Since the start of the season, Oregon baseball head coach George Horton has talked about winning the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

On Tuesday night, the Ducks showed that they’d taken his words to heart in a comeback 6-3 win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Hunter Breault picked up the win, his first of the year, while Kenyon Yovan dealt his fifth save of the season. Calvin LeBrun took the loss for Gonzaga.

The win brings the Ducks’ record to 12-4 going into conference play, topping their mark of 11-5 from 2017. Over the last three seasons, the team has faced Gonzaga four times, winning two of those games.

“We were very frustrated,” Horton said. “Our guys had some resiliency and stuck with it – that was a big inning. Without that, I’d be in there yelling at them that we got dominated. We had the will to win, and they found a way to do it.”

Down 3-0 in the seventh inning, the Ducks made their move. After Gabe Matthews and Jakob Goldfarb walked to lead off the inning, designated hitter Dan Patzlaff stepped up to the plate and proceeded to rip a double into deep right field.

“It’s a pretty good feeling obviously, but I couldn’t have done it without the two guys getting on in front of me,” Patzlaff said. “I was just trying to put it in the outfield, hit a ball hard.”

The Zags managed to get the Ducks down to their last out of the inning but couldn’t close them out. Evan Williams added a double of his own to send Patzlaff home to tie things up. Kyle Kasser went on to reach base after his ground ball bounced off the foot of Gonzaga second baseman Carson Breshears, which allowed Williams to score the go-ahead run.

As if to add an exclamation point, Spencer Steer smashed a double of his own into deep left-center field to score two more runs. All told, the Ducks hit .417 with two outs and .556 with runners on base in the seventh.

The Bulldogs struck early, doing most of their damage in the first inning. Third baseman Ernie Yake led the order off with single to shallow left field, while center fielder Branson Trube followed up by poking a single into right field.

Stephens appeared to recover, retiring the next two batters on a fly out and fielder’s choice, respectively.

The Zags would gash Stephens for a pair of singles to score twice, opening up an early 2-0 lead. Over the next several innings, the Ducks went through four more pitchers – which Horton said the team had planned for – and collectively allowed just one more run.

In what has become a regular occurrence, it was the ace closer Yovan who took to the mound to defend his team’s lead. While he pitched two innings as opposed to his normal one, the sophomore star said that he’s always ready to go longer if needed. The Bulldogs looked like they might mount a late charge in the ninth, leading off the inning with back-to-back singles. Yovan clearly wasn’t phased however, and dealt three straight strikeouts to seal the win.

The Ducks will kick of Pac-12 play when they travel Phoenix to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils on March 16th.

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After losing their first meet of the season to Baylor, Oregon acrobatics and tumbling lost to the No. 4 Quinnipiac Bobcats and beat the No.6 Gannon Golden Knights in Sunday’s tri-meet. On their home court at Matthew Knight Arena, the Ducks finished the day with 272.23 points, while the Bobcats and Golden Knights had 274.585 and 271.93, respectively.

The Ducks are now 3-2 on the season with two meets left. While they held a lead going into the team event, a season-low score of 90.53 dashed the team’s shot at a sweep of the meet. A trio of falls were the chief culprit, knocking 4.5 points off the Ducks’ score.

“We just had a couple busts,” Ducks head coach Keenyn Won said. “It’s just about building confidence, drilling it in so that we don’t have something like this happen again for the rest of the season.”

Oregon has performed well in the compulsory event this year, but they struggled on Sunday. While their mark of 37.70 put them just behind the Bobcats’ 37.80, it fell more than a point below the Ducks’ season average of 38.717. The event has proven to be a key component of the team’s success, as the Ducks are now 0-2 in meets where they’ve lost the opening event, but 3-0 after winning it.

They bounced back in the acrobatics event, besting both teams with a mark of 29.35. The Ducks went on to win two of the event’s three heats.

The Bobcats jumped back on top before halftime in the subsequent pyramid event, however, with a score of 29.45 to the Ducks’ 28.80. Once again, Oregon’s score was below-average compared to the team’s efforts thus far in the season.

Out of the break, the Ducks barely lost the Toss event, their 28.85 coming just short of Quinnipiac’s 28.90. Still, they sat just behind the Bobcats’ event total of 125.30 at 124.70 — well within striking distance.

The penultimate event, tumbling, was where the Ducks made their move. After winning four of the six heats, Oregon took a narrow 181.70 to 180.625 lead over Quinnipiac with a season-high 57.00 points in the event. Senior Taylor Galvin shined with an impressive 9.85 in the six-element heat, an event she’s dominated during her run at Oregon.

While disappointed with the loss, Won noted that her team has proven their ability to nail key events in practice. It’s been translating that success to meet day that has sometimes stymied the Ducks. With just two meets left in the season, the team will get a chance to even the score with No.1 Baylor. For her part, Won is looking forward to having another shot against longtime the program’s longtime rival.

“We didn’t have our best meet against them. We definitely let them have that win in terms of our execution,” Won said. “We’ve just really gotta focus on execution and showing up.”

The Ducks will travel to Hawai’i to face the HPU Sharks on March 26th, before closing out the regular season again Baylor at home on April 8th.

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After giving up 12 hits to the UC Davis Aggies on Friday night, Oregon baseball’s pitching staff turned things around with a pair of shut-down performances in Saturday’s doubleheader.

The Ducks took both games by scores of 4-1 and 7-2, respectively, and allowed just eight hits total. James Acuna and freshman Kolby Somers earned wins for the Ducks. The victories, Oregon’s fourth and fifth wins in a row, guarantee the Ducks a series win regardless of the final game’s outcome.

“For 18 innings, we had some pretty good arms out here,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “It’s a pretty tough challenge for the opposition when those guys are out there throwing strikes.”

UC Davis got on the board first in game one when third baseman Tanner Murray scored on a fielder’s choice in the third inning. Despite hitting a batter, Acuna picked off an Aggies runner at first base and a subsequent fly-out ended the inning.

The Ducks didn’t wait long to even things up.

Shortstop Ryne Nelson scored when Kasser drove a single into center field. Center fielder Jonny DeLuca followed things up with a sacrifice fly that sent left fielder Evan Williams across the plate to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead before the Aggies escaped the inning.

The Ducks would score again several innings later. Designated hitter Dan Patzlaff knocked a single into shallow center field to score Jakob Goldfarb in the sixth, while Spencer Steer reached home on a wild pitch in the seventh.

Acuna allowed only two hits and one run in seven innings of work to improve to 2-0 on the season. Kenyon Yovan pitched two perfect innings in relief to pick up his fourth save.

After a brief interlude, the teams returned to the field for game two. This time, it was the Ducks who drew first blood.

Gabe Matthews launched a single down the left field line to score DeLuca in the first inning. In the fourth, Nelson poked a single to right to score Goldfarb and give the Ducks a 2-0 lead.

Somers, who pitched five shutout innings for his first collegiate win, was replaced by Hunter Breault in the sixth. Breault, another freshman, pitched 1.2 scoreless innings to hold the Aggies in check. Nico Tellache took Breault’s place to secure the final out of the seventh inning

Oregon’s scoring resumed in the sixth with a sacrifice fly from Taylor Travess that sent Goldfarb home yet again. Goldfarb finished the second game 3-for-4 and scored two runs. A Braden Stutzman suicide squeeze-play bunt brought Nelson home to extend the Ducks’ lead to 4-0.

In the top of the seventh, it looked like the Aggies might rally when Ryan Anderson smacked a long liner into right-center field with a runner on first. Unfortunately for him, Goldfarb made a spectacular play to chase the ball down to secure a sliding catch.

The Aggies managed to add a pair of runs in the eighth on a deep double to right field by Guillermo Salazar, but Ducks reliever Nelson shut the inning down with a trio of strikeouts.

Oregon responded with a double from Nelson (3-for-4, two RBIs in game two) to score Matthews from second, and continued to pile on with another pair of runs courtesy of an RBI double into deep center field from Williams.

The Ducks will look to complete their sweep of the Sunday at 12 PM.

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It wasn’t quite batting practice, but with 23 total hits, it was close.

In a game that saw both teams firing on all cylinders offensively, Oregon baseball managed to out-duel the UC Davis Aggies 5-4 on Friday night in Eugene. Ducks reliever Parker Kelly earned the win – his fourth of the season – while Aggies’ pitcher Daniel Barraza took the loss. Ducks second baseman Kyle Kasser led the way at-bat, notching three hits, one RBI and two runs on his four trips to the plate.

The Ducks now sit at 9-3 on the season, and have won five of their last six games at home. The team is averaging 7.5 hits-per-game, while allowing just under six to their opponents.

“Their guy had a lot of craftiness to him,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “But we had enough good at-bats to create some runs. Three runs for each team in the first three innings – that sets the tone for the kind of game it was going to be.”

Those early innings were indeed back-and-forth. The Aggies struck first with a double from Brad Pluschkell that was stretched into a triple on a throwing error from Ducks right fielder Jakob Goldfarb. The following at-bat, a sacrifice fly sent Pluschkell home, putting the Ducks in an early hole.

They battled back in the bottom half of the first, with Kasser threading a double into left field to open things up. Center fielder Jonny DeLuca looped a single into shallow right field to score his teammate and even the game. Aggies pitcher Matt Blaise managed to escape the inning without further damage, picking off Oregon third baseman Spencer Steer and forcing a groundout the next play.

From there, it was off to the races. Ducks starter Matt Mercer struggled most of the night, giving up 10 hits and all four of the Aggies’ runs. Fortunately for him, the team’s bats kept pace with their opponents.

With the game tied at 3-3 in the fourth inning, Kasser smacked a single into right field to score another run for the Ducks, giving them their first lead of the night.

When the Aggies got a chance to even things the next inning, they did. Ryan Hooper delivered an RBI single to right field to knot things up. Horton elected to replace Mercer with Jesse Hobaica, who allowed one hit before shutting down the inning.

The Ducks failed to score in the sixth, and left runners stranded in scoring position. The Aggies weren’t able to get on the board either after Kelly took the mound in relief in the sixth. He was effective, dealing seven strikeouts in his three innings pitched.

“I just try and go out there and do my job,” Kelly said. “My guys pick me up and score runs for us. We talk about dominating the seventh, eighth and ninth, and that’s what we did tonight.”

The winning run for the Ducks came in the bottom of the seventh, when a throwing error from Aggies reliever Daniel Barraza allowed Steer to score.

The Ducks will face the Aggies in a double-header tomorrow for games two and three of the series.

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SEATTLE – In Oregon women’s basketball’s loss to Stanford during the regular season, the Cardinal turned the Ducks’ 15 turnovers into 21 points.

On Sunday night, the Ducks flipped the script with 24 points off of the Cardinal’s errors on their way to a 77-57 victory in the Pac-12 Tournament title game.  

“I thought our energy was great,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “We decided to play them outside-in, and we did that.”

In a game that featured nearly identical stat lines from both teams, efficiency on turnovers was the key to victory for the Ducks. Stanford coughed the ball up 16 times, but Oregon wasn’t far behind with 13 turnovers. While the Cardinal couldn’t take advantage of the Ducks’ errors, a fired up Oregon team put 1.5 points on the board for each Stanford giveaway.

“I think it boiled down to we turned it over too much,” Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Stanford guard Kiana Williams added that Oregon’s length swallowed up space, causing her team to have to force bad shots.

It was Maite Cazorla and Sabrina Ionescu who led the charge in transition. The two combined for six steals, five of which they converted into points. Both flashed exceptional speed in transition, and Stanford struggled to keep up. In one spectacular moment, Ionescu turned the ball over herself, only to chase it down and score.

“Last time we played, we didn’t play our best, especially on defense,” Cazorla said. “We pushed the ball in transition, and we got them.”

Notably, the Ducks’ hustle on forced turnovers came after a grueling, physical victory over UCLA the night before. Conversely, Stanford was able to rest its starters after dominating Arizona State early in the game on Saturday. If Oregon’s squad was worn out, the difference in points off of turnovers didn’t show it.  

One of the team’s most lethal weapons in transition is guard Lexi Bando and her catch-and-shoot 3-pointer. While she had just one made 3-ball in the game, her teammates never hesitate to get her the ball.

“It’s automatic,” Cazorla said. “We know where she’s at, we know she’s one of the best 3-point shooters. So we just find her.”

The other key to the team’s turnover dominance was physicality. Players like Ionescu, Cazorla and Bando can chase opponents around the floor all day. Strong post presences like Ruthy Hebard and Mallory McGwire, on the other hand, were simply impassable.

The two sides of Oregon’s defense synergized spectacularly against Stanford. The height and length or the Ducks’ bigs forced poor passes, which Ionescu and Cazorla streaked across the floor to pick off. Ionescu in particular showed her vertical strength when she snatched some errant passes clean out of the air.

All season, the Ducks have frustrated opponents with their varied play, so it’s no surprise that even a talented Stanford squad struggled to lock them down. VanDerveer acknowledged as much after the game, and the Ducks’ performance throughout the tournament proved it.

Follow Aaron Alter on Twitter @aaronalter95

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SEATTLE —  You could call it old-school basketball, and you wouldn’t be wrong.

In a game that featured some of the college basketball’s most electric shooters, it was sensational post play from forward Ruthy Hebard that carried the Ducks to their 65-62 comeback win over the UCLA Bruins in the semifinal round of the 2018 Women’s Pac-12 Tournament.

The sophomore posted her second consecutive double-double of the tournament with 15 points and 13 rebounds – nearly half of the 31 boards the Ducks grabbed. Hebard has snagged 49 boards over the past five games, good for 27 percent of her team’s rebounds.  

Going into the game, there was little doubt things would get physical with two of the country’s best post players going head to head in forward Monique Billings and Hebard. When the Bruins took on Cal on Friday night, the Bears were unable to keep pace with UCLA without getting into foul trouble.

As a senior, Billings is adept at playing hard, but clean, basketball. Despite being just a sophomore, Hebard didn’t bite.

“I just try to get good position,” Hebard said. “We needed to get rebounds to stop this team on both sides, and I just tried to shove her under a little bit to get those extra one, extra two rebounds.”

It’s not the first time she’s matched up against a tenacious senior from a Los Angeles school. In the Ducks’ double-overtime win over USC in February, Trojans senior Kristen Simon pushed Hebard all game. It wasn’t enough to phase her then, either.

Early on, it looked like UCLA was going to dominate the boards. In particular, the Ducks were completely outmatched on the offensive glass, managing just four boards on that end in the first half. Hebard played tough on the other end, grabbing six defensive rebounds.

She was also instrumental in one of the Ducks’ key goals: keeping Bruins star Jordin Canada out of the lane. After torching Oregon for 14 points in the first half, Canada was held to just five points in the final period. While she’s deadly from the perimeter, the 5-foot-6-inch guard matches up poorly with Hebard’s 6-foot-4-inch frame in the paint, and it showed.

Her smothering presence inside forced UCLA to stick to jump shots in the second half, where they managed just 33 percent shooting from the field. In turn, that opened the door for the Ducks to come roaring back into the game.

The rebounds were only half of Hebard’s herculean effort, however. She had 12 of her team’s 22 points in the paint, while fighting through contact on nearly every layup.

The Bruins, like many of the Ducks’ other opponents, knew that they had to respect Hebard’s strength in the paint. On Saturday she proved that she’s nothing short of a force of nature – you can prepare for the storm, but sometimes, you just can’t stop it.

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SEATTLE – If there was any doubt about Oregon women’s basketball’s top seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, the Ducks smashed it with an 84-47 rout of Colorado in the quarterfinal round on Friday.

The win extends the Ducks’ win streak to seven games, and marks the team’s largest margin of victory over a conference opponent this season. The team has now reached the semifinal round of the tournament for the second year in a row. Oregon will play the winner of Cal and UCLA.

“We certainly anticipated a tough game today,” Oregon head coach Kelly Graves said. “I think that motivated us to come out really strong. Sometimes in the first game, there might be some tournament jitters – but I don’t think we had it.”

It was stellar shooting that powered the Ducks to victory, with 55 percent shooting from the field and 48 percent from downtown. By the end of the night, the team had tied the tournament’s single game 3-point record with 13 buckets from beyond the arc. Leading the charge were Satou Sabally (21 points on 72 percent shooting) and Lexi Bando (19 points, 66 percent shooting). The two were nearly unstoppable, and Colorado certainly didn’t have any answers.

Clearly, her first collegiate tournament appearance didn’t trouble Sabally.

“I was dialed in,” Sabally said. “My teammates were just all dialed in, so that made it easier.”

Defensively, the Ducks were equally impressive, holding the Buffs to just 31 percent shooting from the field. They also dominated the boards, out-rebounding Colorado 40-24.

The team’s normal scoring duo of Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthy Hebard didn’t add many points to the effort, finishing the night with just 10 and 11 points, respectively. They lifted the Ducks in other areas, with Ionescu adding 13 assists and Hebard grabbing 11 boards. Ionescu noted that having such a deep team give the Ducks numerous avenues to scoring, rather than forcing a couple of players to carry the team.

From the second the won the tip-off to the end of the game, the Ducks looked like a team on a mission. They opened things up with an 8-0 run in the first quarter before Colorado began pushing them.

The Buffs made a quick trio of 3-pointers, bringing them within five points of the Ducks. It was as close as they’d come to forcing a tight game. After a timeout from Graves, the Ducks stepped on the gas and never let up. Oregon closed out the first quarter on a 10-3 run, and entered the second period of play with a 24-12 lead.

They were just getting started.

The Ducks absolutely smothered the Buffs defensively, holding them to just six points. At the same time, Oregon unleashed an offensive barrage of 21 points to build a 45-18 lead by the end of the quarter.

While this wasn’t the first time the Ducks would enter the second half with a sizable lead, the team had allowed their opponents to claw their way back on several occasions.

“It’s been one of our weaknesses,” Graves said.

It wasn’t a problem on Friday. The Ducks hung 39 more points on the struggling Buffs to close out strong.

Follow Aaron Alter on Twitter @aaronalter95

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SEATTLE — After enjoying a first round bye on Thursday, Oregon women’s basketball will face off with the Colorado Buffaloes in the quarterfinal of the 2018 Pac-12 Tournament. The ninth-seeded Buffs are coming off a 66-56 win over Utah, and the one-seeded Ducks will look to hold off an upset bid.

Colorado played a solid game against Utah, particularly on defense. The Buffs had an impressive 12 steals en route to 19 turnovers, and held Utah to just 37.5 percent shooting from the field. At the same time, they shot 44 percent on the day. Buffs forward Annika Jank was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, while guard Kennedy Leonard had 15 points on the day. Both finished with eight rebounds.

When the Ducks and Buffs met during the regular season, Oregon won 74-55. Compared to their strong defensive play against Utah, Colorado struggled to contain the Ducks. Oregon gave the ball away just eight times, while turning the Buffs’ 14 giveaways into 18 points.

In an interesting wrinkle, this game pits Ducks head coach Kelly Graves against a former protegé in the form of Buffs coach JR Payne. Payne both played and coached for Graves, and the two have kept up a close friendship.

“It’s gonna be fun,” Leonard said in the post-game press conference after the Buffs’ win over Utah. “Obviously they’re the number-one seed and we’re the nine-seed, so there’s no pressure on us. They gotta stop us.”

Offensively, Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally led the way with a trio of double-digit performances against the Buffs. Ionescu also drained a team-high four 3-pointers, but the Ducks lost the rebounding battle 40-39.

While Colorado outscored Oregon in the first half, the Ducks locked the Buffs down on defense for the rest of the game. They went on to hold Colorado to a mere 34 percent.

Since then, Ionescu and Hebard have played some of their best basketball of the season as of late. Over the past four games, the two have combined for 149 points on 55 percent shooting from the field.

Additionally, the Ducks have an asset back in the form of Lexi Bando. While Bando’s minutes have been limited since she returned from a leg injury, her presence as one of the nation’s premier 3-point shooters will force teams to make a tough decision: do they double-team Hebard in the paint and let Bando shoot, or risk going one-on-one with a truly dominant post presence?

On paper, the Ducks are easily the favorites. This, after all, is the postseason — all bets are off.

After enduring a beatdown in front of their home crowd during the regular seasons, watch for the Buffs to play with a chip on their collective shoulder. Upsetting the tournament’s top seed would both avenge their previous loss, and move the team one step closer to playing its way into the NCAA tournament.

The Ducks should pull off the win, but watch for the Buffs to make them work for it.

Follow Aaron Alter on Twitter @aaronalter95

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They were held scoreless for seven innings, but the Oregon Ducks scored when it mattered most to pull out a 2-1 win over the Loyola Marymount Lions.

The win gives the Ducks (3-2) a chance to win their first series of the year when they face the Lions again on Sunday for game three.

Cole Stringer started the game for the Ducks and delivered a solid five innings. After allowing four runs in his last start, Stringer gave up just four hits and one run. Nico Tellache replaced him in the sixth inning before being replaced by Parker Kelly in the seventh. Kelly dealt two scoreless, hitless innings to pick up his second win of the season.

In the eighth inning, the Ducks backed up their pitchers with some offense of their own. It was Jonny Deluca who got Oregon on the board, sending Taylor Travess across the plate with an RBI single.

Gabe Matthews joined in with an RBI double in the ninth inning to score Spencer Steer. The Lions escaped the inning without allowing further damage, putting the game in the hands of Ducks closer Kenyon Yovan.

Yovan did his part, pitching a flawless ninth inning to secure his second save in five games.

The Ducks will look to close out the series when they face the Lions tomorrow at 6:00 PM

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It may have been the team’s lowest scoring effort all season, but Oregon women’s basketball’s 57-44 road win over the Arizona State Sun Devils was the team’s biggest victory yet.

On Friday night in Tempe, the Ducks (26-4, 15-2 Pac-12) guaranteed themselves at least a share of the Pac-12 title, the program’s first since the 1999-2000 season. The team’s 26 wins also mark a new program best.

Arizona State controlled the first quarter, jumping out to a 14-8 lead. Despite an electrifying performance from beyond the arc against UCLA, the Ducks were ice cold from deep and struggled to run their offense cohesively.

From the second quarter on, the Ducks would outscore the Sun Devils. A strong 16-point effort in the second period was capped off by a deep 3-pointer from Satou Sabally, and Oregon headed into the break down just 25-24.

The third quarter was where the Ducks break the game open, going on a 20-8 tear. While she didn’t score, Oti Gildon gave her team three rebounds and a steal in her limited floor time in the third period. After a layup from Maite Cazorla, Oregon headed into the fourth quarter up 44-33.

The Sun Devils tried to close the gap but every time they inched closer, the Ducks scored again. They managed to hold Arizona State to just one point in the final three minutes of the game to close the win out.

The Ducks lost the battle on the boards. However, they only gave the ball away eight times — one of their lowest numbers of the season.

With the conference title on the line, the Ducks will travel to Tuscon to conclude their regular season against the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday.

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