After falling to Cal State Fullerton by a final of 9-2 on Friday night, Oregon turned to freshman Matt Krook on Saturday in hope of bouncing back. The Ducks fell to the Titans 3-2 after the bullpen allowed the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, but the game was a lot closer than Friday’s matchup due in large part to the performance of freshman starting pitcher Matt Krook. The left-hander possesses arguably the most electric repertoire on the pitching staff, which Oregon fans were able to witness firsthand for the first time on Saturday.
“It was awesome to pitch at home for the first time,” Krook said, when asked whether he felt any nerves prior to the game. “It was a new experience and I wouldn’t say (it was) nerves. A lot more excitement than nerves and I think that showed in the first few innings.”
Krook ran into trouble in the second inning, giving up two runs on a single, two walks and a hit batsman. He needed 33 pitches to get through the inning.
After the third inning, Krook had to wait out a 23-minute rain delay, through which he put on a warmup jacket and tried to stay loose. When he came back out, he was unhittable, striking out the next five batters and retiring the final nine that he faced.
Krook had thrown 94 pitches through five innings, after which head coach George Horton considered pulling him from the game. But Krook talked Horton into letting him pitch the sixth, which took him to a final pitch count of 111 (66 for strikes).
The Titan hitters were able to run up Krook’s pitch count early, as each hitter worked a plate appearance of at least four pitches the first time through the order. Through two innings, Krook had thrown 53 pitches — only four of which were his signature slider.
“It didn’t feel great in the bullpen,” Krook said of his slider, “so I was just using my fastball more to try and get ahead.”
Horton noticed that Krook struggled a bit early on and indicated that his mechanics and rhythm appeared to be slightly off.
“He’s been sharper,” Horton said. “(He) didn’t have all of his pitches in the bullpen but what was unusual was that when the game started he didn’t pound the strike zone and ultimately that’s what created the problem.”
Without a great feel for his slider out of the gate, Krook admitted that he relied on the fastball more than usual on Saturday, especially with two strikes. Of his 111 pitches, he threw 85 fastballs – over 75 percent of the time. When he had hitters in a two-strike count, he utilized his heater 25 times compared to just 15 breaking pitches.
Despite not having the best command for his most devastating pitch, Krook was still able to keep Oregon in the game.
“Krook’s got good stuff and even though he was a little bit all over the place, sometimes those guys with his kind of stuff are hard to hit,” Horton said. “So he created a little bit of his own mess but he was good enough to throw some pretty nasty pitches. So that didn’t compound itself.”
Freshman Jack Kruger has caught Krook during all three of his starts and Horton indicated that he would likely continue to do so going forward. Kruger explained that it’s not just Krook’s sharp breaking pitches that make him so good, but also the late life on his fastball.
“Catching him is an adventure,” Kruger said. “He’s so filthy – it’s really incredible. I’ve never caught a guy like Matt Krook before.”
The final line from Krook was rather impressive, as he held the Titans to just two runs on three hits and struck out eight batters compared to two walks. Saturday was Krook’s first test against a ranked opponent and while he ran into trouble during the second inning, he faced the minimum in the subsequent four innings.
The Ducks ultimately lost on Saturday, but Krook showed why the Miami Marlins took him with the 35th overall pick in last year’s draft. On a night when he was without his best stuff, he was still able to hold the No. 5 team in the country to just three hits and two runs.
Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch