It took No. 21 Cal State-Bakersfield 50 seconds to take charge in its wrestling match against the Ducks on Sunday in a 27-12 win.
In the first match of the night, No. 13 Brian Cobb pinned No. 19 Joey Bracamonte in the first 50 seconds, setting a tone that remained throughout the evening.
“If you go out unemotional, if you go out flat-footed, you don’t allow yourself to go out in a position to compete,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said.
A few bright spots included Jason Harless’ pin of Roadrunner Jack Anaya in the first period in the 133-pound weight class.
Oregon first didn’t get on the board until Dustin Fisher took a decision over Scott O’Rear in the 184-pound weight class. Fisher used a strong second-round performance to take a 9-2 lead before winning 9-3. The win was Fisher’s third of the year, and it came at the right time.
“This was the first time my mom had seen me wrestle in college,” Fisher said. “It was really good (to win in front of her).”
The only other winner for the Ducks Sunday was Cody Parker, who beat Eric Parker, 8-3, in a decision.
Fresno State was Oregon’s first home-match opponent, and welcomed the Ducks back with 24-10 victory in front of a good-sized wrestling crowd Friday.
“Fresno State is a tough match-up for us,” Kearney said. “We were outmatched a little bit tonight. We didn’t do the job.”
The Bulldogs scored the first points of the match, but the Ducks followed with a 14-4 win by senior Jason Harless.
Fresno State then rattled off three straight wins in the 141-weight class, 149-weight class and 157-weight class.
Oregon junior Luke Larwin beat Shawn Sheets in a low-scoring match. Neither wrestler had an edge after the first round. After the second round, Larwin held onto a 1-0 lead, while Sheets scored in the third round to force overtime.
In the overtime, neither wrestler could get positioning. Then, with three seconds left, Larwin scored two points for the 3-1 victory, sending the crowd to its feet. The Bulldogs led 14-7 after six rounds.
“Luke is making improvements and getting better,” Kearney said. “(He did a) good job of controlling things. He is not going to put up 15-16 points.”
Sophomore Chet McBee also wrestled close. McBee led by one after the first round against Anthony Rubalcava but fell behind by one after the second. In the third, McBee scored to tie the match before scoring the winning point at the buzzer for the Oregon victory.
“Chet McBee gets better each match,” Kearney said. “He is still a little unpredictable, but getting better and getting confidence. The style he wrestles, he has to be confident. He has a wide-open style. Chet’s wrestling his best when he is scoring 12-13-14 points a match. Now, it may be 12-10. He’s not a guy that’s going to win 2-1.”
McBee’s win was Oregon’s last on the night, as the Bulldogs won the next three matches.
Oregon now has a short week before heading to Boise State Friday. Oregon will start turning its attention and training schedule toward the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, which is a little more than a month away.