The No. 5 Ducks (39-19, 20-8 Big Ten) entered their weekend series against Iowa with everything on the table. Their Big Ten Tournament standing and seeding, national rank and RPI will all be decided after a crucial set against the Hawkeyes (32-18-1, 21-7 Big Ten), who entered the weekend atop the Big Ten standings.
After their series-opening win, a decisive 10-0 victory, everything Oregon wants to accomplish in Iowa City is well within its reach. Everything went the Ducks’ way in one of their most complete wins of the season.
The pitching was phenomenal. The Ducks only needed one arm: Grayson Grinsell. He again proved that he’s one of the top pitchers in the Big Ten, throwing a complete-game shutout while only surrendering two hits on 116 pitches.
He would have been everything the Ducks needed even if they hadn’t erupted for 10 runs to enact the run rule after seven innings. Oregon clobbered four homers (all from the last four guys in its lineup) in the crushing win.
A trio of singles in the top of the first got the Ducks on the board as Drew Smith picked up an early RBI. He finished 2-3 in the win. Grinsell held down the 1-0 lead until the Ducks’ bats got hot again in the fourth. He fanned eight and only walked one in his ninth win of the season.
Burke-Lee Mabeus demonstrated his knack for small ball with a sac-bunt in the fourth that brought home Oregon’s second run and doubled its lead. Evidently, the small ball wasn’t necessary as Carter Garate blasted a grand slam out to right field to plate four. Garate now has two homers of the season and, funnily enough, they’ve both been grand slams on the road.
Garate’s blast sparked the Ducks’ homer parade. Maddox Molony clobbered a pair of homers — his 14th and 15th of the season — in the fifth and seventh innings before Ryan Cooney sent his fourth of the year out to put Oregon ahead by 10 and put the Ducks three outs away from a run-rule win. Grinsell finished the job for his third complete-game effort of the season.
Oregon took the first game of the crucial series in dominant fashion and will go for the series win on Friday. A sweep coupled with any UCLA loss to Northwestern will earn the Ducks the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament next week. With the win, Oregon has already secured a top-three seed in the tournament. Collin Clarke will take the mound on Friday at two as the Ducks go for the series win.
