The offense was a problem for the Oregon Ducks baseball team early in the season. The key word in that previous sentence is “was.”
It’s not a problem anymore.
The Ducks scored 15 runs on Friday, 13 more on Saturday, and eight in the series finale at Arizona. With the completed sweep, Oregon moves to 18-7 overall and 6-3 in Pac-12 play. They have also won nine straight.
Before this winning streak, Oregon had a team batting average under .230. Now it’s over .300. A big part is the resurgence of power hitter Jacob Walsh. The sophomore first baseman crushed three homers in this series, including an absolute bomb to right-center to give the Ducks an early 2-0 lead.
Oregon had a 7-1 lead and held on to win 8-5 in Game 3 against Arizona. It’s the second straight series sweep over Arizona for the Ducks.
Drew Cowley homered twice and drove in five while closer Josh Mollerus managed to get a five-out save for his fourth of the year. Walsh also homered. He might not want to return to Eugene after nine hits of the series, including a trio of round-trippers.
This series started out with a bang as the Ducks scored a season-high 15 runs and 22 hits in a huge 15-3 win. Sabin Ceballos led the way with four hits and four RBIs. Walsh hit a homer and Jace Stoffal threw seven solid innings for his third win of the season.
In Game 2, it wasn’t how coach Mark Wasikowski would have drawn it up, but a win is a win. Arizona scored 10 runs in the first two innings of the game and about 98 percent of the time, it would be over. But the Ducks were able to scratch and claw their way back.
Still down 11-5 in the seventh, Oregon managed to plate five runs to make it 11-10 Wildcats. Dominic Hellman and Rikuu Nishida each had run-scoring hits to cut the big deficit to just one.
In the top of the ninth, Oregon scored three runs to take a 13-11 lead and eventual win. Colby Shade’s double tied the game and Nishida’s single scored two more runs.
Mollerus came in to pitch a scoreless ninth for his third save of the season.
Now the Ducks come back home for a 10-game homestand beginning with a single game with Portland before hosting rival Oregon State, beginning on Thursday. The Beavers are 18-10 overall and 5-7 in conference action.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f27mq9z7hjgk6vc6 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]