Oregon could only muster two hits off a strong South Dakota State pitching staff, but the two hits were all they needed for a 3-2 win in their first game of regionals.
“Mr. Healy comes through once again, Cleavinger gets a vulture win and Jimmie (Sherfy) gets a save. It’s pretty much groundhogs day,” Oregon head coach George Horton said of the typical fashion in which the Ducks got the win.
Oregon got a strong seven innings from Jake Reed, who gave up two runs, one earned, and took a close game into the eighth where they were able to hand the ball over to their dynamic duo of Garrett Cleavinger and Jimmie Sherfy.
The two took care of business and stopped South Dakota State from scoring.
“To Oregon’s credit, they’re a good team,” South Dakota State head coach Dave Schrage said.
Reed, after struggling much of the season and being demoted from the first starter to the third, had a rebound performance with the pressure on, giving up just one earned run.
It wasn’t the most dominant outing, for he had just three strikeouts, but he kept control of the game, holding the Jackrabbits to only two runs. More importantly, he threw seven innings. Reed has often times given up runs early, prompting a pitching change. When Oregon relies on bullpen arms other than Cleavinger and Sherfy, the wheels tend to fall off.
“I felt pretty good,” Reed said. “I thought I settled in as the game went on and got a little better. It was a big confidence builder for me to go out and have a big outing and a big game for us where we really needed me to keep us close in the game.”
The Jackrabbits were the hot team early, getting a run in the second and then again in the forth, that time courtesy of a fielding error at third base by Ryan Hambright.
The two runs looked to be the demise of Oregon. Layne Somsen, the South Dakota State starting pitcher, threw an incredible game. He went seven innings with six Ks, giving up just one earned run, two overall and one hit.
“Somsen was as advertised,” Horton said. “He was tremendous.”
However, it was Ryon Healy’s two-RBI double to left-center field in the eighth inning that made the biggest mark on the game. The inning started off with a lead-off walk to J.J. Altobelli. Somsen was pulled after 115 pitches and replaced by J.D. Moore.
Brett Thomas sacrifice bunted to push Altobelli to second, then Aaron Payne reached base by getting plunked for the 16th time this season.
Healy then stepped up and crushed a 90-mph fastball to the left-center warning track to get a double, easily scoring Altobelli and Payne.
“I was kind of surprised,” Healy said. “I saw him throw a lot of fastballs to Aaron Payne. He made a mistake with the fastball, kind of middle-in. I was able to get a good swing on it. I saw him hit Payne with a breaking ball so I had a feeling he wasn’t very confident with that pitch, so it kind of limited him down to one pitch.”
Sherfy came on in the ninth and put South Dakota State away. He struck the first batter out but walked Paul Jacobson, who then stole second. He got his fourth batter faced, Aaron Machbitz, to ground out to end the game.
“Getting the first guy out is obviously a huge advantage,” Sherfy said. “From last year almost loading the bases every time I threw I’m kind of used to it if I either get them out or don’t get them out. I think I do a good job of just forgetting if it’s bases loaded or a big situation.”
Tommy Thorpe will take the mound for the Ducks tomorrow when they take on Rice at 6 p.m. at PK Park in game two of regionals.