The Oregon club baseball team hosted two games against Evergreen State on Saturday and won both by a combined score of 31-4.
The 10-run rule came into effect in the fifth inning of each game for Evergreen State. The Ducks earned a shutout in the first game 10-0 and continued the offense into the second game with a 21-4 rout.
Both games featured outstanding pitching from Oregon starters Bryan Hansen and Jay Tlougan, who combined for nine innings and 19 strikeouts.
Hansen pitched the entire first game, facing the minimum of 15 batters and allowing one hit while striking out 12.
“I just tried to throw strikes,” Hansen said. “I’ve had a couple rough outings the last two times I’ve been out and wasn’t throwing enough strikes. I came out with the mindset to throw strikes and keep the ball around the plate.”
Tlougan pitched four innings in the second game, yielding an unearned run, three walks, no hits and striking out seven. Tlougan was pulled in the fifth inning in favor of freshman Kiyoshi Yoshioka, who gave up three runs before recording the final out.
Tlougan was taken out of the game despite being on pace for a five-inning no-hitter.
“His pitch count was getting way too high,” Oregon coach Bradley Ficek said. “I started to see him get tired, and we had such a handle on the game we thought we’d get someone else an opportunity to pitch.”
Though the Ducks dominated the competition, the wins weren’t too exciting as Evergreen State is a perennial cellar-dweller in collegiate club baseball, according to Oregon catcher Brent Sasser.
“The team’s the doormat of not only our league but the NCBA. I don’t think they’ve won a game in three or four years,” Sasser said. “But they’ve been making progress; it was good to see that.”
Many members of Oregon noticed that there was considerable improvement in Evergreen’s quality of play from previous meetings.
“They’re leaps and bounds ahead of where they were at last season,” Ficek said. “Last season we played a game with them and they had to call the game in the fourth inning – they asked for mercy. We had already scored 24 runs and couldn’t get an out, we had already batted through two and a half times in the order. The team has improved. I was surprised how well they played.”
Oregon found few things to gain from the victories, Ficek said.
“It helped us as far as our conference record goes; we now have a few more wins,” he said. “It’s rough to have a weekend like that when you play someone that’s not at the same level. A lot of times it could be viewed as a step down. We then try to challenge ourselves like have a goal of a no-hitter, have a goal of not making any physical errors as well as mental errors, to play just crisp, clean baseball. If we can do that then it speaks better of the victories.”
Center fielder Jordan Denney had a particular goal in mind as he decided to steal home during the third inning of the first game.
Denney noticed that the pitcher had a slow delivery and decided to take the chance.
“That was great heads-up, aggressive base running,” Ficek said. “We didn’t have that called, Jordan just went. A lot of guys have a green light and Jordan took advantage of it.”
Many Oregon players took advantage of having a green light on the base paths as they stole 12 bases during the two games.
Oregon will next play a doubleheader against Lane Community College Thursday at Titan Field at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Oregon takes two from Evergreen State
Daily Emerald
April 11, 2006
Oregon outfielder Jordan Denney has been a key component for the Ducks’ club baseball team. Denney stole home during a recent game against Evergreen State.
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