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Matt Eureste’s roller coaster ride from Houston to Oregon

In 2009 Matt Eureste played second base at St. Pius X High School in Houston as a sophomore. His older brother Ray, a senior, played shortstop.

The two found themselves just yards from each other in the Texas State Championship with the lead and two outs in the ninth inning. A fly ball to center field later, the Eureste’s were Texas state champions. Together.

Since Matt was 4 years old, he and Ray were inseparable.

“I consider him one of my best friends,” Ray said.

Now, the brothers were champions. But after that game, the two who had virtually followed the same path their entire lives, took two entirely different ones.

Following the 2009 state title game and graduation, Ray moved to Thibodaux, Louisiana to play baseball at Nicholls State — 315 miles away from Houston – where he’d stay for four years.

The next season, Matt batted .378 with three home runs — earning first team all-district and all-state. He committed to play college baseball at Sam Houston State when the season was over.

But Matt, unlike his brother, took an unconventional path that included many stops along the way — ranging from different cities in Texas to New England. Now, he’s found home in Eugene, Oregon.

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Matt was born into a baseball family.

“We sleep and breathe baseball,” his father, Dan, said.

Matt followed in his brother’s footsteps. The brothers shared friends growing up. They played and competed with each other — both were shortstops. And when either had a travel tournament, the other came to watch.

“I wanted to follow after him a lot,” Matt said. “So whatever he did, I did.”

After one year of T-ball for Ray, Matt started playing.

“Matt was always trying to compete with (Ray),” Dan said. “He was always trying to catchup with the bigger guys.”

Matt had no problem adventuring to the higher level to play with Ray.

“He was more of a natural,” Dan said.

The two were competitive towards each other. Still, Dan “never saw them have a little scuffle.”

Front-yard basketball demonstrated the ultimate showdown. There’d be a winner, and a loser. But, according to Ray, whoever lost had to play another game.

Matt hit .420 with seven home runs in his final high school season and the Cleveland Indians drafted him in the 40th round in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft.

Even though Matt’s whole senior season was thought to lead to Sam Houston State, things changed. The coaches at Sam Houston State were leaving, and as a result, so too left Matt’s commitment.

He didn’t sign with the Indians, either.

“We had to go through some arbitration stuff to get him to another school,” Dan said. “Texas Tech picked him up towards the end of our baseball season.”

Matt was interested in going to Texas Tech. But, it was short lived.

Under Texas Tech head coach Dan Spencer, Matt hit the field in just 10 games his freshman season. He hit .333 with two RBIs.

In March 2012, he cut the extensor tendon in his left ring finger in an off-field incident — a season-ending injury.

Days later, Texas Tech suspended Matt for a “violation of team rules,” Tech officials stated. Specifics of the violation were not released.

“He learned a hard lesson,” Dan said.

Matt explained that “personal issues” and “getting used to college, finding my way” led to the violation.

Matt never played for Texas Tech again.

So he transferred to San Jacinto Community College in Pasadena, Texas and hit .262 with one home run, 21 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. But Matt’s lone year of community college eligibility came to an end.

His future was uncertain for the first time.

He began to look for his third school in three years, which was a challenge Ray never faced.

“I stressed to him about it — getting to play baseball is an honor,” Ray said. “You should always take advantage of it. When it’s over, it’s over.”

Matt caught the eye of a Cape Cod League scout after working out at a Boston Red Sox camp during the summer. He signed a 10-day contract with the Falmouth Commodores.

He suited up for 32 games.

Matt became a Cape Cod League All-Star — hitting .292 with three home runs in 32 games.

Oregon’s Shaun Chase and Garrett Cleavinger were also on the team.

“When I first met him I didn’t even know he went to a junior college, I thought he was another D1 player,” Chase said.

To Chase, Matt “raked” and played good defense. It prompted a call to Mark Wasikowski, Oregon’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.

Wasikowski first heard of Matt through Tom Arrington, a personal friend of Wasikowski’s and San Jacinto’s head coach.

But now he was hearing about him through Chase as well as Brad Stoll, an assistant in the Cape Cod League.

Wasikowski became focused on Matt. After losing players to graduation in 2014, third base was empty.

“He was doing great (in the Cape Cod League),” Wasikowski said. “We had a need.”

Matt, on the other hand, never talked to anyone Oregon-related before. Nor had he ever visited the west coast, let alone Eugene.

Matt’s family, too, “didn’t know anything about Oregon,” Dan said.

“I don’t know how it came about,” Dan said.  “It was kind of a shock to us.”

Despite that Matt had many other offers — and offering more money than Oregon — he still felt that Oregon was the school he wanted to attend.

“It was nice to see a kid that was that quality available as late as it was during the summer,” Wasikowski said. “We caught a break.”

As Matt’s junior season found its home, he, Chase and Cleavinger established friendships on the streets of Cape Cod.

“Shaun is definitely the best karaoke singer, by far, on the team,” Matt said. “We had a couple of karaoke nights out there in the Cape.”

In his first time on the west coast and in the state of Oregon, Matt is playing his first season at third base and as the leadoff hitter.

“I thank (Cleavinger) and Shaun every day for making this happen for me.”

Through 41 games, Matt is hitting .266 with 19 RBIs and 42 hits — tied for first on the team.

This past weekend when Oregon traveled to Los Angeles to play University of Southern California, Ray, Dan and two other family members, sat at Dedeaux Field, watching Matt in an Oregon uniform for the first time.

“I love it here, I thank god every day for this opportunity,” Matt said.

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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Oregon bests USC in 15-4 win

On Friday, Oregon scored four runs early, but then lost control. On Saturday, a seven-run second inning for the Ducks propelled them to a 15-4 win over USC in Los Angeles, California.

The first three Ducks in the second inning all reached base on two hits and an error by Trojan starter Kyle Twomey, who lasted just 1.2 innings allowing seven runs (two earned).

Later Nick Catalano hit a base-clearing double to right center, one of two Oregon doubles in the inning.

After Phil Craig-St. Louis got hit by the pitch and Scott Heineman walked, the bases were again loaded for Austin Grebeck.

Grebeck, on a 2-2 count, singled up the middle to score Catalano and Craig-St. Louis.

Mark Karaviotis, who led off the inning, doubled to score two more runs and force Twomey out of the game.

Oregon added another run in the third on a two-out, RBI-single from Mitchell Tolman.

Freshman starting pitcher David Peterson managed the Ducks’ early 8-0 lead through the fifth inning in his outing.

Oregon made it 9-0 in the sixth when Heineman singled home Tolman.

In the bottom half, though, USC was good for two runs on four singles.

If it hadn’t been felt already, in eighth inning Oregon threw its knock-out punch.

On four singles and two walks, the first six Ducks ran all around the bases, nearly. Five of those six batters touched every base (including home) in the eighth. Tim Susnera was left on base to end the five-run inning.

In total, Oregon collected 17 hits, 15 runs and only one error against the Trojans on Saturday.

Peterson (3-5) picked up the win in his 6.1 IP of work. He allowed 3 runs, 0 walks and struck out 8 batters on 79 pitches (56 strikes).

The rubber-match of the series is on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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Bantly: Oregon learns to fight in Civil War

Two wins against the Beavers won’t revitalize Oregon’s season.

The Ducks (21-16, 4-8) are currently 10th in the standings of a conference it was projected to finish second. Again, two wins against the Beavers won’t revitalize Oregon’s season.

But there is something that could bring them back.

The win on April 12 wasn’t pretty — two errors, two unearned runs from a passed ball and a wild pitch, a poor starting performance and a general lack of fundamentals.

And I think Oregon agrees that it didn’t play its best baseball on Sunday. And I could write about that, again. But I’m not.

I saw something in this game I haven’t seen in a long time.

When Oregon was down 9-3 in the third inning, my roommate said while watching the game with me, “God, this game sucks.”

At that point, I’m sure many would agree. However, I was intrigued. As mentioned: Win or lose, this game won’t change Oregon’s trajectory. It’s not that easy.

So I told my roommate why.

A great season isn’t made from a win-loss record. It’s made on resiliency.

I wanted to see if Oregon’s the blue-collar team who fights for every last breath. I wanted to see, if they were going to lose, how would they lose. I wanted to see the anger from the past month of defeat.

I wanted to see them fight.

And for the first time in a while, I did.

Head coach George Horton showed fight when he argued with the home plate umpire when Mark Karaviotis was hit by a pitch, but ruled otherwise.

When Brandon Cuddy hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third, I saw fight in Scott Heineman, the runner on base, when he flexed his arms together as if he went deep.

I saw fight in Cuddy, even more than his home run, when he hobbled on a hurt leg fielding an inning-ending, hard-hit ground ball.

Karaviotis showed fight when he leaped to grab a line-drive on the leg that was hit earlier.

In the second inning, Phil Craig-St. Louis committed an ugly error that cost his team a run. Then in the eighth, he smacked the first pitch of an at-bat for the go-ahead RBI. He fought.

In the final inning, I saw fight in Garrett Cleavinger while pumping 93-94 mph fastballs to strike-out the side and close the game.

But no player showed me more fight than Josh Graham. Graham, who caught the first two games of the series, battled and overpowered hitters in a 1-2-3 fourth inning, and continued in a 6.0 IP outing — the longest of his career.

Without Graham’s performance, Oregon likely remains in the pits of a slump.

Remember, two wins against the Beavers won’t revitalize Oregon’s season.

And I think Horton preaches it best.

“Baseball momentum is really only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher,” he said.

But it is sure nice to see Oregon gut one out, finally.

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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Oregon baseball walks off game one of the Civil War, 3-2

Game one of the Civil War came down to the bottom of the ninth, two outs, the bases loaded and a full count. The game’s entirety, down to one pitch. The man in the box is freshman, Kyle Kasser, who’s making his seventh at-bat of the season. The pitch? Ball four, Oregon wins 3-2.

Between Oregon State’s Andrew Moore – a Eugene native – and Oregon’s Cole Irvin, runs came at a premium.

“He pitched a great game,” Irvin said of Moore. “We only got two hits the whole night, that’s a credit to him and his work. It was a fun game.”

Both pitchers lasted into the eighth inning, Moore with the better numbers but lesser defensive support.

The Beavers committed four errors, all of which took responsibility for Oregon’s runs.

“We needed good starting pitching,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “Cole (Irvin) gave us that. He gave us some zeros early and let us run our offense.”

A fifth-inning single got Oregon State on the board. It came with two outs and from Trever Morrison, scoring Kyle Nobach from third.

In the bottom half, Oregon mirrored the Beavers. After a Scott Heineman double, one of Oregon’s two total hits, Mark Karaviotis reached on a throwing error from Michael Gretler. Heineman scored on the play.

Three innings later, with two outs, KJ Harrison hit a bloop single to right field that scored Jeff Hendrix from second, giving Oregon State a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, Oregon responded. Following a Heineman groundout, Shaun Chase pinch hit for Brandon Cuddy and worked a walk. J.B. Bryant then replaced Chase as a pinch runner.

In the next at-bat, Karaviotis was hit by the pitch, forcing Bryant into scoring position.

Josh Graham then lined out for the second out.

Next, Austin Grebeck grounded a ball to second baseman Caleb Hamilton who couldn’t make the play cleanly and continued with a throwing error, allowing Bryant to score from second. Hamilton was charged with two errors on the play.

Game tied.

Eureste then loaded the bases with a walk.

Nick Catalano, a righty, entered to pinch-hit, but Oregon State countered with a pitching change to Mitch Hickey, also a righty.

Kyle Kasser, a lefty, was called from the dugout.

Kasser, a 165-pound, 5-foot 10-inch freshman, worked the count full. Then, with the bat above his shoulder, he was awarded ball four.

Oregon wins, 3-2.

“Unexplainable, I don’t even know what to say,” Kasser said. “Crazy opportunity.”

A shaving-cream to the face soon followed.

“Got to love every moment of it.”

Oregon plays the Beavers again on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at PK Park.

Key statistics: 

-Cole Irvin: 7.0 IP, 9 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 5 K

-Andrew Moore: 7.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K

-KJ Harrison: 2-4, 1 RBI

-Kyle Kasser: 0-0, 1 BB, 1 RBI

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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The current state of Oregon baseball

If you’ve been to an Oregon baseball game recently, it’s probable you didn’t go home happy. Of the Ducks’ last seven home games — dating back to March 20 — they have lost all but one.

Their record away from Eugene (4-3) hasn’t helped.

Before March 20, Oregon averaged 5.8 runs per game, allowed 1.15 errors per game and 3.12 earned runs per game. Those numbers have all worsened since.

In the next 14 games, the Ducks averaged 5.2 runs per game, 1.57 errors per game and 4.43 earned runs per game.

Though, the Ducks’ batting average has risen by .021 points.

“I thought we’d be worthy of it,” said Oregon head coach George Horton. “You’re certainly a lot more tired when things aren’t going well, as a coach, as a player. It might be a little bit too taxing on them, but it is what it is. We’re not going to change the schedule now. Maybe in retrospect down the road we don’t tackle too much of that, maybe we are welting in that field. These guys came to play baseball, came to coach baseball, so when you schedule something like that you think this is something we can do and going through it, especially with the negativism going on and the emotional getting knocked down, it’s taken its toll. No question about it.”

However, Oregon’s downward spiral began before this tough stretch. It was during the San Francisco two-game series that Oregon’s identity changed and has since remained.

San Francisco, who entered PK Park with a 3-12 record, swept Oregon in those two games. It was Oregon’s first (and second) loss of the season at PK Park.

The two losses were a catalyst for a March to forget. Following February, when Oregon won 10 of 11 games, the Ducks manufactured a 7-11 record in March. Their games were a mixture of non-conference and conference games and they won just one three-game series in the month, against St. John’s.

Since the San Francisco series, Oregon has gone 6-13.  It entered the series with a 13-2 record.

A major factor in the sudden slump is starting pitcher. Collectively, Oregon’s starters haven’t been able to go deep into games and therefore, keep Oregon in the game without relying on the bullpen — which has held strong through the tough spell.

Before San Francisco, Oregon’s starters averaged 5.58 innings per outing. That dropped to 4.42 when Oregon played the Dons on March 10. (These statistics don’t include Cole Irvin, who has been limited on an injury-driven pitch count).

“It’s been a grind, for sure,” starting pitcher David Peterson said. “It’s been tough for us. We haven’t played our best ball.”

As a result, Oregon’s rotation ERA spiked. In 19 games since the Dons showed up at PK Park, Oregon starters allowed 4.53 earned runs per nine innings. They allowed 2.58 earned runs in the 15 games prior.

Oregon begun playing Pac-12 opponents during this stretch. It is no question that the Pac-12 conference represents the elite of college baseball. However, Oregon has played against two ranked opponents this season – only one of them being from the Pac-12 (Arizona State).

The first of two came when Oregon played No. 22 UC Santa Barbara on the road at the end of February – Oregon won two of three. Then against the No. 16 Sun Devils, on March 20, the Ducks lost two of three at home.

But in both series, Oregon was the higher ranked team. And when Oregon played San Francisco, the Ducks were ranked in the top 10 in every single poll including No. 5 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

In other words, Oregon has yet to be the underdog in any game they’ve played all season.

Oregon was one of a kind, compared to other Pac-12 schools in terms of scheduling this year. Of the seven Pac-12 schools that played the week before conference match ups, Oregon was one of only three that opened conference play on the road – all three teams lost two of the three opening conference games. Additionally, Oregon was the only one to play that Wednesday, giving it only a day in-between traveling to Berkeley, California to play the Bears that Friday.

This heavy load was a trend Oregon continued.

Oregon has played eight out-of-conference games since the beginning of Pac-12 play, which is more than any other team. All other Pac-12 schools that have a baseball program combined averaged out to 2.8 non-conference games in the same time period.

Oregon, too, has traveled more frequently than any other team.

“(The purpose was) to get some guys some work, we didn’t envision, of course, having injuries on the mound. Especially when you need to win, you don’t want to go too deep into your pitching staff and nobody envisioned us having this tough spell where we’re losing a lot of games. We’re not dead yet.”

Currently Oregon, who was projected to finish second in the Pac-12, sits second-to-last (2-7) in the conference standings, only ahead of Stanford (0-9).

“We’re not going to quit. We’re going to keep working hard,” Horton said. “Sooner or later, if we keep pushing hard enough, we’ve got to think it’ll change. So we’ll see if we can get back on the horse.”

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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Mitchell Tolman’s near cycle leads Ducks past Portland

Oregon has been in a slump for nearly a month and naturally haven’t exhibited much confidence. That wasn’t the case tonight as they put together an all-around dominate 11-3 win over Portland.

Everything seemed to click for Oregon. A combination of four pitchers held Portland to just three hits and kept them off the scoreboard from the third inning until the final out.

Offensively, Oregon was knocking hits all around the field. Mitchell Tolman led the surge, collecting four of Oregon’s 15 hits. He was one triple shy of the cycle.

Oregon got things going early, scoring two runs in the first inning with RBI hits from both Tolman and Brandon Cuddy.

But it was late in the game where Oregon’s bats were the most dangerous.

In the sixth, Oregon scored three runs on four hits, which established the final lead change of the game.

Oregon scored four in the seventh. The big blow came from the bat of Josh Graham – who blasted a three-run home run to left center.

Then, again, Oregon rallied for a multi-run inning in the eighth. The rally began and ended within the first three hitters. Tolman, with one out and Matt Eureste on second, homered to right field to score Oregon’s final runs of the game.

It was more than enough as the Ducks cruised to the win.

Cooper Stiles’ four shutout-innings of one-hit, three-strikeout ball was enough to earn his first win of the season.

Oregon will return to PK Park to face Oregon State. The series begins Friday at 7:30.

Key Statistics: 

-Mitchell Tolman: 4-5, 3 RBI, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR

-Brandon Cuddy: 3-4, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 2B

-Phil Craig-St. Louis: 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B

-Oregon bullpen: 7.0 IP, 1 H, 8 K

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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Kevin Farin responds to being dismissed from Oregon men’s tennis

On Monday, the Oregon athletic department confirmed junior Kevin Farin was dismissed from the Oregon men’s tennis team.

But according to Farin, that’s not exactly how it played out.

“That kind of is not really true,” Farin said. “I asked a day later if I need to come to practice and they told me no.”

“I assumed I was kicked off.”

Farin said it was at practice on March 21, before Oregon traveled to Los Angeles, California to play UCLA and USC, when the incident that provoked his dismissal occurred.

“I lost my cool on the court – I screamed and left,” Farin said.

Later that night, Farin texted head coach Nils Schyllander what time he should come the following day for Sunday practice, “because I was supposing we were going to have a meeting or something.”

“He just told me not to come,” Farin remembers.

Farin called Schyllander that Sunday and was told he “can’t continue with the team.”

Farin played in his final match for Oregon against Boise State on March 15.

Farin said that he had problems with the two coaches, more so with Jonas Piibor – Oregon’s associate head coach – than Schyllander.

“I’m not blaming them, I know they have their difficulties with their job,” Farin said. “I just feel like we could have dealt with the problems better. There was a lack of respect sometimes to the players.”

Farin felt that the players that weren’t in the lineup were treated differently than the starters.

“I didn’t really like how they treated some players on the team,” Farin said. “We talked about it, we had meetings about it and everything. It was just like a day-to-day struggle.”

Farin also said that the Oregon coaches made players play through injuries.

“Even if you’re pretty badly injured they’re going to try to make you play,” Farin said. “Which is not always a good solution. Which happened for me, I had a wrist problem and we didn’t deal with it correctly. That was two weeks before I had the issue.”

“I did things wrong too, I’m a pretty impulsive guy and I know sometimes I lose my cool, so I also take my responsibility on that. As a team we could have dealt better with some issues we had during the season.”

Schyllander and Piibor declined to comment.

Farin has completely withdrawn from the UO and is heading back to his home country of Belgium “at the end of this week or at the beginning of next week.”

“I’m taking a break from studies and in a year or something I (plan) to come back and play (at a) second division school somewhere just to finish my degree and play a good year,” Farin said.

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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Practice recap: Week two starts “sluggish,” Vernon Adams Jr. is in town

According to Oregon football head coach Mark helfrich, week one of practices went well. After reviewing film, Helfrich highlighted quarterback Jeff Lockie among other positions. But week two started in a “sluggish” manner.

“We tried to do an extra tempo setter to get Easter gravy out of our system,” Helfrich said. “Once we did that it was good. But we got off to a little bit of a sluggish start, and that can’t happen.”

Right now, the Oregon football team is focusing on “installation” until practice 10 of spring camp.

“That’s the biggest thing right now, especially for the young guys,” Helfrich said. “They kind of get something, check it off their list, and it might come back up two practices later and they might forget. That’s the mental toughness you have to get through.”

Redshirt senior Tyler Johnstone has stood out to Helfrich through the Winter and Spring, both from his eyes and ears.

“Tyler has been awesome,” Helfrich said. “He’s one of our most vocal guys and really was, other than Hroniss (Grasu), one of the best leaders on the offensive line before he had the nick. It’s never hard to hear Tyler out there.”

Vernon Adams Jr. is on campus, Helfrich confirmed, but as an unsigned player he can’t practice or anything like that.

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Oregon baseball’s slide continues, softball hits two grand slams to win road series vs. UCLA

-Oregon baseball lost all three games at PK Park against Michigan State this past weekend. The Ducks fell to 18-15 on the season and remain second-to-last in the Pac-12 at 2-7.

-Kevin Farin was dismissed from the Oregon tennis team, the Oregon athletic department confirmed Monday morning. Farin, a junior, played mostly in the No. 1 and No. 2 positions this season.

-Oregon softball went to Westwood, California and won two out of three games against the Bruins. In the rubber match game of the series, Oregon’s Janelle Lindvall and Koral Costa both hit grand slams in back-to-back innings behind the strong pitching performance from Cheridan Hawkins.

-On senior day, Oregon lacrosse survived to beat both Cal and the weather on Sunday. All of Oregon’s five seniors were given the start in their final home game of their careers. In their finale, 10 goals were scored by seniors.

-Amanda Smith, a four year rower, is the coxswain for the women’s club rowing team. The importance, she explained, is compared to that of the quarterback of a football team.

-Women’s tennis fell to No. 3 Cal on the road 6-1. Freshman Nia Rose was the lone point earner for the Ducks.

-In Oregon sand volleyball’s first dual meet of the season, the Ducks were shutout against Washington in Portland Saturday morning, 5-0. 

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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Oregon can’t overcome five unearned runs in 7-2 loss to Arizona

Five Oregon errors led to five unearned runs Friday night in the Ducks’ 7-2 loss against Arizona.

Oregon pitchers contributed three of the errors, including two from starter Conor Harber. Harber allowed seven runs (two earned) in 5.1 innings while recording seven strikeouts.

Oregon moves to 17-9 (2-5) on the season after the loss.

While Oregon’s poor defense fueled Arizona’s scoring, the Ducks’ offense couldn’t keep up. Oregon collected 11 hits – four more than the Wildcats – but struggled to manufacture scoring. The Ducks left 11 runners on base during the game.

In the eighth inning, Oregon left the bases loaded after rallying with two outs to manufacture a run to cut the deficit to 7-2.

Matt Eureste, Scott Heineman and Mitchell Tolman – Oregon’s first three hitters – combined for a single hit in 13 total at-bats. Brandon Cuddy and Jakob Goldfarb both finished with three hits for Oregon.

Arizona scored its seven runs between the third and sixth innings. The Cats’ big blow came in the sixth where they scored three runs and knocked Harber out of the game.

Oregon continues its road trip Saturday at 7 p.m. against Arizona.

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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