Ducks took game two against Utah 5-2 on Saturday.

By Ethan Wyss

The No. 2 Oregon Ducks defeated the Utah Utes 5-2 to take series win in front of a roaring Jane Sanders crowd on Saturday night.

Miranda Elish started on the circle pitching a complete game, her season record now at 18-1. The statline from Elish wasn’t the regular one you will see from the standout No. 2 pitcher, but it was enough to get the win in this one. As she did allow seven hits on the night from a below-average Utah hitting squad, she struck out 9 of the twenty-eight batters she faced. The pitcher also saw some action on the plate tonight, as she went 1-2 hitting a single in the bottom of the 5th.

Utah struck first in game two, coming in the top of the fifth when Abby Robertson hit a two-run double to left center field, giving the Ducks their first deficit of the series.

“We want to win a championship, this isn’t how we need to play, the crowd was already into it at that point so it was easy to get energy in our dugout and that’s how we won the game,” senior Gwen Svekis said.

Those were the only two runs that came from the Utes as they struggled all night long capitalizing on their seven hits. The Oregon offense was unlike the one on Friday night, when the Duck scored six runs in the first four innings, Oregon didn’t see their first hit Saturday until the bottom of the 5th. That hit coming from the slumping Mary Iakopo, surged the Ducks to what became a four-run inning. Three batters later, Jenna Lilley hit a two-RBI single down the right field line, driving in Haley Cruse and Lauren Lindvall.

“That’s how you need to win games sometimes, the long ball isn’t always going to be there, sometimes you need to string together with what you got and that’s what we did,” said Svekis when asked about the six hits the Ducks put together in the 5th inning.

Later that inning, Svekis hit a two-run single of her own, pushing the Duck lead to 4-2.

The final run of the night came on an Alexis Mack single to shortstop to plate Iakopo in the sixth.

Oregon heads into game three, which will the team's senior night, looking for the series sweep. Seniors DJ Sanders, Lauren Lindvall, Jenna Lilley, and Gwen Svekis will be honored prior to the first pitch.

“This time went by way too quick, I feel like a freshman 5 out of 7 days of the week, but it’s comforting knowing we have a chance to play two more series here at the Jane,” Svekis said.

These seniors will play their final regular season game at Jane Sanders at 4:00 on Sunday. That game can be watched on the PAC-12 Network.

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