After his team arrived back in Eugene late Sunday night after a series in Los Angeles, Oregon head coach George Horton did not know what to expect during a Monday afternoon matchup with San Francisco. He was fatigued himself, and it was difficult to project how the players would respond to such a quick turnaround.
He needn’t have worried.
Oregon (18-16, 2-7 Pac-10) came away with a commanding 4-0 victory over San Francisco on Monday, bouncing back after a tough weekend series against USC.
“I commend our guys,” Horton said. “They went to class and showed up at 10:30, and they had a lot of life, a lot of energy. It wasn’t drastically different from what we’ve been doing, but the mentality was there.”
The Ducks wasted no time getting on the board in the first inning, as freshman third baseman Stefan Sabol doubled and Brett Thomas came in to score from first base. Junior second baseman Danny Pulfer added to the lead with an RBI double in the third, followed by a single from Sabol to plate yet another run.
“The best way to get out of a slump is just to get back out there and play another game,” Pulfer said. “I’m glad we came out; I’m glad we didn’t waste it.”
The runs forced San Francisco starter Jonathan Abramson to an early exit after just 2.1 innings. The bullpen took over from there and managed to hold Oregon at bay until the bottom of the sixth inning, when a sacrifice fly from junior Paul Eshleman pushed across the fourth run of the ballgame.
It would be all Oregon needed.
Sophomore starter Christian Jones threw six shutout innings before being replaced by junior reliever Scott McGough for the final three frames. For Jones, it was an encouraging sign after missing time with a nagging back injury.
“It was nice to get back out there,” Jones said. “It was fun, especially today when everything’s clicking, everything’s working well for the team.”
Horton was far more effusive in his praise of Jones’ performance.
“It was spectacular,” Horton said. “He looked like the old Christian, and good for us, because he’s awfully good and hopefully he’ll maintain his health and can help us through the second half of the season. He made it look awfully easy.”
Indeed, Jones was so effective that he likely could have pitched longer were it not for a cautionary pitch limit while he eases back into the rotation.
“I was just on a limit,” Jones said. “And we were playing well; it’s a midweek game; get some guys in there.”
For McGough, pitching the final three innings served as a welcome relief after such a disappointing weekend on the road.
“I just wanted to keep playing after (Sunday’s game),” McGough said. “It was a hard-fought battle down at USC. I thought we played well yesterday, just came out on the short end.”
The story was much different on Monday, and Pulfer said that perhaps it had something to do with Oregon’s opponent.
“It just seems like the guys are looser when we play (San Francisco),” Pulfer said. “I don’t know why, I think maybe we expect to win, I don’t wanna take anything away from USF, but it was nice to get a win like this where guys feel loose.”
Horton agreed, and he compared the feeling to playing wiffle ball.
“When you grow up playing wiffle ball against your brother or your friends, you don’t look at charts and so forth,” Horton said. “You say, ‘Brother, throw me that wiffle ball, and I’m going to hammer it.’ And we kind of used that analogy.”
The Ducks are back in action tonight against Portland in the third meeting of the season between the two teams.
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Oregon makes easy work of San Francisco, 4-0
Daily Emerald
April 18, 2011
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