Making his first career start on the mound, James Acuna had plenty of offensive support behind him in the Ducks’ 6-2 win over Santa Clara.
“I was a little concerned about tonight and the mismatch in the pitching,” said Horton. “It’s a tribute to every guy we sent out there.”
In the first game of the weekend series, the Ducks (8-4) scored three runs in both the second and third innings to build a lead that the Broncos (3-9) couldn’t overcome.
Acuna threw 4.0 shutout innings on the night. That was all that was needed from the true freshman, who has yet to allow a run this season in five appearances.
Innings two through four were a lot smoother for Acuna than the game’s opening frame. Santa Clara loaded the bases on two hits and a walked batter. However, Acuna neutralized the threat and got out of the inning unscathed when Santa Clara’s Matt Smithwick flew out to left field.
“He definitely looked nervous,” head coach George Horton said. “He’s had some outings, but there’s nothing like your first college start.”
After Acuna escaped another bit of the jam in the top of the second, Oregon’s bats went to work. Tim Susnara started things off with a leadoff double and scored the Ducks’ first run of the game on a Spencer Steer RBI single. Daniel Platzlaff put Steer in scoring position after getting hit by a pitch, before Kyle Kasser roped one down the right field to give Oregon a 2-0 lead. Kasser continued his hot streak at the plate on Thursday, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
“Kasser is seeing it pretty good right now,” said Horton. “He’s making it look pretty easy.”
Morgan McCullough, who entered the night struggling, put together nice outing on offense. The freshman brought home Patzlaff in the second inning with a sacrifice fly before driving home two more runs in the third inning with an RBI triple in the right-center field gap.
“I don’t waver with my confidence,” said McCullough on his early season struggles coming into Thursday. “As long as the team is getting wins, that’s what it’s really about.”
 
With a healthy lead now on his side, Acuna settled in. He faced the minimum through his final two innings of work, forcing three fly-outs while also striking out two in the fourth. With Horton wanting to keep his rotation of Peterson, Mercer and Stringer in place for the final three games of the series, Acuna got through four innings on the mound.
“He was kind of teetering the whole time,” said Horton. “It’s always hard to take a guy out before the fifth when he can earn the victory, but we didn’t want to run his pitch count (78) up too high.”
No more runners scored for the Ducks after the third inning. Parker Kelly and Cooper Stiles stifled Santa Clara, retiring ten consecutive batters. After the Broncos scored two unearned runs in the eighth inning, Brac Warren sealed the deal in the ninth inning to give Oregon the first game of the series.
“Kelly continues to get better and better,” said Horton. “I thought Cooper [Stiles] did a nice job as well.”
The Ducks will start David Peterson on Friday looking to guarantee the series split. Peterson is coming off a career outing, striking out 17 in eight innings of work against Mississippi State in the Ducks home opener.
Follow Cole Kundich on Twitter @ckundich