Oregon Diamond Ducks Win Their Series Against MSU

Our Diamond Ducks won their respective Game 3 matches against the Michigan State Spartans, winning their series in the process. Here is how it all went down:

Baseball Game 3 in East Lansing

With the first pitch at 8:35 am PT, you had to be up fairly early to see the start of this game, especially if you live on the west coast.

Jason Reitz got the usual Game 3 start and pitched well, lasting into the seventh inning before the Oregon relievers took over.

Whereas the Spartans did not score their sole run until the sixth inning, the Ducks scored one run in the second and third inning, respectively. In the second inning, Maddox Molony was hit by a pitch, followed by a double from Burke-Lee Mabeus to send him across home plate.

Oregon’s run in the third inning came as the result of a wild pitch.

The Spartans scored their one run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

Cole Stokes took over for Reitz in the seventh and pitched for 1.2 innings, giving up only one hit while waiving four.

https://x.com/OregonBaseball/status/1919086398394843356

Oregon’s final run came in the top of the ninth from a solo home run, courtesy of Anson Aroz , while Seth Mattox came to the mound in the ninth to close the game and retired the order 1-2-3.

Here is your final line for the game:

Coach Waz had this to say after the game:

Oregon baseball won their 11th series of the season and the first-ever against MSU. They return to Eugene this week for two midweek games against St. Mary’s. Those games will be on Tuesday and Wednesday evening and you can see them on B1G+.

Better yet, come to the ballpark for a game – the weather in Oregon will be beautiful this week.

Softball Game 3 in Eugene

Oregon softball doesn’t have to worry about sharing a Big Ten title. A Game 3 win over the Michigan State Spartans coupled with UCLA’s loss to Northwestern gives the Ducks sole ownership of the Big Ten title in softball.

If only it was that easy.

Lyndsey Grein got the start again, and ran into early trouble in this game, same as Game 1 of this series. The Ducks did not score in the first and second inning, and the Spartans hit the board first with an RBI double and single to get the 2-0 lead.

An MSU home run to start the third inning gave the Spartans a 3-0 lead, and Grein’s day was done.

The Ducks finally got the offense going in the bottom of the third inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, Kedre Luschar hit a single that brought two of the runners home.

Oregon scored another run off a fielder’s choice before Stefini Ma’ake capped the Oregon rally with a two-run shot that gave the Ducks a 5-3 lead.

The Spartans hit a homer in the fourth inning to close in on the Ducks.

Otherwise, Elise Sokolsky was keeping MSU at bay for the time being.

Emma Cox hit a solo home run in the B5th to extend Oregon’s lead by two runs, and Kedre Luschar added an RBI in the sixth inning to give the Ducks a 7-4 lead.

The Spartans added some drama in the seventh inning when they scored two runs and nearly rallied back into the game, but that’s all the damage that they did. Oregon won the game and series with the 7-6 final score.

Head coach Melyssa Lombardi shared this after the game and series:

Stefini Ma’ake came up big in the win, and was elated following the game.

Oregon softball ends the regular season with a 47-6 record, a Big Ten title, and are the #1 seed going into this week’s Big Ten tournament. The Ducks get the first-round bye and will play the winner of Wisconsin/Michigan.

That game will be an early afternoon start – at least it will be for those of us on the west coast – with first pitch coming at 1:30 pm PT. Of course, you can see it on the Big Ten Network.