After a statement-making series against the Fresno State Bulldogs, the Oregon Ducks are ready to keep it going.
Today the team opens a short, two-game series against the Washington Huskies in Seattle, starting at 5 p.m. The games will not count for either team’s Pacific-10 Conference record, just toward their overall record.
Oregon (3-3) is coming off a series win against Fresno State, the 2008 NCAA national champion. The team won 1-0 on Friday, followed by a 7-1 victory on Saturday. The Ducks dropped the final game of the series 10-3 on Sunday, but junior center fielder Curtis Raulinaitis thinks the team proved it could compete right away, and he says the Ducks will try and build on the boost tonight.
“It was a good learning experience,” he said. “It was good to take two out of three wins on the defending national champs. We will come back Tuesday and fix what we need to fix.”
The Huskies (2-5) are coming off three straight losses at the Dairy Queen Classic in Minneapolis, Minn., including an 8-2 loss to UC Santa Barbara on Sunday. They have struggled so far defensively, with 15 errors through their first seven games, and although they are outscoring and outhitting opponents, the mistakes have cost them some close games.
One of those close games came against Fresno State in the opening game of the year. Washington played the Bulldogs in a three-game series in Fresno and lost two games to one, and it lost the first game 5-4 thanks to four fielding errors.
But freshman shortstop KC Serna won’t rely on the Huskies to keep on kicking the ball around.
“I am confident that we can play our game,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes, but we will play Oregon baseball.”
“They’re a good baseball team, and most importantly they are a Pac-10 team,” head coach George Horton said. “It will be a good measuring point for us. The Huskies play good baseball. We want to establish some kind of identity against them.”
The quick turnaround is another wrinkle compared to sports like football and basketball that usually have five days to a week to prepare for each opponent. Horton says that works to the team’s advantage, especially after a loss.
“That’s the good news about a compact schedule in baseball. You don’t have to wait a week to play again,” he said. “We get to get back on the horse against Washington and forget about Sunday’s loss.”
Today’s starter for the Huskies is sophomore left-hander Adrian Gomez. He has a 9.82 ERA and is 0-2 so far this season. He’s given up six runs in just 3 2/3 innings.
For the Ducks, freshman right-hander Madison Boer will get the start. He threw one inning in Saturday’s win against Fresno State, striking out one batter, walking one, and giving up no runs.
The second game of the series will start Wednesday at 3 p.m.
The Ducks will then come back to PK Park for a three-game series with Santa Clara, and Horton says that the team’s goal is to come back with a winning record.
“We are 3-3 now, and in my opinion, .500 is not good enough,” he said.
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