Box Score
PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots led early, but the No. 22 Oregon Ducks would prevail 4-2 in a non-conference baseball game at Joe Etzel Field on Tuesday afternoon. Junior second 2B Riley Henricks led the Portland offense with a pair of hits, one of which was an RBI triple that gave the Pilots a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning.
But Oregon (35-18) responded with one run in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth to claim a 3-1 lead. The Ducks would add an insurance run in the top of the seventh after the Pilots made it a 3-2 game with a tally in the bottom of the sixth.
The Ducks used three pitchers on the afternoon with reliever Christian Jones (2-1) getting the win. Jones pitched 3.1 innings, allowed one run on three hits, struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.
Scott McGough didn’t allow a batter to reach base in the final 1.1 innings to notch his fourth save. He struck out one.
Freshman reliever Chris Johnson (3-3), who was charged with the two runs in the top of the sixth, is saddled with the loss. He was one of five Portland (31-17) pitchers.
Henricks’ run-scoring triple came during a scoreless game in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs and senior 1B C.J. Cullen on second base, Henricks sent a ball to deep center field that bounced off the fence. Cullen easily scored on Henricks’ third triple of the season. Portland’s next batter, senior C Rocky Gale, then drilled a ball up the middle that would have easily made it to center field had it not bounced off Oregon starter Madison Boer’s leg. First baseman Shawn Peterson then scooped up the ball and tossed it to Boer, who was now covering first. The ball just beat Gale to first in a bang-bang play to end the inning.
The 1-0 lead was short-lived as Paul Eshleman led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run to left field off of UP starter Keeler Brynteson, who had been cruising to that point. Brynteson then allowed a single before giving way to Johnson, who would get out of the inning without any further damage.
Brynteson’s final line was one run on three hits in 4.0 innings. He struck out one and didn’t walk a hitter.
With the score still tied 1-1 in the sixth, Oregon had runners on first and second with one out and its best hitter at the plate, senior C Eddie Rodriguez. Rodriguez came through with a tie-breaking, RBI single to right field. Johnson would settle down to strike out the next batter before senior reliever Ed Wakefield replaced him on the mound with runners on the corners and two outs. The Ducks were then successful on a double steal that scored Danny Pulfer from third to make it 3-1.
Portland briefly made it a one-run game in the bottom of the sixth when Gale brought home Henricks from second base with a single to left that pulled the Pilots within 3-2.
But the Ducks responded once again with an unearned run in the seventh. After a pair of errors, Peterson scored on a bunt by Marcus Piazzisi.
Oregon, which got two hits each from K.C. Serna, Steven Packard and Peterson, out-hit the Pilots 9-8. UP finished with three errors, while the Ducks committed one.
The game was the final home game of the season for Portland, which finishes the 2010 campaign on the road next week. After taking the weekend off, the Pilots will play the Washington State Cougars at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 26, in Pullman, Wash. UP, which has lost eight straight games, then plays a three-game, regular season-ending West Coast Conference series against Gonzaga in Spokane, which is set to begin on Friday, May 28.
