It wasn’t a happy Easter for Oregon baseball. It was cold, wet, delayed and full of mistakes as Michigan State completed the sweep with a 7-4 final score on Sunday.
Oregon’s struggles began from the get-go. It took freshman starter David Peterson until the seventh batter to record the game’s first out. When he did, the score was already 4-0 after five hits – including a three-run home run – and a walk.
Oregon cut the deficit to two runs in the second. Phil Craig-St. Louis led the inning with a single and Scott Heineman followed with a two-run home run to left field.
Then, things went South, again. Jakob Goldfarb got picked off from first base with one out. Two hits and a walk followed the base running mistake.
“I don’t know what Goldfarb was doing. He’s jumping off first like it was a (steal). That was just a fundamental mistake, a freshman being aggressive doing the wrong thing, trying to get a jump,” head coach George Horton said. “You can’t get away with that at this level.”
Then, Mark Karaviotis, with two outs, left the bases loaded to end the inning.
In the top of the third, Peterson got the first two Spartans to start the inning. With two outs, Ryan Richardson singled to center field, but Nick Catalano misplayed the ball and had to chase it to the wall. The error allowed Richardson to reach third base easily. Anthony Cheky knocked Richardson with a single two batters later.
Oregon, too, scored in the third, on a fielders choice. Before they did, Mitchell Tolman was picked off third base for the first out of the inning.
Another home run in the top of the fourth put the game away for the Spartans. The two-run, right-field blast came from Ryan Krill – his fourth of the season.
“(Michigan State’s) got some big, strong guys in the middle of the order,” Horton said. “They made this ballpark look pretty small.”
Peterson’s afternoon ended after the sixth inning. He allowed seven runs (all earned) on 11 hits and struck out seven.
“(Peterson) got better as he went along,” Horton said. “(Michigan State) came out (and) swang the bats. Heck, I called the pitches and most cases I thought he excited pretty good pitches. A little bit lower, a little bit more in. But I thought he threw enough strikes and went after them. It just didn’t work out that way.”
Peterson only walked two in his outing.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Ducks had an opportunity to tie the game. With one out, the bases loaded and Craig-St. Louis at the plate, the junior hit a fly ball that carried to deep to left field. Catalano scored from third on the play. Heineman – who homered earlier in the game – then flew out to end the game.
“I hate to admit it, but once again we got outplayed,” Horton said. “They played and pitched much better than we did all weekend. We got swept fairly and squarely.”
Anthony Misiewicz picked up his second win of the season after 2.2 innings of relief.
Oregon plays next on Tuesday in Portland, Oregon when they take on the Portland Pilots at 3 p.m.
“We got to play a lot better to beat anybody,” Horton concluded.
Notable statistics:
-Oregon runners were picked off three times.
-Oregon was 6-17 with runners in scoring position.
-There was a 2 hour, 18 minute weather delay in the bottom of the eight inning.
Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly