See you Monday.
Oregon beat Kent State Sunday night 3-2 to force a deciding third game of the Eugene Super Regional after coming back from an early 2-0 deficit.
“This is the side of one-run games that we enjoy more,” head coach George Horton said.
Kent State took an early lead in the second inning on a leadoff home run by George Roberts and took a two-run lead in the fourth inning on another RBI from Roberts. The Golden Flashes looked like they would score more, but Jake Reed settled down, striking out two of the next three batters.
“I thought we had some momentum going, but obviously they shut it down,” Roberts said.
Oregon’s offense was kept quiet for the first six innings, and what baserunners the Ducks could manage had a hard time staying on base with the Ducks’ first two baserunners getting erased on the basepaths. With the Ducks’ season-long “Techno Chicken” rally song blaring before the top half of the seventh, the Oregon offense awoke, scoring three times in the frame. Ryon Healy scored the first Oregon run from first base after a single by Brett Thomas, who would later himself be cashed in on a Kyle Garlick bunt. Brett Hambright then bunted into the fielder’s choice to score a run from third and give the Ducks the lead.
“Once I saw that fastball I knew I was going to get it down,” Hambright said. “Once I saw Kyle running down the line, there’s no better feeling.”
Once Oregon took the lead the dominance of the Duck pitching took over, shutting down Kent State for the remainder of the game feeding off the energy of a crowd of 3843 fans in PK Park.
Jake Reed started the game on the mound for the Ducks and found his stuff after a shaky start, retiring 11 of the last 13 batters he faced after the fourth inning mound visit. Reed gave up two runs on four hits in 6 2/3 innings before being removed for Tommy Thorpe, who took the Ducks to the ninth inning, striking out Nick Hamilton before giving the ball to Jimmie Sherfy, who struck out the game’s final two batters to earn the save.
The Duck bullpen was spectacular, allowing just one Kent State baserunner over the final 2.1 innings, earning six strikeouts along the way, with Sherfy earning his 19th save of the season by striking out both batters he faced, relying heavily on the slider that has served him so well throughout the season.
Oregon and Kent State will play a deciding game three Monday afternoon at 4 p.m, three hours later than originally scheduled so that Oregon’s players can attend to their finals.  There’s still a chance the game will be moved back to 1 p.m. for TV reasons, with the start time officially being announced early Monday morning.
“Hopefully we can play a good baseball game, look up at the scoreboard and make travel plans,” Horton said.
Oregon will give the ball to Jeff Gold tomorrow, though Horton said the Ducks will use a staff effort if necessary with so much riding on the game.
“You don’t take anything off the table at this point,” Horton said.