There was no lack of ninth-inning drama, but Oregon (32-13, 14-7 Pac-12) escaped with an 8-7 victory over Gonzaga (27-16) Wednesday night to push its winning streak to five games. David Wylie picked up his first career win for the Ducks, giving up just one hit in four scoreless innings. @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=11401&SPSID=94835@@
Sean-Luke Brija took the loss for Gonzaga, falling to 0-1 on the season. Brija pitched just one inning for the Bulldogs and surrendered three hits and two runs.
A three-run first inning from both squads set a high-scoring pace early and the Ducks scored a run in the second and two in the third to take a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the third, but Gonzaga scored three times in the bottom half of the inning to even the score.
However, Wylie shut Gonzaga down in the middle innings, allowing the Ducks to take an 8-6 lead on a double by catcher Shaun Chase in the fifth inning. After a scoreless inning each from Joey Housey and Tommy Thorpe, head coach George Horton@@names checked@@ had a two-run lead in hand when he gave the ball to Jimmie Sherfy in the ninth inning but the final frame didn’t come without drama.
Of the six pitchers Oregon used, Wylie was the only one to pitch more than two innings. Wylie’s four complete innings were a game-high on both teams that saw 11 pitchers used in total.
Sherfy walked the first batter he faced and hit the second before the Ducks were able to get the out at second when Alex Stanford grounded into a fielder’s choice.
With runners at second and third and two outs, the Ducks elected to intentionally walk Marco Gonzales, which loaded the bases. Sherfy then hit the next batter, forcing a run home before eventually getting Travis Forbes to pop out to end the game.
With the tightrope performance, Sherfy earned his second save in as many nights, and his Pac-12-leading 12th on the season moves him into a tie for sixth nationally. Sherfy also picked up his 63rd strikeout of the year, securing sole possession of sixth place in the conference. @@http://www.pac-12.org/portals/7/images/baseball/stats/2011-12/HTML/lgplyrs.htm@@ @@http://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/individual/209@@
After consecutive sweeps of California and Gonzaga, the Ducks will now travel to Tucson for a three-game series with Arizona. Oregon starts the series-one game in front of second-place Arizona in the Pac-12 standings. @@http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/Baseball/Standings.aspx@@