If the pressures of the postseason are weighing on them with each passing game, the Oregon baseball team certainly is not showing it.
The Ducks (27-21-1) cruised to a 6-0 victory over Gonzaga (29-15-1) Tuesday at PK Park, keeping their playoff dreams alive for at least one more day. In his first career start, freshman Brando Tessar earned the victory with six shutout innings, and the Oregon offense broke through with five runs in the sixth inning to put the game away.
With even one loss all but eliminating Oregon from the playoffs, Tessar’s first start was not without its fair share of pressure. Yet, the freshman insisted it was quite the opposite.
“We’re playing baseball right now,” Tessar said. “We’re having fun. This is the first time in awhile that our whole team as a whole has had a lot of fun, and we’re playing good baseball right now.”
Both offenses got off to slow starts in the early going, though Gonzaga threatened to break the scoreless tie in the top of the third inning by loading the bases with no outs. It was a perilous situation for Oregon’s young starter, but he managed to escape unscathed as sophomore third baseman J.J. Altobelli turned a double play from third to home, and a groundout to junior shortstop KC Serna ended the threat.
“I was nibbling a little bit,” Tessar said. “I had to get after it, get past, and I had a good defense behind me to make some sweet plays, J.J. (Altobelli) made an awesome play, and it helped me out big time.”
Oregon pushed across its first run of the game when freshman Ryon Healy grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice, and the Ducks would never relinquish the lead.
Tessar managed to battle his way through six scoreless innings, though he did issue four walks and missed numerous signs from junior catcher Brett Hambright. Mistakes were to be expected, but head coach George Horton made sure to credit Hambright for keeping the freshman starter in line.
“(Tessar) was walking the tightrope out there a little bit with his command,” Horton said. “He missed four (signs) in one inning, (which) makes it tough on the catcher. Brett Hambright did a spectacular job of picking him up, that could have been a wild pitch, wild pitch, wild pitch.”
As Tessar avoided any major mishaps, Oregon’s bats truly came alive in the bottom of the sixth inning. A single and two walks loaded the bases for Altobelli, who made the most out of the opportunity by lining a double into the left-field corner. Two runs came in on the hit, and a third scored when the throw home was misfired.
“I think he missed his spot,” Altobelli said. “It was a pretty good pitch to hit, so I just got the barrel to it.”
Junior second baseman Danny Pulfer singled to score Altobelli, and freshman center fielder Brett Thomas followed with a triple to push Pulfer across. All of a sudden, Oregon led 6-0.
“We had a lot of pressure in the innings before, and we just didn’t get that big hit,” Altobelli said. “And when we finally got that big hit, I think everyone kind of loosened up and started playing to our capability.”
The five-run explosion proved to be more than enough to carry the Ducks to victory. Senior reliever Kellen Moen came in for the final three innings to earn the save, capping off another encouraging night for an Oregon team that needs plenty of them.
For Horton, it was exactly the type of all-around performance he wanted to see. There was clutch hitting, steady pitching and, most importantly, rock-solid defense.
“J.J. and KC played spectacularly in the infield especially,” Horton said. “Got every out that was available. So that was really one of the bright spots, I think.”
Key stats:
6: Minimum number of runs Oregon has scored in each of its last six games
0: Number of starts for freshman pitcher Brando Tessar before Tuesday
14: Doubles for Danny Pulfer this season
Pitching and defense spur Oregon baseball to 6-0 victory over Gonzaga
Daily Emerald
May 16, 2011
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