Oregon stays alive with 11-0 win over Rice
Published 5:00 am Monday, June 3, 2013
EUGENE — Ryon Healy had two doubles and a home run to lead Oregon’s 15-hit attack as the Ducks staved off elimination for the second time on Sunday with an 11-0 victory against Rice in the NCAA Eugene regional.
Eighth-seeded Oregon will face the Owls again today at 6 p.m. in the championship game, with a spot in the Super Regionals on the line.
The Ducks, who also beat San Francisco 6-1 on Sunday, lost to Rice on Saturday 1-0 to move into the loser’s side of the double-elimination tournament.
“Long day, but it does make it a little shorter that we still have one more to play,” Oregon coach George Horton said. “I’m sure Rice will get off the deck. Both teams are very prideful.”
Healy went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs for the Ducks (48-15), who torched five different Rice (43-18) pitchers for eight extra-base hits.
“I have no idea where all that production came from,” Horton said. “Hitting’s contagious.”
Healy got things going for Oregon with his 11th homer of the year in the first inning to put the Ducks up 1-0. Oregon scored three more in the fourth on an RBI single by Scott Heineman, a sacrifice bunt by Shaun Chase and a double by Connor Hofmann.
The Ducks went up 6-0 in the fifth following an RBI triple by Tyler Baumgartner and the first of Healy’s two doubles. They tacked on four more runs in the seventh and another in the eighth.
Oregon’s Jeff Gold (4-0, 2.50), in his first start since April 30 against Seattle, pitched five innings, struck out four and allowed just two hits and no walks. Darrell Hunter followed with three innings of no-hit relief, and Jordan Spencer allowed one hit before finishing off the shutout in the ninth.
After allowing a leadoff home run to San Francisco’s Justin Maffei in the opener Sunday, Oregon’s pitchers went 17 innings without giving up another run.