Oregon’s baseball team upended the University of Portland 6-4 in a non- conference contest Wednesday afternoon.
The Ducks broke a 4-4 tie with two runs in the top of the eighth inning on RBI hits by Paul Eshleman and Brett Thomas to take the lead for good. Scott McGough earned the win in relief for the Ducks, while Zach Nice was tagged with the loss for Portland.
Oregon moved to two games above .500 (16-14, 1-5 Pacific-10) with the win, while Portland dropped to 12-17.
With Duck two-way player Ryon Healy making a rare start for the Ducks, the Pilots put two runs on the board in the first inning to take an early lead.
However, Healy eventually settled down, and once he departed in the game after three innings, the Duck bullpen did its job.
Oregon finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Shawn Peterson and Jack Marder.
The Ducks then went ahead 4-2 in the top of the seventh on singles by KC Serna and Stefan Sabol, only to see Portland come back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning.
But Oregon scored twice in the eighth inning, and Duck closer Kellen Moen secured the victory with his fifth save of the season.
Oregon will resume its Pac-10 schedule tomorrow when it visits USC for the first game of a three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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