The Oregon men’s Club Sports cricket team earned its first win of the season Sunday by defeating the Multnomah Cricket Club in Portland.
The Ducks evened their record to 1-1 with the win.
In the game each team had 35 “overs,” where the team gets six pitches per over and a chance to score as many runs as possible. The Ducks won the coin toss and opted for their opponent to go first.
The Multnomah Cricket Club was able to score 139 runs in 35 overs, which meant that all Oregon needed was 140 runs to win. The Ducks achieved this feat in 34 overs to capture the victory.
“We were very confident and felt really good,” batsman/fielder Manish Makhija said. “It was excellent and everyone played very well.”
In an outstanding personal performance for the Ducks, batsman/bowler Vijay Sundar scored 42 of the team’s runs to help Oregon excel to victory.
The Ducks were coming off a loss a weekend earlier against the Gresham Cricket Club, but the team was able to bounce back and correct the mistakes they made in the first game. According to coach/captain Faisal Mirza, the team was able to improve and perfect their batting and fielding, which was the key to victory.
“We learned from last week and knew what not to do,” batsman/wicketkeeper Iain Johnston said. “The batsman were extremely determined and we beat a very good team.”
Men’s lacrosse ends season
on a loss
Last weekend marked the finale for the Oregon club men’s lacrosse team and the Ducks put their hearts and soul into their league tournament in hopes of finishing the season strong.
Yet, the men were defeated by Western Washington in the semifinals of the tournament held in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Oregon had trouble early and found itself down 4-0 but fought back and trailed 6-4 at halftime. Things didn’t go so well for the Ducks in the second half, though, as Western Washington ran away with it in the end for the 13-7 victory.
“The teams were evenly matched, but they got some garbage goals in the end,” coach Josh Barbour said. “They did a nice job of moving the ball, and we were having trouble stopping them.”
Despite the loss, there were some other outstanding highlights of the tournament for the Ducks. Barbour was honored as the Coach of the Year for the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Lacrosse League. Also, sophomore Jeff Schmid earned the Most Valuable Player honor for the season, somewhat to his amazement.
“I was totally surprised and honored,” Schmid said. “I am only as good as the team around me.”
After a long fight, the season is complete for the lacrosse team but it comes to a close with definite satisfaction. The Ducks started out the year ranked eighth in their league and entered the tournament in the second position.
“The overall season was great,” Barbour said. “We surprised a lot of people by doing as well as we did.”
Men’s water polo drops four
in the desert
Through steep competition, the Oregon men’s club water polo team came away with a good learning experience after the Duel in the Desert last weekend at the Arizona Invitational.
The Ducks lost all four of the matches they competed in but felt they improved as a team with their experiences.
“We didn’t place as well as we thought we would,” sophomore Anthony Tran said. “We had problems finishing out games.”
The men were impressed with the solid play of freshmen Dan Flude, Matt Baumann, Paul Simon and Sean Badders.
The Ducks must bounce back in a hurry for their latest challenge as they face the Beavers today on the Oregon State campus.
Men’s baseball
splits two games
The Oregon men’s club baseball team had a solid performance this weekend in its face-off with Humboldt State.
In the first game, the Ducks demolished their opponent, 11-1, thanks to their 10-run fifth inning.
Junior Jesse Heintz scored the team’s first run and freshman Daniel Marker provided the knockout punch by hitting a grand slam. Pitcher Regan Schaller picked up the win, allowing just three hits.
The second game wasn’t as pleasant for Oregon, though as it was defeated 5-4 .
