The No. 4 Oregon Club baseball team is off to a blazing start this season, winning its first 10 games before losing this weekend to the rival Western Washington Vikings 1-0.
Regardless of the loss to its most competitive league rival, the team is still confident in its ability to win anywhere and anytime.
“We needed a loss to prove that we weren’t invincible,” coordinator Jeff Frank said. “So now we’re prepared to take on anybody.”
The teams owes much of its success to starting pitchers Jay Tlougan, Bryan Hansen and Pepperdine transfer Peter Phillips.
In two games, Tlougan took a no-hitter into the final inning but lost it before recording the final out.
“Those guys are so good,” Frank said. “They’re 100 times better than anything I’ve ever been a part of. They know what they’re doing when they’re on the hill and it’s really fun to watch.”
The younger players on the team are contributing more so than in years past.
“Last year we had the young guys struggle,” Frank said. “We’d get out there and we wouldn’t know what we were doing. Our young guys this year have really stepped up and are doing really well. Matt Zabriskie stepped in at third base and filled in an All-American’s shoes,” he said, referring to Travis Chock.
Chock has been restricted to designated hitter as he recovers from offseason surgery, but he continues to lead the team in several offensive categories. Though Chock can be considered Oregon’s most dangerous hitter, he is not heavily relied on to supply runs.
“There’s always somebody that steps up every game,” Frank said. “We’ve had a lot of guys that have had big hits in the clutch.”
In standout games, the Ducks were able to come from behind against Southwestern Oregon Community College.
“They were really prepared to come and just beat us pretty handily,” Frank said. “The first game they took the lead and we came back and got a big lead and kinda shocked them.”
Oregon won the first game 9-4 and the second in extra innings with a score of 3-2.
“Those wins are really impressive because it was a team we played really well and the guys that are normally there weren’t, so our young guys had to step up and our pitching did an amazing job at shutting down some really good bats,” Frank said.
Despite the abundance of talented players, Frank said, the team can tend to lose focus during games and take for granted its superiority, which was the case during the second game against Western Washington.
“Our enthusiasm wasn’t there,” Frank said. “We expected them to roll over and just beat them without mercy, but we played like we were ahead by ten runs when it waszero-zero.”
Western Washington won with a walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“We were like ‘Wow, we lost,’” Frank said. “We didn’t even understand the fact that we weren’t winning and we didn’t play with that concern. It was really all a mental thing. We should’ve shown up and beat them ten to nothing but we weren’t in it mentally.”
Frank believes the team needs to continue to play to its ability and not remain so relaxed all the time when the team is in need of runs.
“You want to stay relaxed, but then you step too far off the gas and you don’t score,” Frank said. “We don’t think anybody can play with us and when we play our game, nobody can.”
Oregon is scheduled to face Lane Community College at Titan Field today at 1 p.m.