The Oregon club baseball team proved Saturday night in their game against Montana at West Linn High School that to get the ball rolling, sometimes all it takes is a push.
Montana pitcher Scott Ladenburg had been dominant through the first three innings of game one of Saturday’s doubleheader. He was commanding both his fastball and his curve and had the Ducks stymied. Now though, Ladenburg’s deuce had flattened noticeably and was either sailing high or hanging in the fat part of the zone. Add to the equation that his fastball had begun to fail, and that spelled trouble for the bare-armed Grizzly.
Then came the push that Oregon needed.
With the Ducks in a five-run hole, cleanup hitter Bryan Hansen hit a squibber to the left side that third baseman Treyson Hopkins fielded cleanly, but too late to have a prayer of nipping Hansen at first.
Consecutive walks loaded the bases with one out and brought Cameron Gaulke to the plate. The freshman leftfielder hit a smash that Hopkins fielded cleanly, but dropped while transferring to his throwing hand, bringing Hansen home from third for Oregon’s first run.
With the floodgates open, the Ducks tacked on four more runs in the frame and knotted the score at five heading into the fifth inning. Both teams traded runs over the next two innings and Oregon entered the final frame down 7-6.
Senior righthander Greg Wells, who had come out of the bullpen in the sixth, worked his way in and out of trouble in the seventh, stranding runners at first and second by getting leftfielder Heath Faulk to ground harmlessly to shortstop Scott Marchione for out number three.
Hansen doubled to start the action in the Ducks’ half and was brought home two batters later on shortstop Cory Kambak’s error. That knotted the score at seven and set the stage for rightfielder Corey Johnson.
After Gaulke had bunted aboard to load the bases and Montana reliever Chris Etter had retired the next man on a popup to third, Johnson dug in.
“3-1 came around and I was just looking for a ball down the middle. I’d been seeing the ball well all day, but had just struggled the first three at-bats so I knew (I had to) get my hips into it, so it felt good,” Johnson said afterward.
Johnson got that 3-1 pitch, a fastball down the middle, and dumped into right field for a game-winning, walk-off, RBI single.
“Down by five, when you come back to win it in the last inning, that’s great. Last year we didn’t have one win in the last inning. And I think it shows a lot of promise that the guys don’t give up,” assistant coach Shawn Garrett said.
In game two Oregon proved their bats were fully awake as they trounced the Grizzlies 24-0 before the game had to be halted in the fifth inning, when West Linn High School’s lights went out as scheduled at 11 p.m.
One look at some of the beefier line scores for the Duck offense tells you all you really need to know about this contest.
Marchione: 2-3 with a walk and three runs scored; Hansen: 4-5 with a triple, a home run, three RBI and four runs and Johnson: 2-4 with a jack.
Oh, and Hansen recorded the first shutout of the season with five innings of one-hit ball complete with nine strikeouts against just two bases on balls.
“We’re just trying to get back in the groove of things. We really haven’t seen any live pitching all year and it was just nice to make some good contact and have a good day. So, it’s fun,” Hansen said.
The Ducks continued their offensive attack in game three of the weekend set, winning a mercy rule-shortened contest 13-3.
Oregon opened the action with an RBI single from Marchione and two-run first-pitch jack to deep center from Hansen in his only at-bat.
Starting pitcher and club coordinator Jonathan Jwayad held down the fort for the next four innings, allowing one earned run over four innings and 70 pitches.
The Ducks added all the runs they would need in the second inning on an RBI single through the middle from catcher Brad Terada and a double steal of home by Marchione and Terada, respectively. Oregon stole 11 bases in the game.
David Tinsley relieved Jwayad in the fifth and threw three innings of one-run ball to seal the win.
The weekend was summed up best by coach Kenny Swartout after game three.
“It’s looking good. The first game was a tough one, but we really came together and played the way we could.”
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Rally in first game of weekend set sparks Duck domination
Daily Emerald
February 26, 2007
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