Trystan Levesque threw 10 shutout innings on Saturday using 119 pitches in just Rhode Island’s fifth game of the season. 

As soon as the Rams (finally) turned to the bullpen, the Ducks worked an unearned run to capture a 1-0 win. 

No. 11 Oregon (4-2, 0-0 Big Ten) got outhit 5-4 and never showed much offensive attendance, but outlasted Levesque and Rhode Island (3-2, 0-0 Atlantic 10) to even the series.

Dominic Hellman grounded a chopper to Reece Moroney with two outs in the 11th, but Moroney’s throw got past DJ Perron at first base and Ryan Cooney scampered home to give the Ducks a 1-0 win in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. 

“It was an unbelievable pitcher’s duel,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “Both those guys just went back-and-forth and matched pitches. I was just impressed that Collin didn’t back down. Their guy was pitching really good and so was our guy. It was a well-pitched game.”

In the early goings, it appeared that both offenses left their firepower in Friday’s 12-11 marathon. After four full innings, the contest was knotted at 0-0 with both squads only mustering a hit and an occasional walk. Both starters were on point in their Saturday starts.

Oregon’s Collin Clarke made his second start of the season after throwing five scoreless frames last weekend in a 5-3 loss to Toledo. Through his first five innings on Saturday, he only relented four runners to reach base, but none of them got past first. 

“All my pitches were in the zone, so it felt good,” Clarke said.

The first signs of any real threat came in the sixth on a two-out double from Reece Moroney, but Clarke picked him off to end the threat. Four of Clarke’s seven innings went 1-2-3 as he recorded 21 outs on 84 pitches. Clarke walked one, struck-out five and only allowed four hits in his incredible no-decision outing. 

Clarke’s ERA remains at 0.00 as he’s now thrown 12 scoreless frames on the season. 

Lefty arm Trystan Levesque climbed the bump as the Rams starter. He was stellar in his 10 innings of work. After allowing a walk and a single in the second, he retired 17-straight Ducks on a streak that he took into the eighth inning. 

“That guy’s really good,” Wasikowski said. “There’s a reason why he shined in the Cape Cod League last summer. He’s a really good pitcher. He was as-advertised.”

Neither starter recorded an overwhelming number of strikeouts — Clarke had five and Levesque fanned nine — but both arms were able to rely on steady and impressive defense behind them. Both Levesque and Clarke surrendered a fair amount of hard contact, but there always seemed to be someone in the way of a hit. 

Both offenses were aggressive, hitting into quick outs. The lack of long at-bats and strikeouts allowed both starters to work into the seventh inning. 

“We were taking a lot of [pitches],” Wasikowski said. “But the problem is when you’re taking pitches and he’s throwing strikes, [Levesque] was hard to hit.”

Cole Stokes came in to relieve Clarke in the eighth. Following suit, Stokes recorded a 1-2-3 frame with a pair of swinging strikeouts. 

“We have the pieces to be really really good,” Wasikowski said. “We haven’t put them all together yet, but it’s really clear that we have the pieces to be really good.”

The Ducks entered the bottom of the eighth frame with only one hit when Maddox Molony led off with a single. Drew Smith bunted pinch-running Jax Giminez to second, but Levesque responded with a pair of strikeouts to escape the jam and send PK Park scoreless into the ninth. 

Both Stokes and Levesque worked scoreless ninth innings. Rhode Island took a 4-2 hitting advantage into the 10th frame. Gabe Howard took over on the mound in extras for Oregon, but he hit DJ Perron to start the frame and give the Rams an opportunity. 

On a concerning note, Smith pulled up lame on an infield single in the 10th inning and was subbed out. 

After trading zeros (two from Oregon’s Gabe Howard), the Rams finally subbed out Levesque for Connor Johnston. Cooney reached on an infield single and scored on a throwing error by Moroney to end the chess match. 

The Ducks evened up the series. The second game of the doubleheader will start later on Saturday afternoon.