Oregon Ducks Baseball Vs. Washington Huskies Recap: Oregon's Off the Wall Win Clinches Series

Coming off a walk off win the night before, the Ducks may have experienced a bit of an emotional hangover early on. However, the Ducks and Tommy Thorpe settled in and Oregon won in a pitcher's duel 1-0. The win clinched the series for Oregon and now they look for the sweep tomorrow against UW. Tommy Thorpe (4-2) pitched 8 shutout innings, striking out 7 along the way and Jimmy Sherfy came on to record his 8^th save in a game where runs were at a premium. In the loss, Austin Voth (3-4) pitched a respectable 7 innings, allowing seven hits and the games only run.

Oregon was the first team to score for the second straight night. Josh Graham took the first pitch he saw and doubled off the fence in left, right about the same spot Ryon Healy hit his walk off last night. Packard would single up the middle and a sacrifice bunt from JJ Altobelli would give Oregon a 1-0 lead after 2 innings. It turned out to be all they would need. "I got a hard time for not putting it over, people telling me I need to hit the weight room," Graham said of his double, laughing off his team mates' teasings.

The story of the night though, was Tommy Thorpe. Of Washington's 3 hits, none of them made it past the infielders. Washington represented their strongest scoring threat in the first with runners on the corners and two down. Ryan Wiggins hit a hot shot down the third base line. "I thought the ball was actually foul. But [Minjares] played it out and it was a good dig by [Ryon] Healy." Coach Horton said of the game's defensive highlight. Kevin Minjares laid out on the third base line, snatching what looked to be a sure RBI grounder up the line and made the throw from his knees, ending the inning and the Huskies primary scoring threat on the night.

"Like I've said many times, as long as we have one more than the opposition, life's good. We feel good being 2-0 and now the objective is to get all 3." Coach Horton said after the game. Even though Coach doesn't feel Oregon had many opportunities to score, it's important to note that the Ducks had a base runner in all 8 innings when they came to the plate. On the other hand, Thorpe at one time had sat down 11 straight, challenging hitters with his breaking ball. The Ducks get the chance tomorrow to sweep the series in front of a Pac-12 Network audience. Oregon's projected starter is Cole Irvin (4-1, 3.69) Washington has not yet named their starter for the 7 O'Clock tilt.