On Saturday, the first nine batters of the game scored. On Sunday, mercifully, only the first batter of the game scored. But it was enough to propel Washington to another win over No. 24 Oregon, handing the Ducks a sweep in their last home series of the regular season.
It was a back-and-forth affair that the Ducks let get away from them, falling short in an 11-5 defeat. The sweep was just the second Oregon has ever suffered at the hands of the Huskies, with the only other one coming in 2009.
“You got beat by a better club this weekend, and that’s just what it was,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “They executed pitches better, two-strike hitting better; we got outplayed by a team that was just better than us this week. And that’s the way it goes.”
Ducks starter Matthew Grabmann surrendered a leadoff homer to Cam Clayton. He settled down to strike out two and limit the damage there in the first inning.
Oregon struck back with a Jacob Walsh two-run homer in the bottom of the second, as he swatted one the opposite way to pull the Ducks out to a 2-1 lead.
The Huskies scratched one out in the top of the third, as Clayton singled, stole second and scored on a wild pitch. Grabmann got two outs, but couldn’t put the inning to rest, surrendering a walk and a single. That ended his day after 2 2/3 innings and 67 pitches.
“The young freshman guys, they’re out there giving you everything they can and have right now,” Wasikowski said. “I thought Matthew competed well.”
Left-hander Grayson Grinsell induced a groundout to keep the game knotted up. Drew Cowley responded with his 14th home run of the year — completely annihilating his previous career high of three — to put Oregon back on top, 3-2.
In the bottom of the fourth, Drew Smith walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on another wild pitch, as the Ducks tacked on a fourth run.
Grinsell retired six straight before falling into trouble in the fifth. A walk and a single put two on with two outs, but he got out of it with a groundout.
Oregon left Grinsell in to start the sixth. He gave up a leadoff double before getting pulled. Senior Matt Dallas replaced him, despite getting tagged for five runs Saturday night. He struggled once again, hitting a batter and then surrendering a go-ahead three-run homer.
“We’re limited on arms; there’s no doubt about it. And Matt’s been a go-to guy for us,” Wasikowski said. “He’s been a guy that’s been able to wiggle out of jams for us consistently throughout the year. He flat-out told us, ‘Give me the ball.’”
Dallas’s delivery appeared to change to more of a sidearm motion, and his fastball fell to 86 mph. The trainer came out to check on him, and he was pulled due to injury with a 2-0 count. Wasikowski did not have any further updates on his status.
Closer Josh Mollerus completed Dallas’s walk, then allowed three straight hits to extend Oregon’s deficit to 8-4. It was a tough day for the senior relievers on Senior Day.
The Ducks loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh on a walk and two hit batters. That brought Oregon’s 3-4-5 hitters up with the best chance to get back in the game.
Cowley hit a sacrifice fly to center field, chipping the deficit down to 8-5. But Sabin Ceballos hit into an unlucky lineout, and Tanner Smith flew out as Oregon managed just the one run.
D. Smith led off the bottom of the eighth with an infield single, extending his hitting streak to 10. Walsh rifled a double to left-center field, but with no outs, Smith tried to score and was thrown out at home. Josiah Cromwick popped out to first base in foul territory, and Walsh was thrown out trying to advance to third. The Ducks completely ran themselves out of the inning.
“It hurt us, and it hurt us at the wrong time,” Wasikowski said. “That’s not really when you want to be aggressive. But we’ve got young guys that are going for it, and they made mistakes. And so ultimately, that’s my fault. Instead of blaming somebody else, I blame myself. It’s unfortunate because we had some good energy going.”
Right-hander Jacob Hughes survived three walks in the eighth for Oregon, stranding the bases loaded. He came back out for the ninth and allowed a single and a walk, which prompted the Ducks to replace him with Dylan McShane.
The Huskies tacked on two more with a pair of wind-aided singles to left field. Oregon simply couldn’t catch a break. To make matters worse, a third run came in on a single up the middle, blowing it open to 11-5.
The Ducks got just a Colby Shade single in the ninth, striking out three times as they fell quietly into the late afternoon.
No. 24 Oregon (31-19, 14-13 Pac-12) will play its final regular season series of the year on the road against Utah (21-29-1, 8-18-1) starting Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
“So what do we do?” Wasikowski said. “We get back to basics, and we invest in the things that are just good fundamentals, and we work on them. We try to improve the deficiencies that we saw and get back on it for next week.”
