It’s never easy to start with a disadvantage. Oregon (9-7, 0-4 Pacific-10 Conference) lost its Pacific-10 Conference matchup with the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (3-1, 2-1) 21-19 Friday at McArthur Court after giving away automatic points in two weight class matchups. Despite five match wins and outscoring the Roadrunners 19-9 on the mat, forfeiting two matches – equal to losing two major decisions – prevented Oregon from scoring its first dual meet victory in the Pac-10 this season, and first overall since defeating Southern Oregon at Mac Court on December 16.
“We’re grading what happens on the mat, and on the mat we won five of the eight,” head coach Chuck Kearney said after Friday’s meet. “We’re pleased with the performance. We need to make sure this week at practice we get better every day.”
“It’s a ten-man sport,” heavyweight Charlie Alexander said of losing the dual meet. “(Oregon) won over half the matches, but we still lose. It’s pretty disappointing.”
The afternoon’s first match featured the heavyweights, and Oregon’s Charlie Alexander pulled out a 7-3 victory over the Roadrunners’ Ryan Bergman. Three takedowns by Oregon’s redshirt freshman – including one with six seconds left in the second period to take a lead he would not lose – punctuated the match in which Alexander looked primarily to capitalize on Bergman’s mistakes.
“I wanted to go out there and get the first takedown,” Alexander said. “It opened up my defensive scoring opportunities.”
Joey Lucas of Oregon was up next at 125 pounds and suffered a 6-0 loss in a match where he was the aggressor, but couldn’t turn the attack into takedowns. Ryan Dunn followed, and the 133-pound redshirt junior stretched a 6-2 second period lead into a 19-8 major decision victory after five takedowns and a near-fall in a dominant third period.
After forfeiting the 141-pound match and redshirt senior Elliot Tracy losing the 149-pound match 9-3, redshirt sophomore Kyle Bounds earned a quick pinfall for the Ducks in his 157-pound match. It was a match against the Roadrunners’ freshman Trevor Hall, who is both a former Oregon recruit and high school and club wrestling teammate of Bounds’.
Returning for the first time in three weeks to his usual 174-pound weight class, redshirt sophomore Ron Lee won a dramatic overtime match. With just a second left on the match clock in the minute-long overtime period, Lee scored a two-point takedown to secure a 6-4 victory. Despite being on the attack through much of the match, Lee couldn’t turn those attacks into takedowns and was unhappy after the match with his performance.
“It feels good to win, I would have liked to have done better,” Lee said. “I was just flat. It just gives me something to work on, and will open my eyes next week.”
After a forfeit in the 184-pound weight class, redshirt junior Shaun Dee secured another Oregon victory, this time in the 197-pound weight class, 5-4. A point for riding time was the difference in the match for Dee, who also scored a point off of Bakersfield’s Ernest Acona for stalling in the second period.
Oregon makes a two-meet road trip this Friday and Sunday. The Ducks take on Pac-10 challengers Boise State in Boise on Friday and Arizona State in Tempe on Sunday.
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