After a decisive 3-1 series victory to start the season in Hawaii, the Oregon baseball team flies east this weekend to play a total of four games against Belmont and Vanderbilt. @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=11401&SPSID=94835@@
The weekend series begins Thursday at 2 p.m. as the Ducks face off with Belmont. The Bruins took two of three in the Music City Classic last weekend, defeating Evansville and St. Louis and falling 2-0 at the hands of Kansas. In all, Belmont allowed a total of just six runs throughout the season’s opening weekend, which marked the team’s lowest total over the first three games since 1999. @@http://belmontbruins.com/sports/m-basebl/2011-12/schedule@@ @@http://belmontbruins.com/sports/m-basebl/2011-12/releases/20120222ooiulz@@
Oregon’s first true challenge of the season will come in the three games following Belmont, as the Ducks face off with No. 17 Vanderbilt. The Commodores may be coming off of a sweep at the hands of No. 2 Stanford, but they remain a formidable squad headlined by junior shortstop Anthony Gomez (.336 batting average in 2011), sophomore first baseman Conrad Gregor (who Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin calls “a machine” in the team’s media guide) and sophomore starter Kevin Ziomek (a 2011 freshman All-American). @@http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/baseball/d1@@ @@http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/Portals/3/SEC%20Website/Baseball/2011/vu.htm@@ @@http://www.vucommodores.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/gregor_conrad00.html@@ @@http://www.vucommodores.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/ziomek_kevin00.html@@
After this weekend, the Ducks return to Eugene for their home opener against Portland on Tuesday Feb. 28.
Jimmie Sherfy named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week
Sophomore right-hander Jimmy Sherfy racked up 13 strikeouts in relief against Hawaii last Saturday, and the Pac-12 took notice. Commissioner Larry Scott announced on Monday that Sherfy earned the season’s first Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week Award, beating out seven other nominees. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205384246@@
This is Sherfy’s first major Pac-12 award, and he ranks as just the third Oregon pitcher to be honored in such a way.
Sherfy helped record the game’s final 17 outs on Saturday, as Oregon squeaked by with a narrow 3-2 victory in extra innings.