Through the entirety of Opening Weekend, Oregon’s starting pitching allowed just two earned runs across 17 full innings of work. Two freshman arms dazzled on Sunday to earn the No. 12 Ducks (3-1, 0-0 Big Ten) a series-winning 6-1 victory over Toledo (1-3, 0-0 MAC).

“It seemed like a complete game to me,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “The guys played well. They played good defense. The pitching was solid from start to finish and I thought there were timely hits.” 

After splitting Saturday’s doubleheader, Wasikowski turned to true freshman Will Sanford to give his Ducks another quality outing. 

Sanford hails from the state of California, where he was regarded as the ninth-best pitcher and 32nd-overall player by Prep Baseball Report. He only allowed 10 earned runs across 63 innings of work for a 1.11 ERA as a senior in high school. 

The Ducks got him some early run support in the first with a bit of small ball. Mason Neville led off with a walk, swiped second and took third on a grounder before Jacob Walsh chopped him home on an RBI groundout. The Ducks gave Sanford an early advantage to protect without recording a hit.

They added another run in the second. Maddox Molony doubled to left-center and Ryan Cooney brought him in with an RBI groundout.  Just one day removed from his two-homer performance in Oregon’s record-setting 9-0 win, Molony finished 3-4 with two doubles and a solo homer in the eighth.

Carter Garate (1-3) and Neville (1-3 with a walk) both added RBI hits to the Ducks’ second-inning barrage to put Oregon ahead 4-0 after two frames. 

Sanford only allowed one hit his first time through the order while demonstrating a speed range anywhere from 73-94 MPH. He racked up six strikeouts and three walks while allowing one run on two hits through 4.0 innings in his collegiate debut. 

“I felt like most of the time, my fastball was playing well,” Sanford said. “Cutter was a great pitch today. I could’ve done better on my secondary stuff… but it feels good to get the first one out of the way.”

Toledo got its lone run on a wild pitch in the third, but Sanford gunned Caden Konczak at third looking to swipe an extra bag to limit the damage. He struck-out the side in the fourth to end his 71-pitch outing. 

“I’ll be critical and say he was just okay,” Wasikowski said. “He’ll probably be put up for Conference Pitcher of the Week as a freshman or [something]… he wasn’t as good as we’ve seen him, quite candidly, but obviously, he’s a special talent.”

He turned the ball over to Kellan Knox, another freshman arm. He threw two frames of 1-2-3 ball in his debut. He allowed some hard contact, but never relented a baserunner to the Rockets’ offense.

“Knox is a dog,” Sanford said. “He’s always working for us and he uses that mentality where he’s just going to attack you. He doesn’t care who’s in the box, he’ll just attack. I feel confident in this whole staff.”

Six of Oregon’s eight leadoff hitters reached base on Sunday, and four of them came around to score. That type of early-inning production can make or break an offense on a wet and rainy day like Sunday. 

“You want a balance,” Wasikowski said. “That’s what we’re looking for. You want to play good defense, pitch well and have a balanced offense where you’re not relying on moving a guy with a sac bunt, but it’s also a part of your game.”

Toledo had a revolving door on the mound in the series finale. The Rockets sent three different pitchers out in the first three innings, two of which gave up at least one run. Starter Jackson Bergman earned the loss despite not allowing a hit in his inning of work. 

Braden Curry threw three innings, but none of the other four pitchers used threw more than 31 pitches in the loss.

Oregon’s offense hit a wall after the third inning and didn’t record another hit until Molony’s solo shot in the bottom of the eighth. That being said, the Ducks were putting the ball in play and only struck-out twice in that time. 

Santiago Garcia came to the mound for Oregon in the top of the seventh. The Central Arizona Community College transfer hurled a pair of shutout innings with a trio of strikeouts and relented just two hits. Cole Stokes made his season debut to pitch a scoreless ninth inning and close out the 6-1 win. 

Oregon returns to action at PK Park next weekend for a four-game series against the Rhode Island Rams. First pitch on Friday is slated for 3:05 p.m.