Softball

Ducks open Florida trip with a sweep — Oregon opened a stretch of seven games over four days in Florida with a doubleheader sweep at South Florida on Thursday. Behind Megan Kleist’s third double-digit strikeout game of the season, the Ducks won the opener 6-1 at USF Softball Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Kleist struck out 10 while limiting the Bulls to two hits. Jenna Lilley, who led off the game with a double, and Alexis Mack each had two hits for Oregon. Mia Camuso drove in two runs. Miranda Elish picked up where Kleist left off in the Ducks’ 8-0 nightcap win. She struck out two in five scoreless innings to improve to 6-0. The sophomore has allowed one earned run over 37 innings this season and is unbeaten as a collegiate pitcher (18-0). Gwen Svekis and Cherish Burks homered for Oregon, which heads to Tallahassee for five games in the Unconquered Invitational at Florida State. The No. 6 Ducks (14-3) face the host Seminoles and Florida Gulf Coast on Friday.

Baseball

Texas university fires coach after Colorado comment — Texas Wesleyan University fired its baseball coach Thursday after he told a high school player from Colorado that the team does not recruit from the state because players there fail drug tests. President Fred Slabach said Mike Jeffcoat was fired both for his remark and amid an investigation into an NAIA violation regarding players’ eligibility. Jeffcoat said in the email exchange last month that his program previously decided not to accept players from Colorado, adding, “You can thank your liberal politicians.” Colorado voters in 2012 approved recreational marijuana use. Slabach said the university “does not discriminate on the basis of the public policy of any state.” Jeffcoat pitched 10 years in the majors before becoming head coach at Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth in 2002.

— From staff and wire reports