EUGENE, Ore. – Chad Stevens had four hits and Sam Brown belted a three-run homer to lead the Portland Pilots to a 6-4 win against No. 19 Oregon Tuesday afternoon at PK Park.
Stevens finished 4-for-5 at the dish with two runs scored and a big two-run double in the fifth inning that plated the eventual winning runs.
Brown delivered a three-run dinger blasted over the right field fence in the third inning and was a triple shy of the cycle. Freshman catcher KJ Ruffo finished 2-for-2 at the plate with an RBI.
Junior right-hander Eli Morse shut the door on the Ducks (16-7) by going the final 2.1 innings scoreless innings with three strikeouts. He picked up his West Coast Conference-leading seventh save of the season.
Nick Nygard (3-0) earned the win in relief, surrendering just one run in 1.2 innings of work. Fellow reliever Peter Allegro also did good work out of the bullpen in his two innings, allowing one run on three hits with two strikeouts.
Pilot starter Jacob Dobmeier scattered four hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 3.0 innings on the mound. Oregon starter Isaac Ayon (0-1) took the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) in 2.2 innings.
Stevens got the Pilots going with a two-out single in the first inning and then scored from second on a passed ball two batters later.
Oregon took the lead back with a pair of runs in the second, but it was short-lived. After back-to-back singles from Henry Muench and Stevens to open the third, Brown took a 1-2 pitch deep over the right field fence for a 4-2 Portland edge.
The Ducks pulled one back in the fifth on an RBI-double from Gabe Matthews scoring Aaron Zavala, who finished the day with four hits to lead Oregon.
Stevens then provided the insurance with a hard line drive that got over the head of Ducks center fielder Robby Ashford scoring Muench and Jake Holcroft.
Zavala drove in a run with a double in the seventh, but Morse came in to strike out Matthews on three pitches to end the frame. The Ducks got two on in the eighth, but Morse induced an inning-ending groundout and then put Oregon down in order in the ninth to seal the victory.
Portland will get back to WCC play with a three-game series at BYU beginning this Thursday at 5 p.m. (PT). Visit PortlandPilots.com for live video and stat links.
