For the second straight day, Oregon’s starting pitcher struggled. And for the second straight day, Oregon’s offense showed fight, overcoming the continuous pitching woes to pull out a victory.
After winning 14-8 on Saturday, the Ducks won 13-7 to take Sunday’s rubber game against Washington State. But a quick glance at the score doesn’t tell the whole story — especially on Sunday, when a disastrous first inning put them behind 7-1. Once again, the offense fought back and rallied, scoring 12 unanswered runs with the help of four bombs. Matthew Grabmann, Matt Dallas and Josh Mollerus also held things down in the bullpen to hold the Cougars silent after the first inning.
“The hits were coming, and the at-bats were really good,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “We got off to a really rocky start, which was unfortunate, but then we were able to overcome it, and it’s really nice to get a road series victory. That’s huge.”
It gave Oregon a win in its second Pac-12 series of the year, coming to an even 3-3 in conference play.
And it all started with a glimmer of hope from Rikuu Nishida.
When Nishida hit his first United States home run on March 5, it seemed like an anomaly. It was the kind of thing that happens just once, something so improbable that the thought of it happening again was not even worth discussing.
It happened again.
Perhaps there’s a little more juice in the bat of a guy who was said to have “20-grade power” before the season. He led off the game with his second bomb since coming to the United States, giving Oregon an immediate 1-0 lead.
But what should have been a triumphant moment for the Ducks was halted by a rough starting pitching performance. Jackson Pace faced nine batters and only recorded one out, giving up five runs before he was pulled. He surrendered four free passes and three hits, and only 18 of his 41 pitches were strikes. Carter Garate, starting at shortstop for the third straight game, also made an error in the middle of the rally.
Grabmann entered and walked the first hitter to force in a run. After a run-scoring groundout, Grabmann stopped the damage, ending the inning mercifully with Oregon down 7-1. The first inning of the game took 40 minutes.
At first, the Ducks struggled to regain momentum at the plate while chasing a six-run hole. With Colby Shade on second base in the third inning, Sabin Ceballos was called out automatically for stepping out of the box too long. Oregon went down quietly through the third inning.
Grabmann issued another walk in each of the second and third innings, but worked out of it with three strikeouts. The highly touted Canadian has been great at limiting hits in his young collegiate career so far; he just hasn’t found a way to control his high-movement fastball.
The Ducks chipped away in the fourth. Josiah Cromwick rocketed one into the trees for a two-run homer, cutting Washington State’s lead to 7-3. It was Cromwick’s fourth of the year, matching last year’s season total. He collected four hits on Sunday, raising his average to .333.
After Grabmann hit back-to-back batters in the bottom of the fourth, he was pulled from the game. He allowed five free passes, but only one hit in three innings of work. Dallas got the final two outs to hold the deficit at four.
The Ducks kept climbing back in the fifth inning, getting three runs on a Drew Cowley groundout and a Tanner Smith two-run homer. It was Oregon’s third opposite-field bomb of the game, trimming the deficit to one run. It also tied Smith with Gabe Matthews for the most hits in school history.
Dallas shut the Cougars’ offense down to hold the one-run deficit. He struck out the side in the sixth inning, working around Oregon’s fourth hit batter.
The beast was unleashed in the seventh as Oregon scored seven runs.
Shade started the rally with a single, and Cowley hit a double down the right field line to drive him in and tie the game.
Oregon took the lead on an infield single from Ceballos with the infield in. After back-to-back walks, Cromwick hit a two-run single, and Garate put the icing on the cake with a three-run shot. It was the fourth homer of the game for Oregon — all to the opposite field — and the first of Garate’s young career.
Dallas stayed in the game for the Ducks and dominated. He had his best outing of the year, going four innings without allowing a hit. He struck out five and didn’t walk anyone. He was finally pulled when the Cougars hit a one-out single against him in the eighth, and Josh Mollerus came in.
Mollerus got the final five outs to secure the 13-7 victory. The Cougars never scored again after the first inning.
Oregon (11-7, 3-3 Pac-12) will look to keep the momentum going in a four-game series against Northwestern State (12-7) starting Friday at 4 p.m. in Eugene.
