The Oregon Ducks let another Pacific-10 Conference series slip away going into the final day of three games against Washington State.
The Ducks, who have yet to win a conference series this year, lost games one and two of their series with the Cougars, ensuring another series loss. After the Cougars, the team has just two more opportunities to get its first series win. Oregon plays at Arizona State this weekend, followed by the season finale with Arizona starting on May 22.
The Ducks (14-33 overall, 4-16 Pac-10 Conference), dropped Saturday’s game 5-3, and then lost 5-2 on Sunday, getting three hits. Sunday’s loss marked the ninth time in a row the team failed to score more than three runs, the 29th time occurrence this season.
Freshman Erik Stavert (5-4) started game one for Oregon, going 7.2 innings. He gave up five runs but only two earned on seven hits. The Cougars held the Ducks scoreless through eight innings behind the pitching of Matt Way (7-4), who went 8.1 innings.
The Ducks broke the shutout in the top of the ninth. Freshman third baseman Danny Pulfer singled, then freshman shortstop KC Serna doubled, followed by an RBI ground out from freshman catcher Paul Eshelman to score Pulfer. Freshman right fielder Antony Kreitz singled home Serna to bring the Ducks within 5-2, and junior second baseman Josh Hogan hit an RBI single to continue the rally.
But with two outs, junior left fielder Curtis Raulinaitis flew out to center field to end the game. Hogan had a good day for the Ducks, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Serna and freshman first baseman Darrell Hunter each added two hits as well.
In game two, the freshman lefty Tyler Anderson (2-7) started on the mound. He also went 7.2 innings for Oregon, giving up five runs on 10 hits. Chad Arnold (6-2) started for Washington State, and went seven innings, giving up two runs on three hits.
The Ducks fell down early in the game, giving up three runs in the second inning. They had to claw their way back into contention by getting one run in the fourth and one run in the fifth to make the score 3-2. Raulinaitis scored in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Serna, and after Kreitz tripled in the fifth, senior center fielder Caleb Tommasini singled him home.
But Anderson gave a run right back to the Cougars in the fifth inning, and they scored again in the eighth for the final score.
From the plate, Raulinaitis was 1-for-4 with a run scored, and Tommasini added an RBI while going 1-for-3.
Game three of the series is today at noon. Oregon has now lost four games in a row, and 11 of its last 12.
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