It’s remarkable how quickly things can change sometimes.
Oregon baseball looked to be limping into the end of a miserable, frustrating series loss to USC in Sunday’s rubber game. Caleb Sloan had a disaster of a start on the mound, and the Ducks’ offense was uncharacteristically quiet for most of the day. In desperate need of offense, Oregon pulled catcher Jack Scanlon after just one at-bat and replaced him with Josiah Cromwick.
The move paid off in dramatic fashion. Cromwick provided a monstrous three-run blast in the eighth inning that fueled the Ducks to a miraculous comeback victory, 7-6. The bullpen was dominant, holding the Trojans hitless after the fourth inning. It was the type of momentum-shifting win that fuels a team’s season.
Right-hander Sloan entered the day with 10 walks in 10 1/3 innings this season. He promptly walked back-to-back hitters with one out in the first. After recording a strikeout, he gave up a run-scoring single that put USC on the board.
The damage didn’t stop there as the inning quickly spiraled on Sloan. Another single added two more runs, and a two-run homer jumped the Trojans out to a 5-0 lead.
“You get kicked in the teeth there early, and you get emotional,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “Especially 18 to 22-year-old guys, they get emotional. That’s one of the learning lessons of the day. You play a nine-inning game for a reason.”
The Ducks got one back in the bottom of the frame, as Colby Shade singled and Brennan Milone doubled him home.
Tommy Brandenburg replaced Sloan after his rough first inning. It was Brandenburg’s first outing since his mediocre outing at Stanford on March 13. He gave up a solo homer that made it a five-run game again.
Brandenburg got into more trouble with a walk and a single, but right fielder Anthony Hall did a nice job cutting down a runner who tried to tag up from first on a fly out.
Brandenburg struck out the first batter he faced in the third but then gave up a single and another walk. Logan Mercado replaced him and got out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly out.
Mercado gave up just a single in a scoreless fourth, then cruised through a perfect fifth and sixth. He continues to earn himself a spot on this team.
“I was just angry. I was really angry,” Mercado said of his mentality while pitching with the team down 6-1. “Some antics the past few games fueled me to just go out there and pitch angry.”
Wasikowski said Mercado was the team’s player of the day.
“We had a bad first guy up [Sloan], and boy, it could have really gotten away from us had Logan not done what he did,” Wasikowski said. “He came in and he threw the ball over the plate. He had multiple pitches for strikes and brought a mentality that became infectious in the dugout.”
The Ducks threatened in the fifth. Gavin Grant worked a gutsy 3-2 walk, and Shade was hit by a pitch. Milone hit a grounder to third, and the Trojans made a bizarre decision to try getting the out at third. They were unsuccessful, loading the bases for Oregon.
Jacob Walsh grounded into a double play anyway, as the Ducks still couldn’t get a rally going yet. Josh Kasevich led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, but he was stranded at third. He was the seventh runner left on base by Oregon hitters Sunday.
Dylan Sabia followed up Mercado’s fantastic 3 2/3 innings of work with six up, six down of his own.
The Ducks’ offense finally showed some life in the bottom of the seventh. Grant led off the inning with another 3-2 walk, and Shade went deep to make it a 6-3 game. It was Shade’s third homer of the year and fourth time reaching base on the day.
Shade’s blast is what started to fuel the Oregon dugout with some energy.
“That was a huge momentum shifter,” Cromwick said. “The energy was unbelievable from that home run. Colby’s an excellent hitter. He’s awesome, and that was really clutch of him to do that.”
The script was flipped in the eighth. Kasevich led off with a single, and Hall drew a walk. With one out, Cromwick absolutely obliterated a three-run homer to tie things up at 6-6.
“I was just looking for a fastball,” Cromwick said of his mentality during that at-bat. “I just wanted to get on time to something. I was looking for something over the middle of the plate, and just trying to put a barrel on it.”
Two batters later, Tanner Smith followed suit with a solo shot, giving Oregon a 7-6 lead. The Ducks’ dugout exploded in celebration as the energy completely shifted toward their side.
“We’re never out of it,” Mercado said. “Considering our offense, some of the best hitters in the country on this team, you never think you’re out of it.”
Closer Kolby Somers shut the door with a perfect ninth inning. Oregon pitchers retired the final 17 batters they faced. It all started with Mercado’s dominant outing, which Wasikowski believes ignited the momentum shift.
“As [Mercado] continued to pound the strike zone, you could just feel a little bit more energy, a little bit more energy, a little bit more momentum, and it was all Logan Mercado today,” Wasikowski said. “Once he passed the ball on to the rest of the bullpen, Sabia and Somers were again electric.”
Riding this dramatic win, Oregon (16-7) will play two more games in Eugene this week against San Francisco (14-11) starting Tuesday at 4 p.m. They’ll then travel to UCLA for a weekend series.
