EUGENE, Ore. – The Vikings held their own early against No. 2 Oregon but ended up dropping a pair of games to the Ducks Tuesday night in Eugene, Ore. Portland State dropped the first game 3-1 before falling 8-0 in five innings in game two.
 
Senior IF Shae Nelson extended her season-high hitting streak to seven games after leading off both games with a hit. She is hitting a team-high .402 on the season and is hitting .522 (12-for-23) over her current streak.
 
Freshman OF Tayler Gunesch added a pair of hits herself, going 2-for-5 over the two games. She plated the Vikings' only run of the day in game one and was a perfect 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts.
 
Freshman RHP Emma Detamore had another quality start for the Vikings in game one. She gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the first but did not allow a hit until the bottom of the fourth. She allowed just three runs, two earned, on four hits in the losing effort.
 
Gunesch singled up the middle to lead off the top of the fifth inning. After stealing second, she moved to third on a groundout. SheaLee Lindsey singled through the left side to drive in Gunesch and tie the game at 1-1 heading to the bottom of the fifth.
 
Detamore worked around a one out walk in the bottom of the fifth but could not keep the Ducks scoreless in the sixth. After she hit the first batter of the inning, an RBI double to right center gave Oregon a 2-1 lead. Two batters later a sacrifice fly plated another run for the Ducks, making it a 3-1 game.
 
Gunesch singled to center with one out in the top of the seventh but the Vikings were unable to plate any more runs, as they fell 3-1 in game one.
 
Nelson led off game two with a singled but was eliminated from the base paths two batters later on a fielder's choice. The Vikings bats went cold the rest of the game as they managed to reach base only once more on an error in the top of the second. Oregon's Megan Kleist retired the final 10 batters she saw en route to her 11th win of the season.
 
Oregon plated four runs, two earned, in the bottom of the first inning. The Ducks picked up three more runs in the bottom of the third on a bases-loaded triple. They added a run in the bottom of the fourth to make it an 8-0 game before closing it out via the run rule in the top of the fifth.
 
Sophomore RHP Alyssa Burk was tabbed with the loss in game two after allowing seven runs, five earned, over 2 1/3 innings. She gave up four hits, walked three, and hit three batters.
 
The Vikings return home this weekend for a three-game Big Sky Conference series with the Southern Utah Thunderbirds beginning on Friday, April 7 at the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex in Hillsboro, Ore. First pitch of game one is slated for 1 p.m. PT.