Ahlstrom, Matthews sweep Pac-12 honors

EUGENE, Ore. – Coming off a sweep of No. 21 Oregon State, the Pac-12 Conference named Robert Ahlstrom its Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week and Gabe Matthews the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Tuesday.
 
In four games, Matthews batted .636 (7-for-11) with a home run, four RBI, three runs scored and a double while finishing with a .688 on-base percentage and 1.091 slugging percentage. In the OSU series, he hit .625 (5-for-8) with a home run, three RBI, two runs scored and a double with a .667 OBP and a 1.125 slugging percentage.
 
Matthews became Oregon's all-time leader in career doubles with his 48th in a midweek game against Portland. He had multiple hits in three of the Ducks' four games, while having at least one hit in all four games. Matthews finished with a RBI in three of four games, including two in Oregon's Friday night win. He hit a solo home run in the fifth inning on Friday to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead, and added another RBI in the Ducks 3-run eighth inning that gave Oregon a 2-1 lead.
 
In Saturday's win, Matthews singled to lead off the second and came around to score to give the Ducks the lead for good. On Sunday, he drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning that tied the game at one. He also reached in the Ducks 3-run eighth inning that tied the game.
 
Ahlstrom earned his second weekly honor of the season with both coming after dominating performances against Oregon State. The Ducks' lefty held the No. 21 Beavers scoreless through seven inning before giving up a leadoff triple in the eighth and being removed from the game. He finished allowing a run on five hits with a walk and nine strikeouts in Oregon's win.
 
Ahlstrom got out of a runners on second and third with one-out jam in the second inning with a pair of strikeouts to end the threat with no runs allowed. He stranded five runners in scoring position over his first seven innings and lowered his career ERA against ranked teams to 2.08.
 
In Ahlstrom's outing earlier this season against OSU, he dominated from the first pitch striking out a career-high 10 batters while allowing just three base runners in seven innings with none of them advancing past first base.
 
Ahlstrom is the first Oregon pitcher to claim two conference weekly honors in the same season since Kenyon Yovan earned a pair during the 2018 season. In all, Ahlstrom is the fifth Ducks' hurler to earn multiple pitcher of the week honors in the same year, joining David Peterson (3 - 2017), Yovan (2), Cole Irvin (2 - 2013) and Alex Keudell (2 – 2012).