Oregon Baseball Holds On Against Gonzaga

The rain held off just long enough for Oregon baseball to take the victory over Gonzaga, defeating them 2-1. This win completed their series with the Ducks earning a clean sweep as well as their fourth win in the last five games.

Although the victory kept the Ducks hopes alive to move into postseason play, they won’t be able to afford losing more than two of their last seven games if they want a shot at the NCAA regionals.

“We needed those two games," outfielder Phil Craig-St.Louis said. "We need every game. We'll go out there and compete for every inning, every pitch, and try to make it."

The Story: Even though Oregon came out on top, they really struggled at the beginning of the game as Gonzaga took an early 1-0 lead. The Ducks were able to minimize the damage, by allowing only a single run in the third inning despite having the bases loaded three times over the first five innings. It wasn’t until the sixth inning that Oregon was able to take over. There were two outs when St. Louis drove a ball just inside first base down the right field line for a double. This allowed both Tolman and Grebeck to score easily, putting the Ducks ahead 2-1. After the game, St.Louis talked about getting out of tough situations in order to gain momentum as a team.

“We’ve been doing this for last couple of weeks,” said Craig-St.Louis. “We have fighters on our team and it’s just starting to show up. So it’s really nice to have that.”

The Ducks two-out rally was their second in two days, leaving Oregon’s pitchers exhausted after back to back pressure performances. Combined with Stephen Nogosek and Garrett Cleavinger, Connor Harbor provided a breath of fresh air pitching 4 ⅔ innings, allowing only two hits with six strikeouts.  Jacob Corn had a double play to end the inning with bases loaded, leading him to pick off a runner and a groundout in the third. Oregon Coach George Horton alluded to the Ducks being able to dig deep for the comeback.  

“That's kind of what you want to do, I guess — maximize on offense and minimize on defense… I think we have that special something going that we believe we're gonna win.”

Coming Up: The Ducks are on the road for a three game series against Utah which begins on Friday at 4 pm and will be broadcasted by the Pac-12 Networks.