CORVALLIS — A disappointing weekend for Oregon baseball came to an equally frustrating end at Goss Stadium Sunday afternoon. The Ducks lost 4-0 to the Beavers, as Oregon dropped all five of its matchups with the rivals up north. It was the second shutout loss of the Mark Wasikowski era, both of which came this week against Oregon State.
“There’s plenty of bright spots, but in order to beat a team like Oregon State, you’re gonna really need to play your best game and a complete game,” Wasikowski said. “We were able to play good games, and not good enough. That’s really how it went.”
Oregon right-hander Jace Stoffal began his afternoon with a seven-pitch first inning. He joined Scott Ellis as the only Oregon pitchers to throw a perfect inning this series.
The Ducks’ offense went down quickly in the first two innings, collecting just a Brennan Milone single. The game was already in the bottom of the second after 14 minutes.
Stoffal gave up a single to Jacob Melton, then briefly lost his control. He walked a pair to load the bases, but he induced a popup to catcher Jack Scanlon to escape the jam.
Oregon State starter Jake Pfennigs fell into his first bit of trouble in the third inning. Gavin Grant dropped a bloop single into right field, and Tanner Smith walked to put a runner in scoring position. The Ducks couldn’t cash in, as Drew Cowley was caught looking and Milone grounded out.
The Beavers nearly got something going in the bottom of the third after a two-out walk and an infield single. Stoffal escaped trouble again though, inducing a soft tapper that Scanlon fielded.
Stoffal issued his fourth walk of the game in the fourth inning. He then finally cracked, giving up a two-run bomb to Matthew Gretler to open the scoring.
“I’m not very patient at this point in time,” Wasikowski said of his starters’ control issues. “The definition of insanity is to continue to do it over and over again. So I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some different people in different slots.”
Stoffal’s day came to an end after four innings and 72 pitches. Despite walking four, he provided the relative best start for an Oregon pitcher this series.
The Ducks’ offense continued to struggle against Pfennigs, who retired the last eight batters he faced in five dominant innings.
“You gotta credit the Oregon State pitching,” Wasikowski said. “They’re really, really good.”
With Caleb Sloan on the mound for Oregon in the fifth, Cowley made an error on a line drive that bounced off his glove. Melton then hit another two-run homer, extending the Beavers’ lead to 4-0. That brought Melton’s performance in his last two games to 7-for-8 with two homers.
Sloan hit the first batter in the bottom of the sixth. Logan Mercado replaced him and retired the next three batters, including two strikeouts.
Mercado came back out for the seventh and struck out two more, bringing his streak to four consecutive punchouts. He was taken out for Andrew Mosiello, who ended the inning with a pop out.
Mosiello followed that up with a perfect eighth and a pair of strikeouts.
The Ducks’ offensive struggles continued as Oregon State pitchers Braden Boisvert and Brock Townsend combined for four scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Cowley uncharacteristically went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and a double play as Oregon went down without much of a fight.
“I’m as disappointed as anybody with the results of the weekend,” Wasikowski said. “Hopefully we get a chance to be able to play against them in postseason play… I’d love to be able to match up with them again and see if we couldn’t have some better luck down the road in the future against these guys.”
Oregon (28-19, 13-11 Pac-12) will look to get back on track with two midweek games against UC San Diego (20-24).
“The whole key for this team is us putting all the pieces together at the same time,” Wasikowski said.
