If you’ve been to an Oregon baseball game recently, it’s probable you didn’t go home happy. Of the Ducks’ last seven home games — dating back to March 20 — they have lost all but one.
Their record away from Eugene (4-3) hasn’t helped.
Before March 20, Oregon averaged 5.8 runs per game, allowed 1.15 errors per game and 3.12 earned runs per game. Those numbers have all worsened since.
In the next 14 games, the Ducks averaged 5.2 runs per game, 1.57 errors per game and 4.43 earned runs per game.
Though, the Ducks’ batting average has risen by .021 points.
“I thought we’d be worthy of it,” said Oregon head coach George Horton. “You’re certainly a lot more tired when things aren’t going well, as a coach, as a player. It might be a little bit too taxing on them, but it is what it is. We’re not going to change the schedule now. Maybe in retrospect down the road we don’t tackle too much of that, maybe we are welting in that field. These guys came to play baseball, came to coach baseball, so when you schedule something like that you think this is something we can do and going through it, especially with the negativism going on and the emotional getting knocked down, it’s taken its toll. No question about it.”
However, Oregon’s downward spiral began before this tough stretch. It was during the San Francisco two-game series that Oregon’s identity changed and has since remained.
San Francisco, who entered PK Park with a 3-12 record, swept Oregon in those two games. It was Oregon’s first (and second) loss of the season at PK Park.
The two losses were a catalyst for a March to forget. Following February, when Oregon won 10 of 11 games, the Ducks manufactured a 7-11 record in March. Their games were a mixture of non-conference and conference games and they won just one three-game series in the month, against St. John’s.
Since the San Francisco series, Oregon has gone 6-13.  It entered the series with a 13-2 record.
A major factor in the sudden slump is starting pitcher. Collectively, Oregon’s starters haven’t been able to go deep into games and therefore, keep Oregon in the game without relying on the bullpen — which has held strong through the tough spell.
Before San Francisco, Oregon’s starters averaged 5.58 innings per outing. That dropped to 4.42 when Oregon played the Dons on March 10. (These statistics don’t include Cole Irvin, who has been limited on an injury-driven pitch count).
“It’s been a grind, for sure,” starting pitcher David Peterson said. “It’s been tough for us. We haven’t played our best ball.”
As a result, Oregon’s rotation ERA spiked. In 19 games since the Dons showed up at PK Park, Oregon starters allowed 4.53 earned runs per nine innings. They allowed 2.58 earned runs in the 15 games prior.
Oregon begun playing Pac-12 opponents during this stretch. It is no question that the Pac-12 conference represents the elite of college baseball. However, Oregon has played against two ranked opponents this season – only one of them being from the Pac-12 (Arizona State).
The first of two came when Oregon played No. 22 UC Santa Barbara on the road at the end of February – Oregon won two of three. Then against the No. 16 Sun Devils, on March 20, the Ducks lost two of three at home.
But in both series, Oregon was the higher ranked team. And when Oregon played San Francisco, the Ducks were ranked in the top 10 in every single poll including No. 5 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
In other words, Oregon has yet to be the underdog in any game they’ve played all season.
Oregon was one of a kind, compared to other Pac-12 schools in terms of scheduling this year. Of the seven Pac-12 schools that played the week before conference match ups, Oregon was one of only three that opened conference play on the road – all three teams lost two of the three opening conference games. Additionally, Oregon was the only one to play that Wednesday, giving it only a day in-between traveling to Berkeley, California to play the Bears that Friday.
This heavy load was a trend Oregon continued.
Oregon has played eight out-of-conference games since the beginning of Pac-12 play, which is more than any other team. All other Pac-12 schools that have a baseball program combined averaged out to 2.8 non-conference games in the same time period.
Oregon, too, has traveled more frequently than any other team.
“(The purpose was) to get some guys some work, we didn’t envision, of course, having injuries on the mound. Especially when you need to win, you don’t want to go too deep into your pitching staff and nobody envisioned us having this tough spell where we’re losing a lot of games. We’re not dead yet.”
Currently Oregon, who was projected to finish second in the Pac-12, sits second-to-last (2-7) in the conference standings, only ahead of Stanford (0-9).
“We’re not going to quit. We’re going to keep working hard,” Horton said. “Sooner or later, if we keep pushing hard enough, we’ve got to think it’ll change. So we’ll see if we can get back on the horse.”
Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly

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