Oregon’s pitching staff is in a dire state of uncertainty.
The Ducks’ ace, Jace Stoffal, has been out with an injury in his finger the last couple weeks, a stretch in which Oregon has lost seven of its last eight games. With the last regular season series coming up on the road against Utah this weekend, he’s likely going to be out once again, head coach Mark Wasikowski indicated Tuesday.
“All I’m told is he keeps progressing,” Wasikowski said. “He will be traveling with us on the road trip. He traveled with us to USC as well. We’re gonna make a decision on when he’s active and what’s going on when we get more information. He’s progressing. I’m a little bit skittish on the fact that he’ll be ready this weekend. I would bet that he’s not.”
Wasikowski added that Stoffal’s more likely to feel comfortable returning during the Pac-12 tournament, and that it comes down to a “feel thing” with him.
Oregon’s other injured starting pitcher, Isaac Ayon, is also on the mend with an uncertain status for this weekend. Wasikowski has been saying all year that he expects Ayon to return before the end of the regular season. On Tuesday, he said that Ayon has still passed every test and hasn’t suffered any setbacks, but he wasn’t confident enough to confirm he’d be pitching this weekend.
“Hopefully he can be available at least for the Pac-12 tournament,” Wasikowski said. “And then potentially — we have to play well — through a postseason run. So that’s what our intentions are.”
Reliever Austin Anderson, who owns a 0.47 ERA this year, has also been out during the last two series. Of the three injured pitchers, Wasikowski was most optimistic about Anderson returning against Utah.
“He’s been out for a couple weeks, and it’s hurt,” Waskowski said. “That’s a guy who’s got less than a one ERA for you, and him not being available is a big deal…. So far, I don’t want to jinx anything, but it sounds like he’s not only going to travel with us, but should be ready to go for this weekend.”
With a beleaguered pitching staff, Oregon struggled last weekend against Washington. Only a couple weeks ago, the Ducks had hopes of hosting a regional, but now they’re fighting just to make a regional at all. After losing two out of three to USC, they got swept by the Huskies, giving up 43 runs in the three games.
“One of the things you can’t control is injuries and who’s available to pitch,” Wasikowski said. “What is controllable is those that are pitching, with things that they can improve upon, and I think Coach [Jake] Angier’s clearly addressing those things with those guys. It’s been productive to look at the tape and review the tape with some student athletes, and seek for improvement.”
After reviewing the tape, Wasikowski conceded that a lot of it came down to good hitting rather than poor pitching. The worst outing of the weekend came from Jackson Pace, who started Saturday’s game, faced eight batters and failed to record an out. Pace wasn’t struggling with control so much as he was just getting hit around. Ultimately, Wasikowski thought the Washington hitters just did a good job hitting his pitches.
“I think [hitting coach Billy Boyer] did a marvelous job getting his hitters prepared, and they were hot. I think it’s really hard to keep hitters hot,” Wasikowski said. “I didn’t think Jackson Pace’s percentages were bad whatsoever. He got hit. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that type of inning before. I don’t want to experience it again on the wrong side of it. On the offensive side, I wouldn’t mind it. I think that’d be a lot of fun. I’m sure they had a lot of fun with that inning. But I think in that situation, it might have been a lot more to Washington’s credit than blaming somebody else.”
A similar sentiment was felt by Oregon left-hander Grayson Grinsell, a freshman who’s been one of the more dependable arms out of the bullpen this year. Grinsell pitched 2 1/3 scoreless frames on Sunday before allowing a run in the sixth inning.
“[The Huskies] just hit good pitches,” Grinsell said. “Every pitcher, looking back at the film, everyone made good pitches. But they just know how to hit, and they hit our pitches. Good offense beats good defense…. It can definitely get frustrating, but you kind of have to know you’re gonna give up hits here and there. You can’t be perfect all the time.”
Grinsell said the team was a bit down after Sunday’s 11-5 loss that completed the sweep, but they’re ready to get after it this week. At this point, the team is playing for a postseason spot, hoping to fare better in the Pac-12 tournament and eventual regional than they did last year.
“I think we still have a lot left to prove,” Grinsell said. “We know what we’re capable of, and really just enjoying the time we have left with each other because we only have five guaranteed games left.”
As tough as last weekend was, the Ducks have a chance to hit the reset button and end the Pac-12 regular season on a positive note. They’ll be taking on the last-place Utah Utes this weekend, looking to gain some momentum ahead of the second ever Pac-12 tournament.
Oregon (31-19, 14-13 Pac-12) and Utah (21-29-1, 8-18-1) will kick things off Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
“We need to get better,” Wasikowski said. “You’re just trying to recenter them and get them back onto the ‘now,’ really reflecting on the negatives and stuff like that. Reliving them over and over again to where it brings a negative feeling to a practice or whatever that’s gonna keep you from improvement is the devil. You can’t have it.”
