No. 23 Oregon has been looking for a dependable Sunday starter. Even amidst a stretch of success, getting three dependable outings from their starters in a given weekend has been a struggle.
Less than two weeks ago, the Emerald published a piece about why Matthew Grabmann should be the Sunday starter. This Sunday, for the first time since March 26, Grabmann got a start. And it worked — well, sort of.
Grabmann, after nearly a month in the bullpen, was only able to go four innings due to pitch count restrictions. But in those four innings, he was as dialed in as the Ducks have seen him. He teamed up with fellow Canadian freshman Turner Spoljaric, along with Austin Anderson, Matt Dallas and Josh Mollerus to hold Cal to three runs in a crucial rubber-match victory. All nine of Oregon’s starting position players recorded a hit, with Colby Shade collecting three and Rikuu Nishida hitting a home run. The Ducks came up with the series win, taking the final game 9-3.
The Golden Bears handed Oregon a run in the first inning, as third baseman Max Handron threw one away and allowed Drew Cowley to score all the way from first base. It sent Grabmann to the mound with a 1-0 lead.
With Leo Uelmen out of the rotation, Grabmann got his chance to earn some trust. And he did just that. In the past, Grabmann has struggled to throw strikes and has gone deep into counts, but he was much more efficient from the outset on Sunday. He got through three scoreless innings on just 34 pitches, working around a couple singles and a hit batter. Notably, he didn’t issue any walks, after coming into the outing with nearly a walk per inning.
On Oregon’s side, catcher Bennett Thompson worked a tremendous at-bat in the fourth inning, eventually lining a two-run double to drive in Sabin Ceballos and Tanner Smith. Cal then committed its second error on a ground ball from Anson Aroz, as first baseman Peyton Schulze missed the catch and the Ducks extended their lead to 4-0. It was the second run the Bears gift-wrapped for Oregon.
Cal got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, as Kade Kretzschmar hit a leadoff triple and scored on a wild pitch. The Ducks nearly threw Kretzschmar out at home, but Grabmann couldn’t make the tag in time.
Grabmann stayed locked in, refusing to let the outing spiral on him. He ended the inning with his third strikeout, his pitch count still at a brisk 55 — 37 of which were strikes. His outing came to an end there, with his innings not built up enough yet to keep going. It was still a big step in the right direction for the freshman. His command was drastically sharper than nearly all of his previous outings.
Shade followed Kretzschmar’s leadoff triple with a leadoff triple of his own in the fifth. He appeared to be thrown out on a fielder’s choice hit by Ceballos, but the play went under review and was overturned in favor of Oregon. Ceballos got the RBI, and the Ducks went up 5-1.
Turner Spoljaric replaced his former Team Canada teammate to start the fifth inning. After a pair of two-out singles, center fielder Shade leaped and robbed Kretzschmar of a three-run homer. It would have gotten Cal back within a run, but instead, all Kretzschmar could do was stare in disbelief and tip his helmet out of respect.
Spoljaric got the first two outs in the sixth, then allowed a single to Nathan Manning. Interestingly, it was the fifth time in six innings that the Bears hit a two-out single. This time, it came back to hurt the Ducks, as Spoljaric threw a wild pitch and surrendered a run-scoring hit to Nico Button. The brief rally cut Oregon’s lead to 5-2.
Anderson entered after Spoljaric’s two innings of work. He walked one while putting up a zero of his own, but then ran into trouble in the eighth. Two hits and another walk loaded the bases with one out, prompting Oregon to bring in Dallas.
Dallas induced two huge groundouts to third, preserving Oregon’s 5-2 lead and Anderson’s 0.49 ERA. In 18 1/3 innings this year, Anderson has walked a whopping 17 while allowing only six hits and one run.
In the ninth, the Ducks pulled off a feat out of left field — well, out of right field, to be precise. Nishida went deep for his third home run since coming to the United States, and his first to the pull side. Hits from Shade, Cowley, Smith and Jacob Walsh brought home three more, blowing it open to 9-2. Walsh knocked an RBI double for his first hit of the series.
Despite a seven-run lead, closer Mollerus came in for the final inning. He picked a good time to allow his first home run of the year, surrendering just a solo shot as he finished off the 9-3 win.
Oregon (26-12, 11-7 Pac-12) will come back home for two games against Gonzaga (14-21) this week on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by an important series against the Pac-12 leader, Arizona State (26-12, 12-4 Pac-12), this weekend.
