A day following their stunning, ninth-inning comeback win over rival Oregon State, the Oregon Ducks went stagnant at the plate and crumbled defensively in a 4-2 loss.
The forgettable performance “perplexed” and “frustrated” manager George Horton.
“If that was a Civil War, we’d all be dead—including me,” he said.
The Beavers showed up for Saturday’s battle with vengeance fresh in their minds. Their offense placed Oregon pitcher David Peterson in hot water right off the bat, drawing first blood in the opening frame.
Peterson was able to work his way out of the inning with only a single run on the board.
Oregon’s Phil Craig-St. Louis’s  groundout scored Matt Eureste in the bottom half of the first. Oregon State starter David Rasmussen then balked with runners on first and third, gift-wrapping the go-ahead run for Oregon.
The lead, however, was short-lived. In the second, Peterson walked the bases loaded, setting the table for K.J. Harrison, who’s hitting .368 with seven homers this season.
Peterson came within a strike of escaping the jam unscathed. Instead, Harrison cracked a bases-clearing doubles over St. Louis’s head in left field, putting Oregon State back on top, 4-2. Peterson walked his fourth batter and was subsequently pulled from the game, having allowed two hits and four runs (three earned).
“After the double, I’d seen enough,” Horton said. “[Peterson]’s got crazy movement and crazy stuff, but if it doesn’t go over the plate it doesn’t do any good.”
Cooper Stiles pitched valiantly in relief of Peterson, lasting 5.2 scoreless innings and allowing just four hits. The freshman Rasmussen, however, earned the win decisively behind 6.1 innings of three-hit, two-run baseball.
Rasmussen, whose fastball peaked at 93 tonight, threw the first perfect game in Oregon State history in just his fourth college start, a 3-0 win over Washington State, four weeks ago.
Even with Rasmussen out, the Ducks couldn’t muster a hit off Mak Fox of the Oregon State bullpen, failing to reenact yesterday’s last minute heroics.
“I don’t like to call my guys out, but from the starting pitching perspective, the defensive perspective, the offensive perspective—I thought it was a pretty weak effort,” Horton lamented.
The Ducks committed four errors in the loss, but held Oregon State scoreless for the game’s final seven innings. Nevertheless, it Harrison’s three-run double in the second that proved the difference-maker.
Oregon (20-16) will send Conor Harber to the bump for game three at 2 p.m. on Sunday. He left his previous outing after just 1.1 innings due to tightness in his shoulder.
A victory in tomorrow’s Civil War finale would provide Oregon its first Pac-12 series win this season.
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