Eugene, Ore. – Gabe Matthews hit a walk-off two-run home in the bottom of the 11th inning to give Oregon a 6-4 victory over Milwaukee Friday night at PK Park.
How it Happened: Kenyon Yovan walked to lead off the inning before Matthews blasted a 2-1 pitch over the right-field fence for the win.
Oregon (4-4) took an early lead in the fourth when freshman Anthony Hall tripled to right-field, scoring Matthews from first. Aaron Zavala followed with an RBI-single scoring Hall for a 2-0 lead.
The Panthers rallied in the sixth. After two singles and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases, Zach Nogalski doubled over the first base bag to clear the bases and give the Panthers a 3-2 lead. Milwaukee added a run in the seventh on a Nate DeYoung solo home run to left center.
The Ducks clawed back in the eighth. Hall, led off the inning with a solo shot to right field for the first home run of his career. Zavala followed with a single to left field and freshman Josh Kasevich’s sacrifice bunt put Zavala at second. Jack Scanlon scorched a ball to the right-side, which hit off the first baseman’s glove and trickled into the outfield, allowing Zavala to score from second to tie the game at 4-4.
The back end of the bullpen was once again lights out. Kolby Somers worked two scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th before Hunter Breault worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in top-half of the 11th before Matthews won it for the Ducks.
Box Score Notes: The home run was Matthews’ first of the season … Matthews’ two RBI moved him into a tie for sixth all-time with Aaron Jones (2011-12) in multiple-RBI games with 20 … Hall’s triple in the third was his second of the season … Smith hit in the leadoff spot for the first time in his career … Novitske, who batted leadoff in his first 63 career games, hit in the two hole Friday night … Somers has thrown seven scoreless innings over four outings.
On deck: Oregon will look to extend its winning streak to five straight on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader scheduled to starting at 1 pm. Junior
Robert Ahlstrom (1-0, 3.09) will take the mound in game one for the Ducks, and Peyton Fuller (0-0, 4.00) will start game two. Milwaukee will counter with LHP Jack Mahoney (0-2, 9.64) and RHP Mike Edwards (0-2, 10.38).
Quotable:
Hunter Beault:
On the winning streak and the bullpen:
“It was awesome. I knew that our bullpen would go out and get it done. Kafka went out and he had a great night. Everyone on the offense was swinging it really well today. I knew somehow we were going to get it done, but I didn’t know who it was going to be or who was going to come out with that big knock like Gabe does. He has done it here time and time again the past four years and has just been really clutch for us. I am just happy I got the opportunity to go out there and get that zero in the eleventh inning.”
Gabe Matthews:
On what makes this season different than other years:
“I mean it is different. The pitching staff is just getting out there for us and getting ahead in counts. They are just keeping us in ball games. Offensively we are not even close to there yet, and we are still winning games, and winning ugly and that is what it is all about.”
Coach Mark Wasikowski:
On getting some wins in close games:
“Well if you just keep doing things right, the wins usually start showing up. These guys are resilient. They come to work every day to practice, and that usually is what puts you to bed at night easily. If your guys are coming to practice, they want to practice and they want to improve, your chance of winning a ball game increases quite a bit. It’s been fun coming to practice with these guys because they like showing up every day.”
On Anthony Hall:
“We’re just fortunate we’ve got Anthony. It happened late, in August or late July, and he just happened to still be available and he turned down a pretty sizable offer from the Atlanta Braves and he’s a Duck. He’s somebody that the Duck fans are really going to appreciate coming to the ballpark to watch. He’s a big physical kid who can do a lot of things.”
