.
Great day for both teams, against a hated in-state rival. It doesn’t get much better than that, y’all.
As always, ‘Sco Ducks
