After a blowout 10-0 loss to open the series against the Wolverines on Thursday, Collin Clarke and the Ducks fought back in a classic pitchers’ duel win on Friday.

No. 17 Oregon baseball (24-7, 8-3 Big Ten) evened its series againts Michigan (15-4, 4-7 Big Ten) with a 5-2 win today on the back of strong outings from starting pitcher Clarke (6.0 IP, 7 K, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB) and reliever Tanner Bradley (2 IP, 4 K, 1 ER, 2 H). Jack Brooks (2-2, 1 RBI, HR, BB) and Burke-Lee Mabeus (2-2, 1 RBI, SB) headlined the box score on the offensive end to secure the win in Ann Arbor.

The Ducks got off to a slow start against Michigan starter Kurt Barr, who got things started by striking out Ryan Cooney with pitches on the bottom of the zone. Jax Gimenez and Dominic Hellman were able to get on base with a single and a walk, respectively, but catcher Noah Miller picked both off attempting to steal second on back-to-back at-bats

Oregon has struggled with pickoffs lately, currently ranking second in the Big Ten in caught stealing with 13.

Clarke had an interesting start to his outing after a dual challenge by both teams’ coaches held up play for 10 minutes following a groundout at first, which Michigan argued was obstruction, but Oregon challenged that it was an out. The umpires ruled in favor of Ducks head coach Mark Wasikowski before a pop-up and the first strikeout ended the inning. 

Clarke attacked the top half of the zone against the Wolverines, firing his fastball high and inside to jam up batters. His approach is aggressive, which can yield positive results if he can get batters swinging and missing, but it also can lead to lots of hits, which became apparent in the second inning.

Michigan drew first blood in the bottom of the second with center fielder Evan Haeger scoring on an RBI double from first baseman Cade Ladehoff after reaching second on a double himself. Clarke recovered from the lone run with a pop-up and strikeout to close out the inning with runners on the corners. 

The Ducks’ offense couldn’t buy a run through the fourth inning despite loading the bases in the third. Oregon piled up strikeouts, striking out seven times through the fourth. On the flip side, the pitching from Clarke was starting to improve as he set down batters with ease following the early game slip-up. 

Brooks tied things up for Oregon with a solo homer to right-center field for the Ducks’ first run since March 29 after two scoreless games. 

The offense stayed hot with a leadoff double from Drew Smith in the top of the sixth. After advancing to third on a pop-up from Laya, Smith was tagged out at home on a groundball from Maddox Molony, who advanced to second during the pickle between third and home. 

Like any pitchers’ duel, both teams struggled to send in runs after putting runners in scoring position, with Clarke and Barr shutting down batters as soon as a runner got on.

In the top of the seventh, Michigan brought in Gavin DeVooght to relieve Barr. The Ducks took advantage of the change with a ground-rule double from pinch-hitter Mabeus to kick off the inning. A sacrifice bunt from Brooks moved Mabeus over to third to set up an RBI single from Cooney to take a 2-1 lead.

Clarke’s day ended in the bottom of the seventh with Bradley coming in and quickly making his presence known with a three-pitch strikeout of right fielder Greg Pace before setting down Drew Culbertson in four pitches. Bradley attacked the bottom of the zone aggressively, catching batters off guard early in the count.

Smith kicked off the eighth inning with a single before stealing second and advancing to third on a groundout from Laya. Molony sent Smith home on a sacrifice bunt, but a fielder’s choice allowed Molony to reach second before a wild pitch the next at bat sent him to third. The Wolverines brought out Keegan O’Hearn to relieve DeVooght, but yet again, Oregon took advantage of the change with an RBI single from Mabeus through the left side of the infield. 

After stealing second and Brooks reaching on a walk, Mabeus scored on an RBI single from Cooney to make it 5-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth. The Ducks closed things out with Devin Bell on the mound in the bottom of the ninth with a final score of 5-2 for their first-ever win in Ann Arbor. 

Oregon will take on Michigan tomorrow, April 4, at 8:02 a.m. PST at Ray Fisher Stadium in the final game of the series.