Jeff Gold tied the NCAA lead for victories (9-0) as No. 23 Oregon baseball bested Washington State 6-3 with clutch two-out hitting.
Five of Oregon’s six runs came with two outs, started by Steven Packard’s perfectly executed bunt with two outs to score Mitchell Tolman in the fourth. After Shaun Chase walked to load the bases, Austin Grebeck brought home all three runners on a double down the left field line, giving Oregon (30-10, 9-5 Pac-12) a 5-1 lead.
“The past couple of at-bats I hadn’t really proven that I could hit a fastball,” Grebeck said. “I knew I had a pretty good chance of getting a fastball and I was just ready to square something up.”
The Ducks added on in the sixth with another two-out RBI base hit, courtesy of Mark Karaviotis, who singled home Chase.
Oregon’s offense didn’t get off to such a hot start, however.
Washington State (17-18, 7-7) starting pitcher Tanner Chleborad (2-4) retired the Ducks in order through three innings and was in command until Oregon’s big fourth inning.
“He was pretty sharp early and we didn’t have spectacular at-bats,” Oregon coach George Horton said. “The kid was making good pitches. He had good stuff.”
Gold, meanwhile, wasn’t as sharp as usual but mostly got himself out of trouble.
In the top of the fifth, Gold was tagged for two runs after he gave up a hit, hit a batter and gave up a walk to load the bases with one out. After inducing a popout, Gold gave up a two-run double off the wall to Yale Rosen. Grebeck played the hop off the wall and threw to Karaviotis, who relayed the throw out the runner at home, saving a run and ending the inning.
“The big deal was Grebeck picking the bounce off the wall clean, hitting Karavitios and making an accurate throw and killing that inning right there because the two (runs) could’ve been more, so great defense right there,” Horton said.
Gold lasted seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits with a walk and two strikeouts. With the win, Gold ties East Carolina’s Ryan Williams (9-2), Florida Gulf Coast’s Michael Murray (9-0), Texas-Pan American’s Sam Street (9-0) and Liberty’s Trey Lambert (9-1) for the most pitching victories in Division I baseball this season.
“No, not at all. Not even a little bit,” Gold said when asked if he paid attention to wins standings.
Oregon clinched the series win over the Cougars and will conclude the series tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Noteworthy:
– The victory was George Horton’s 700th as a Division I head baseball coach.
– Gold walked one batter, bringing his total to five on the season. He currently holds a 9:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Follow Madison Guernsey on Twitter @guernseymd