After a pair of victories against Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash., the No. 10 Oregon baseball team now heads south for a pivotal three game series against No. 11 Arizona. The Ducks (32-13) enter the weekend in first place in the conference just one game ahead of the Wildcats, and it’s the last series they have against a currently ranked opponent.@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&KEY=&SPID=11401&SPSID=94835@@
The series is a strength-against-strength matchup between Oregon’s pitching and Arizona’s hitting. The Wildcats (29-13) lead the Pac-12 in runs scored, and their .336 batting average is the third best nationally. They face an Oregon pitching staff with a Pac-12 best 2.97 ERA.@@http://www.pac-12.org/portals/7/images/baseball/stats/2011-12/HTML/lgteams.htm@@
Oregon’s Friday night starter, Alex Keudell, will take the mound looking for his eighth win of the season — and his seventh in as many starts. Keudell’s 1.87 ERA is the second lowest in the Pac-12.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205382700@@
Jake Reed will once again be the Ducks’ Saturday starter. Reed leads the Ducks in opponents’ batting average and has tormented opposing hitters into hitting just .214 against Reed. Oregon has yet to name a Sunday starter, though Jeff Gold has filled that role since Brando Tessar was injured against Stanford.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205382700@@
Head coach George Horton said last week that Tessar could see limited action against Arizona, but he made no guarantees, calling that a “best-case scenario.”
Since Jones has returned to the lineup, the Ducks are 5-0, and even though his numbers haven’t looked great, Hortons said Jones is getting closer and closer to being the offensive weapon he was to start the season.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205382700@@
Horton also said that J.J. Altobelli could return to the lineup in an offensive role, similarly to the way Aaron Jones returned to the lineup as the Ducks designated hitter. In Altobelli’s absence, Horton has praised the consistent defensive play of Kevin Shepherd, who he said might stay in the lineup and move to third base once Altobelli is healthy enough to play shortstop.
The only hurdle left for that, Horton says, is for Altobelli to regain strength throwing the ball.
“He swung the bat and he looked like J.J. swinging the bat,” Horton said. “That’s the big hurdle, the arm.”
Oregon has two Pac-12 series remaining after this weekend, but neither Oregon State nor USC is currently in the top five in the conference. Horton said that’s no reason to assume they won’t be ready to play.@@http://pac-12.org/SCHEDULES.aspx#Standings@@
“The Pac-12’s a little unpredictable,” Horton said. “You think a team’s on the upswing or the downswing, then they turn right around.”
The Ducks have improved offensively of late and have scored more than five runs in two out of their last three games. No small part of that has been the production of Kyle Garlick whose home run Tuesday against Gonzaga drove in his 15th two-out RBI of the season, and his ninth in the last eight games.
The game time temperature for Friday’s game one is forecasted to be in the mid-low 90s, approximately double the temperature the Ducks played in at Spokane, but the Ducks don’t see that as an excuse.
“We have the most bi-polar weather in the country around here,” said Gold. “It can go from sunny to hail to sleet to rain then back to sunny. We’re kind of used to it.”
The series is a strength-against-strength matchup between Oregon’s pitching and Arizona’s hitting. The Wildcats (29-13) lead the Pac-12 in runs scored, and their .336 batting average is the third best nationally. They face an Oregon pitching staff with a Pac-12 best 2.97 ERA.@@http://www.pac-12.org/portals/7/images/baseball/stats/2011-12/HTML/lgteams.htm@@
Oregon’s Friday night starter, Alex Keudell, will take the mound looking for his eighth win of the season — and his seventh in as many starts. Keudell’s 1.87 ERA is the second lowest in the Pac-12.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205382700@@
Jake Reed will once again be the Ducks’ Saturday starter. Reed leads the Ducks in opponents’ batting average and has tormented opposing hitters into hitting just .214 against Reed. Oregon has yet to name a Sunday starter, though Jeff Gold has filled that role since Brando Tessar was injured against Stanford.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205382700@@
Head coach George Horton said last week that Tessar could see limited action against Arizona, but he made no guarantees, calling that a “best-case scenario.”
Since Jones has returned to the lineup, the Ducks are 5-0, and even though his numbers haven’t looked great, Hortons said Jones is getting closer and closer to being the offensive weapon he was to start the season.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205382700@@
Horton also said that J.J. Altobelli could return to the lineup in an offensive role, similarly to the way Aaron Jones returned to the lineup as the Ducks designated hitter. In Altobelli’s absence, Horton has praised the consistent defensive play of Kevin Shepherd, who he said might stay in the lineup and move to third base once Altobelli is healthy enough to play shortstop.
The only hurdle left for that, Horton says, is for Altobelli to regain strength throwing the ball.
“He swung the bat and he looked like J.J. swinging the bat,” Horton said. “That’s the big hurdle, the arm.”
Oregon has two Pac-12 series remaining after this weekend, but neither Oregon State nor USC is currently in the top five in the conference. Horton said that’s no reason to assume they won’t be ready to play.@@http://pac-12.org/SCHEDULES.aspx#Standings@@
“The Pac-12’s a little unpredictable,” Horton said. “You think a team’s on the upswing or the downswing, then they turn right around.”
The Ducks have improved offensively of late and have scored more than five runs in two out of their last three games. No small part of that has been the production of Kyle Garlick whose home run Tuesday against Gonzaga drove in his 15th two-out RBI of the season, and his ninth in the last eight games.
The game time temperature for Friday’s game one is forecasted to be in the mid-low 90s, approximately double the temperature the Ducks played in at Spokane, but the Ducks don’t see that as an excuse.
“We have the most bi-polar weather in the country around here,” said Gold. “It can go from sunny to hail to sleet to rain then back to sunny. We’re kind of used to it.”
