FRIDAY October 3,1997 we (Jnoles rack the Mariners for nine hits and six rims, giving Baltimore a shot at the AL champion ship series By David Ginsburg The Associated Press SEATTLE — As soon as Jamie Moyer took his first step off the mound, the Balti more Orioles began their march to another lopsided victory over the Seattle Mariners. Baffled by Moyer’s offspeed pitches for half the game Thursday, Baltimore went ahead immediately after the left-hander was forced out with an elbow injury. The Orioles rocked Seattle’s inadequate bullpen for six runs and nine hits, and their second straight 9-3 rout sent them home with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series. Baltimore can advance to the AL cham pionship series for a second straight year with a win Saturday in Game 3 at Camden Yards. The Orioles, who got homers from Harold Baines and Brady Anderson, are 9-4 against the Mariners this season. Seattle’s bullpen has a 10.80 ERA in the two playoff games, allowing 10 earned runs in relief of Randy Johnson and Moyer. Bob by Ayala was hit the hardest Thursday, yielding six runs in 1 1-3 innings. “Our bullpen threw the ball very well in September,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. "Right now we’re just not getting the job done, but that could change over the weekend.” With the Mariners leading 2-1 in the fifth inning, Moyer gave up a two-out single to Mike Bordick, walked Anderson on four pitches and threw a ball well out of the strike zone to Roberto Alomar. After a dis cussion at the mound with Piniella, Moyer left the game with a strained flexor muscle in his left elbow. That spelled trouble for the Mariners, whose bullpen blew 27 save opportunities this season. “We were kind of stymied by Moyer,” Orioles manager Davey Johnson said. “You don’t like to see a pitcher leave a game with an injury, but me, personally, I was glad to see him go.” Paul Spoljaric came in and Alomar hit a drive that glanced off the glove of a leaping Ken Griffey Jr. at the center field wall. The double scored two runs and put Baltimore ahead to stay. Turn to SEATTLE, Page 23A (( Our bullpen threw the hall very well in September. Right now ive 're just not getting the job done. D Lou Piniella Mariners manager Women head to OSU for crucial match After losing the last five matches, Oregon hopes to pick up its first Pac-10 win of the season in a Civil War match By Rob Moseley Sports Reporter Rewind to Oct. 18 of last year. The Oregon women’s volleyball team was mired in a six-match losing streak when Oregon State came to town for the first Civil War match of the season. In front of a McArthur Court record of 3,716 screaming volleyball fans, the Ducks won a hard fought five-game match, 15-9,16-14,12-15, 11-15,15-10. VOLLEYBALL Fast forward to this sea son, and the scenario seems eerily familiar. Oregon (7-7 overall, 0-4 Pacific-10 Conference) has dropped five straight matches, including the first four in the Pac-10, and travels to Oregon State (8-7, 1-3) Friday for what promises to be an immensely impor tant match. “Our team was in an almost identical situ ation last year, where we’d been through some tough weekends coming into the OSU (match],” head coach Cathy Nelson said. "We did a good job of peaking for that perfor mance and it really turned our season around.” The Ducks went on to beat the Beavers again in Corvallis a month later for the first season sweep of Oregon State by Oregon since 1989. Nelson knows that a losing streak presents problems, but she has faith in her team’s abil Turn to CIVIL WAR, Page 22A Duck Classic EMERALD Shanelle Kaneshiro is first up for the Ducks as Oregon seeks a second straight NCAA Tournament birth. Singles matches begin at 9 a m. Ducks to host national powers Oregon hopes to use the Duck Classic as a tuneup for the regular season By Joel Hood Sports Reporter With heavy rain expected to fall this weekend, the Oregon women’s tennis team will most likely move today’s Duck Classic tennis tournament to the covered tennis courts beside Esslinger Gym. For the second straight year, Oregon will host singles ^nd doubles action in a five-team tournament featuring three of the nation's top women’s teams. TENNIS "This will be a great start to the sea son,” head coach Jack Griffin said. “We’re looking at this tournament as kind of a tuneup for regular season later in the year; to get our players used to playing top-level competition.” This weekend’s five-team field in Turn to TENNIS, Page22A Oregon heads to Montana for Mountain West Invitational Ducks will face No. 5 Michigan, No. 17Arizona and No. 19 BYU in what could be one of Oregon’s toughest races of the season By Joel Hood Sports Reporter Call Oregon’s win last week at the Sundodger Invitational a sign of things to come, but players and coaches know it’s only the first step in a season long journey to get to the NCAA Cham pionships. “We might not be quite as deep as we would like,” men’s cross country head coach Bill Dellinger said. "But we have a good solid team that is high ly motivated to making it to the NCAA Championships.” Oregon’s next step comes Saturday as the No. 4 Ducks take on some of the country’s best in the Mountain West Invi tational in Missoula, Mont. Michigan, No. 5 in CROSS COUNTRY the country, returns two All-Americans from last season and is the highlight of the Ducks schedule this weekend. "This will be one of the toughest races we run all year,” junior Rob Aubrey said. “Michigan has a great team again this year, and there are a few other teams that could sneak up on us.” Along with Michigan, Oregon will have to compete with No. 17 Arizona, No. 19 B YU and a host of other schools that could move into the nation’s top 25 with good showings. “It is a real tough field, but we’re also very confident,” sophomore Laird Prosser said. Prosser, who surprised everyone with a second-place overall finish last weekend in his first collegiate cross country race, will be one of the Ducks expected to finish strong on Saturday. “I just have to do my best and put myself in a position to win at the end,” Prosser said. "When the racing really gets going toward the end of the race, that’s when I have to make my move.” "We’re going to be racing against some real quality teams this week end,” Dellinger said. "That doesn’t change how we approach each race. Everyone just goes out and runs his own race. "We have a tight group that usually stays close together. Last weekend our top six runners were only separated by 33 seconds. We need to stay close to the lead groups and finish strong together." On tap m WHO: No. 4 Oregon m WHAT: Mountain West Invitational m WHERE: Missoula, Mont. H WHEN: Saturday, October 4th.