In their first-ever meeting, the 0-4 New Mexico State Aggies kept pace with the 3-1 Oregon Ducks. Aggies’ starter Riley Barr was the man in charge of that, pitching six innings while allowing just one run. But the Oregon bats woke up late, scoring two runs in the final two innings, leading to its 3-1 win.
Oregon starting pitcher Cole Irvin wasn’t as sharp as he was in Hawaii, where he pitched four scoreless innings in just 43 pitches. On a 45-50 pitch pitch-count, he only lasted three innings, allowing one earned run and collecting one strikeout in 52 pitches.
“I’m going to take some of the blame,” Horton said. “I think I made him throw too many breaking balls, that’s not his style of pitching. He wasn’t getting ahead with his fastball. The report we got on (New Mexico St.) is that they’re aggressive early in the count and I think I got a little too tricky.”
In the top of the second, New Mexico State got on the board first. A leadoff single from Derek Umphres was followed by a successful sacrifice bunt from Daniel Johnson. With one out, Joseph Koerper singled to right and Umphres scored. Horton quickly offered his opinion to home plate umpire Scott Higgins.
“We thought possibly we could of had an out there,” Horton said.
A two-error inning from New Mexico State helped Oregon tie the game in the third inning. Jakob Goldfarb led off the inning with a single and was moved over to second via Catalano’s sacrifice bunt. Matt Eureste then reached base on a catcher’s interference from Kevin Carswell. Then, both Eureste and Goldfarb gained 90 feet on a wild pitch. Next up was Steven Packard, who dribbled a ball to third slow enough to get Goldfarb home and tie the game.
For the next 29 outs in the game, the score remained 1-1.
“Just a typical ball game here at PK Park at night,” Horton said.
Oregon finally broke through with another run in the seventh. Though, it looked as if poor execution may spoil the opportunity to take the lead. Karaviotis led off the inning with a walk, then Grebeck bunted a ball that resulted in Karaviotis being thrown out at second. Then, Grebeck nearly got picked off at first, which would have been the second time a Duck had picked off in the game.
“That inning could have gotten away from us,” Horton said.
But it didn’t and Eureste came up with the clutch two-out, go-ahead RBI single to left.
“I was looking for an off-speed pitch to drive the other way,” Eureste said. “It was an awesome feeling.I definitely got the pitch that I wanted and stayed with my approach.”
Then Shaun Chase stepped to the plate in the eight inning, and the “whammer” lived up to his name, blasting a home run to left field to pad Oregon’s lead to 3-1.
“We did just enough offensively to win,” Horton said. “I think Coach (Wasikowski) would tell you that some of the plays got away from us. (That) we could have done better.”
Oregon relief pitcher Conor Harber, who entered in the fourth inning, gave Oregon everything it could ask for.
In six innings of relief Harber pitched no-hit ball with eight strikeouts, only allowing two runners to reach base in his outing.
“The fact that he could finish and we didn’t have to go to (Garrett Cleavinger or Stephen Nogosek) sets us up a little better for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend,” Horton said. “I think he’s very difficult to hit, as I continue to say, I think he has a slippery fastball.”
Key plays:
-In the top of the second, New Mexico State’s Koerper singled in Umphres from second.
-In the bottom of the third, Oregon catcher Shaun Chase completed the strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to end the fourth inning.
-With two outs Matt Eureste knocked in Oregon’s go-ahead and winning run in the seventh on a line-drive single to left.
-Shaun Chase blasted a shot over the left field fence in the bottom of the eighth to pad Oregon’s lead.
Notable Stats:
Cole Irvin: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 K, 1 BB
Riley Barr: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Conor Harber: 6.0 IP, 0 H, 8 Ks, 1 BB
Shaun Chase: 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Matt Eureste: 1-2, 1 H, 1 RBI
Oregon resumes action Friday night at 6 p.m. against New Mexico State for the second game of the series.
Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly