It was advertised as a pitcher’s duel, and was it ever. Vanderbilt ace Kevin Ziomek turned in an absolute gem, striking out 13 Ducks in a complete game victory. Jake Reed was solid for the Ducks, but was ultimately doomed by giving up three in the second inning as the Commodores took game one of the three game series by a 4-1 scoreline.
The Ducks knew their chances would be few and far between with Ziomek on the mound but still nearly got on the board in the bottom of the first. Aaron Payne lined a screamer down the right field line for a double and stole third without a throw, but even with a runner 90 feet away and only one out the Ducks couldn’t strike in the first inning.
After blowing an opportunity of their own in the first, Vanderbilt put a two-out rally together in the second to take a 3-0 lead.
“Credit to them for really breaking it open,” Reed said. “That three spot was huge, and when you’re going up against a guy like (Ziomek) it’s tough to come back from.”
Reed would retire the next 13 batters he faced, but the damage had been done as Oregon would mange only one more hit all night. The hit however, was a giant one as Ryon Healy sent the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth well over the left field fence and even beyond the visitors bullpen.
Healy had known Ziomek from playing summer ball with him, but even with a solid scouting report the lefty was hard to hit.
“I was trying to do way too much,” Healy said. “You have to hit what they throw. You can know what pitch is coming but hitting you fail seven out of ten times and you’re really good, so it was one of those nights where he was just beating us a lot more than we were beating him.”
After the longball from Healy, Ziomek went to work. Not only would the Ducks be kept out of the hit column for the remainder of the night, they’d only end up with one more baserunner as the Commodores sat down 18 of the next 19 Duck hitters.
Garrett Cleavinger and Darrell Hunter split the last two innings after Reed’s seven inning night and held the Commodores hitless, though a string of ninth inning errors gave Vanderbilt an insurance run in the final frame.
The Ducks return to PK Park tomorrow for game two of the series.