The Oregon club baseball team (13-4 overall) continued its winning ways, adding three victories of 5-1, 16-2 and 13-0 in a sweep of Northern Pacific Conference rival Seattle University last weekend. The wins furthered the current streak to 11 games. During this period, the Ducks have outscored teams a combined 120-33.
The three wins were especially sweet for the Ducks after Seattle took two of three games from them in 2007, along with the division title.
“It felt good to sweep Seattle after they took a couple from us last year,” sophomore outfielder Cam Gaulke said.
Freshman Bennett Frazier led the way to the 5-1 win for the Ducks in game one, throwing a complete game three-hitter. Frazier allowed only one run in the game, and struck out 14 Redhawks. From the plate, Oregon managed seven hits, including two each from Scott Marchione and Andrew Murphy.
The offensive pace picked up in game two of the doubleheader on Saturday. The Ducks scored 16 runs on 15 hits, while holding Seattle to two runs. Third baseman Matt Zabriskie and second baseman Jack Carpenter each had three hits, and Zabriskie, Murphy and Bryan Hansen all ended up with three RBIs. Outfielder Vincent Hulstrom also had four RBIs. In response to the offensive outburst, Gaulke said it only takes one guy to get it going.
“Hitting is contagious, and when a couple guys get hot, it seems like the whole team puts it together,” Gaulke said.
Hansen agreed, saying that the first game’s slow start was due to not reacting well to what the pitcher was throwing them.
“A lot of our success in the second game came from making adjustments at the plate,” Hansen said.
Sophomore Kyle Knapp continued to impress the coaches from the mound, going four innings and giving up zero earned runs on one hit. Freshman Dustin Tanquary closed out the game, giving up two runs for the final margin.
The final game of the series showcased the Ducks’ power hitting. Marchione and Hansen hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, and junior Quentin Clark added his own in the fifth. The home runs highlighted another 11 hits for the team, and Marchione added three RBIs.
On the mound, Hansen started the game, throwing four innings of no-hit ball and striking out five batters. That followed last week’s performance against Eastern Washington University for which Hansen received Northern Pacific Conference pitcher of the week honors.
Hansen was humble, giving the credit to Frazier and Knapp for their performances the day before. He said the key to the team’s two wins on Saturday was pitching.
“They came up with big time pitching performances,” he said.
Gaulke agreed, saying the Ducks are just hitting their stride.
“Everyone is contributing right now, and with the way our pitchers are throwing, we are a pretty tough team to beat,” Gaulke said.
Through the 18 games the Ducks have played, they’ve outscored their opponents 140-60. They have a .320 team batting average, and the pitchers have struck out more batters than hits they’ve given up, 118 to 99.
Oregon is getting hot down the stretch, and there are only six more scheduled conference games before the Northern Pacific Regional on May 9.
The team takes its win streak to Bend this coming weekend for a three-game series with Central Oregon Community College.