No. 5 Ducks Head to Corvallis for Civil War Series

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 5 ranked Oregon softball team takes a 15-game Civil War winning streak into Corvallis this week for a three-game series at rival Oregon State, starting Thursday.

#5 OREGON DUCKS (25-5, 2-1 Pac-12)
Team BA: .328 | Team ERA: 1.02 | Runs Scored: 195 | Runs Allowed: 38
Recently: Took two games in a three game series with #3 UCLA two weeks ago
National Rankings: UO is No. 5 in the NFCA poll & No. 2 in the USA Softball poll
All-Time Series: Tied, 91-91-1; Ducks have won 15 straight vs. OSU (2013-pres.)
Last Year: The Ducks swept the three-game series in Eugene, outscoring OSU 22-2
Notable: The Ducks opened Pac-12 play with a 2-1 series win over No. 3 UCLA before having their bye last weekend. Shannon Rhodes belted a three-run walkoff homer in the third game of the series vs. the Bruins to clinch the series win. Jenna Lilley (.443) and Alexis Mack (.429) rank third and fifth, respectively, in the Pac-12 in batting average. As a team, Oregon is fourth in the NCAA and second in the Pac-12 with a 1.02 ERA and 13th in the NCAA and third in the league with a .328 batting average. UO leads the NCAA with a 6.76-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Pitchers Miranda Elish (0.70) and Megan Kleist (0.90) are first and fifth in the Pac-12 in ERA.

OREGON STATE BEAVERS (19-13, 2-4 Pac-12)
Team BA: .269 | Team ERA: 2.46 | Runs Scored: 141 | Runs Allowed: 110
Recently: Swept by #4 UCLA after opening Pac-12 play by taking 2-of-3 vs. #16 Cal
National Rankings: Receiving votes in the NFCA poll & No. 25 in USA Softball poll
Head Coach: Laura Berg (Sixth Season)
Notable: Oregon State is in the middle of a tough stretch, going 2-4 against California and UCLA with the No. 5 ranked Ducks and No. 8 Sun Devils coming up. Jessica Garcia (.303) and McKenna Arriola (.300) are the only two regular starters hitting better than .300. Pitcher Mariah Mazon is 8-8 with a 2.45 ERA in a team-high 97.1 innings pitched. She has 75 strikeouts compared to 21 walks. Oregon State has made a league-worst 48 errors this season. The Ducks have made just 22. Oregon State has also allowed 23 stolen bases, the second most given up in the Pac-12.

TV INFO
All three of Oregon's games against Oregon State will be broadcast live on Pac-12 National and Pac-12 Oregon. Ann Schatz (pxp) and Danielle Lawrie (analyst) will be on the call for the three-game series.

RADIO INFO
KWVA 88.1 FM will air each of Oregon's games against OSU. Fans outside of Eugene can stream the broadcast at kwva.uoregon.edu/listen-live.

CIVIL WAR HISTORY
- Thursday's series opener will be the 184th meeting of the softball Civil War. OSU leads the all-time series, 91-91-1. UO tied up the series with a sweep last year.
- UO has won 15 straight games against OSU, sweeping five consecutive series.
- In the Ducks' current 15-game winning streak against Oregon State, Oregon has outscored OSU 142-26 with nine run-rule wins and eight shutouts.
- Last year the Ducks swept Oregon State in Eugene. Oregon outscored OSU, 22-2, over the series. The Ducks won the first game, 8-0 in five innings. Oregon then defeated OSU, 7-2, in the second game and 7-0 in the third game.
- Oregon's current senior class has never lost to OSU.
- OSU coach Laura Berg has never beaten the Ducks.
- The Ducks are 21-3 against the Beavers under head coach Mike White (2010-pres.).
- Oregon's 18-0 five-inning win in Corvallis on April 14, 2014 was the largest win by either side in the history of the Civil War.
- The Ducks first played Oregon State in 1974, with the Beavers winning 13-7.
- Oregon's longest winning streak in the series is 23 games, spanning from 1988 to 1992.
- Oregon State's longest winning streak in the series is 17 games, running from 1981 to 1984.

THE CIVIL WAR'S CRAZIEST GAME
On March 4, 2015 at old Howe Field in Eugene, Oregon surrendered 12 runs against Oregon State in the second game of the series - then tied for the most ever allowed by the Ducks under Mike White - and were still able to run-rule OSU, 23-12 in five innings.
- Oregon's 23 runs scored set a new program record.
- Freshman Gwen Svekis set a new record with a whopping nine RBIs in the game, coming on a three-run homer in the first inning, a two-run triple in the third and a grand slam in the fourth.
- Svekis wasn't the only player to hit a grand slam, as Natalie Hampton hit one in the fourth for the Beavers.
- Each team hit three homers in the game.
- Nine different players drove in a run for the Ducks.
- Oregon set a program record by drawing 13 walks in the game. Alyssa Gillespie, Janie Takeda and Hailey Decker each had three walks.
- The teams combined for seven errors in the game, with five combined unearned runs.
- The five inning game took three hours and 18 minutes to complete.

TOP-25 STREAK
Oregon softball has been ranked in the top-25 of the NFCA poll for 127 straight weeks (preseason and postseason polls included). The Ducks climbed to No. 23 in week 10 of the 2010 season (Mike White's first season in Eugene) and have never dipped below that mark since.

TOP-25 FOES
The Ducks have played 11 times this season against top-25 foes, going 6-5 in those games. UO took 2-of-3 games against No. 3 UCLA to open Pac-12 play.

RHODES WALKS OFF VS. #3 UCLA
Sophomore center fielder Shannon Rhodes was the hero in Oregon's 3-0 win over No. 3 UCLA on March 19. In a pitcher's duel that was scoreless going into the bottom of the seventh, Rhodes blasted a walkoff three-run homer to center to give the Ducks a 3-0 win in the game and a 2-1 series win.

KLEIST TOSSES SECOND STRAIGHT NO-HITTER
Megan Kleist has two no-hitters this season, coming in back-to-back games. Kleist tossed her second career no-hitter but picked up the loss in a 2-1 defeat at No. 13 Florida State (March 4), suffering some tough luck after two unearned runs scored in the fourth inning on a HBP, error, fielder's choice RBI, walk and sacrifice fly. Kleist issued just the one walk with seven strikeouts. The Appleton, Wisc., native followed that outing with seven hitless innings, 12 strikeouts and no walks in a 5-0 win over Montana for her second straight no-no, with only an error preventing her from a perfect game. Kleist now owns three of the 29 no-hitters in UO history.

ELISH'S SPECTACULAR START
Miranda Elish has been remarkable to start the 2018 season. The sophomore owns a 0.70 ERA, which ranks No. 4 in the NCAA and leads the Pac-12. Elish is a perfect 11-0 this season. She is undefeated in her collegiate career at 23-0. The RHP has tossed seven shutouts and has gone the distance in all 10 of her starts this year. Elish has picked up wins against four top-25 teams this year. Her best outing was against No. 7 LSU, when Elish tossed a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts and just two walks. She also had 10 strikeouts in a five-inning run rule win over UTEP. In a tournament in Tallahassee, Elish tossed a two-hit shutout of No. 13 Florida State with eight strikeouts and two walks.

IN THE CIRCLE
- Oregon's 1.02 team ERA ranks fourth in the NCAA.
- The UO pitching staff as the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the NCAA this season at 6.76-to-1.
- Miranda Elish leads the Pac-12 and is fourth in the NCAA with a 0.70 ERA.
- Megan Kleist is fifth in the Pac-12 and 18th in the NCAA with a 0.90 ERA. Kleist's 11-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio leads the league.

AT THE DISH
- Oregon is 13th in the NCAA in batting average (.328), eighth in on-base percentage (.423), ninth in slugging percentage (.530) and 11th in runs per game (6.50).