Free passes have been the kryptonite for this Oregon pitching staff.
The Ducks, coming off the heels of two extraordinary wins over No. 2 Stanford, went into Sunday’s series finale without a starting pitcher in place. They elected to go with freshman Tommy Brandenburg despite a shaky start last time out.
Once again, Brandenburg and company had trouble finding the strike zone. Despite outhitting Stanford 13-9, Oregon lost 10-6 because of 10 walks and three hit batters. The offense couldn’t make a miraculous comeback like it did Saturday, so the Ducks had to settle for winning two out of three over the Cardinal in their first Pac-12 series of the year.
The Ducks’ erratic tendencies on the mound are the main thing keeping them from being a top-25 team right now.
Brandenburg had control problems in his last outing against UC Santa Barbara, which caused Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski to temporarily pull him from the rotation. Those problems carried into Sunday, as he walked the first batter on four pitches. An error by Gavin Grant — with Drew Cowley sitting out a second straight day — and another walk loaded the bases with no outs in the first.
Brandenburg buckled down to limit the damage, despite still working behind in the count. Stanford got one run across on a sacrifice fly, taking a 1-0 lead into the second inning.
The Ducks immediately tied it up. Josiah Cromwick led off with a double and came around to score on a Sam Novitske groundout.
Brandenburg walked two more and hit a batter in the second, loading the bases once again. On a 3-2 count with two outs, the Cardinal collected their first hit of the day — a grand slam that put Stanford up 5-1.
Brandenburg’s day came to an end with a final line of five runs (four earned) on one hit, four walks and one hit batter in 1 2/3 innings. His stuff has been tough to hit when it’s in the strike zone; the problem is that it isn’t always in the strike zone.
Just like Saturday, the Ducks began to chip away. In the third, Colby Shade collected his second hit of the day, and Jacob Walsh hit one that deflected off the pitcher for an RBI single.
Freshman pitcher Jacob Hughes kept Oregon in the game after three great innings of work on Tuesday. He threw two scoreless innings, but like Brandenburg, he began to run into control problems. He walked four batters, including two in the fourth. The first hit he allowed was a run-scoring single that extended Stanford’s lead to 6-2.
Walsh collected his second hit of the day in the fifth, but the Oregon offense otherwise quieted down.
Stanford finally started to get some hits, smashing back-to-back doubles off Scott Ellis to score another run in the sixth. Tanner Smith extended to make an impressive catch in left, but a two-out single added another to make it 8-2.
The Ducks got one back in the seventh on Grant’s second home run of the year.
Novitske plated another run with a single in the eighth, bringing Grant up again with two on and out. Grant grounded into a double play this time, ending the rally with the Ducks still down 8-4.
The Cardinal added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Stone Churby gave up a solo homer, then a double and a single that plated the second run.
Smith led off the ninth with a double, and Walsh demolished a two-run homer with two outs. But the Ducks could never quite catch up, ultimately falling 10-6.
Oregon still won its first Pac-12 series of the year, taking two out of three over No. 2 Stanford. The Ducks (10-6) will now travel back to Eugene for three games against the Utah Utes (11-3-1). The series begins Friday at 6 p.m.
