March 10, 2012

Rankings are from CBI Composite Poll

click here for complete list of scores

click here for Around the Bases

CBI Live: No. 17 Oklahoma 3, No. 12 Oregon 2

CBI Live
Good as Gold for the Ducks

By Taylor Gelbrich

CollegeBaseballInsider.com

EUGENE, Ore. – Gold still goes a long way, as West Virginia found out.

Oregon’s Jeff Gold (3-0) threw a complete game shutout with five strikeouts and only four hits in a 12-0 eight-inning victory over WVU in the Ducks’ second game of the Nike College Showcase.

The Ducks (11-2) had four players lead the charge for Oregon’s fifteen hits on the day. Eight different players tallied hits for the Ducks. Two players went deep for the Ducks, Aaron Jones had only one hit on the day, but it was a monstrous grand slam and Ryan Hambright (3 for 5) also went deep with his three-run blast. Finally, Kyle Garlick and Ryon Healy set the table for the Ducks all day as they combined to go seven for eight and two RBI.

West Virginia starter Pen Nakazato (0-1) took the loss as he gave up seven runs on eight hits while only lasting four innings. John Polonius accounted for three of the four hits for the Mountaineers (6-9).

Oregon struck early. After a leadoff hit by pitch and stolen base from J.J. Altobeli, the Ducks would tally one with an RBI groundout from Aaron Payne. After a fly out, the Ducks put another on the board with back-to-back doubles from Healy and Garlick.

The Ducks struck again in the third. After a Payne leadoff walk and stolen base, Healy hit a laser to left field for his thirteenth RBI of the year, putting the Ducks up 3-0. Garlick would follow suit again with a base hit on the hit and run, which gave the Ducks runners on the corners with one out. After a Garlick stolen base, Hambright launched a ball over the right field wall for a three-run homer. The homerun was Hambright’s first on the season as well as his first RBI.

Jones put the game out of reach with a grand slam in the eighth that gave the Ducks an 11-0 lead. After back-to-back base hits, Vernell Warren gave the Ducks a 12-0 lead after another base hit up the middle and that’s all the Ducks would need for the victory.