It’s amazing the difference a week can make.
After the season’s first series, Oregon was 4-0, riding high off a sweep of Xavier. Three games later, it’s back to the drawing board after the Ducks fell on the wrong side of a sweep to UC Santa Barbara. It was a weekend where they were outscored 20-3, scratching across just one run in Saturday’s 18-inning doubleheader.
“There’s a lot of disappointment,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “We didn’t play well. We know we didn’t play well. It was really obvious.”
So where does a team go from here?
Oregon left fielder Tanner Smith said the team is “hungry” to get back out on the field.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve taken a kicking like that,” Smith said. “I think it’s really good to get this done, get it out of the way early. I think it’s really good for a lot of guys who haven’t been through this, who are new to college baseball.”
For the younger players on the team, there’s been a learning curve. They found success the first weekend of the season — exceeded expectations, even. But Wasikowski understands, as he’s said from the beginning, that young pitchers are going to have their ups and downs against tougher competition.
Leo Uelmen, Jackson Pace and Matthew Grabmann all took steps backward from their performances in week one. Relievers Grayson Grinsell and Gus Rogers also struggled. But the blame can’t be put entirely on their shoulders: Junior Logan Mercado walked six and gave up a grand slam, and experienced hitters like Drew Cowley, Owen Diodati and Jacob Walsh struggled massively at the plate.
“The focus of us is to try to get the guys that do have experience to not be inconsistent,” Wasikowski said. “I think that’s gonna be a big key moving forward.”
At one point on Saturday, Oregon hitters went through an 0-for-24 stretch. Smith credited the UCSB pitchers’ ability to keep the ball down in the zone, as well as mix a couple different pitches for strikes.
“I’ll just tip my cap and give credit to where it’s due,” Smith said. “I thought they pitched really well. I thought they had elite arms all weekend. I thought they put out their best performance and we didn’t match it. There’s really no way to hide around that one.”
One hitter who particularly struggled was Walsh. The sophomore first baseman has gone 1-for-19 with nine strikeouts so far, looking lost and overmatched at the plate. Walsh had a breakout freshman campaign and was a linchpin in Oregon’s offense last year.
“He’s trying pretty hard, isn’t he?” Wasikowski said. “You watch him from the stands, and you can see, just like I see from the dugout, the guy’s got a lot of pressure on himself… He’s a really good player and a really good hitter, and we gotta settle him down and get him going.”
Of course, things can improve just as quickly as they can dampen — this young season is already a prime example of that.
Wasikowski contrasted it to a football season, where one game can change things drastically. Baseball isn’t like that. Every team, even at the top, goes through peaks and valleys. But in the long run of the season, and as sample sizes expand, the best teams will weed themselves out from the pack. The Ducks have put in all the hard work and preparation; if they play well, and they trust their talent, then good things will come.
“It’s hard to explain why things happen,” Wasikowski said. “But I think it’s usually tied in to whether you’re playing fundamental baseball or not.”
This weekend, Oregon will play four games against the University of San Diego. Unlike the previous two series, this one will be held on four consecutive days, with no doubleheader.
And unlike the Ducks, the Toreros are off to a hot start with the bat. They’re 5-1-1, with a rare tie coming in a wild 16-16 game against Nebraska. They have six hitters batting over .300, including Jack Costello, who was recently named a national player of the week.
Oregon’s plan for attacking this offense is simple.
“Throw strikes and get ahead of hitters,” Wasikowski said. “They did in week one, they didn’t in week two, and it makes it a lot easier when you just stick with the basics of the game.”
At the plate, the Ducks will need to hit the reset button. With a few days off, they’ve had a chance to meet as a team, get back into their scheduled practices and tap into the fundamentals. It goes back to a similar message that Smith professed in some of the team’s low points last year: gratitude.
“I’m really just trying to get back to the basics of everything for everybody,” Smith said. “Really just understanding why we’re here, why we play this game and how fortunate we are to wear these colors and do what we do. Hoping that as guys realize that and pick up a little more purpose, their performance gets a little better as well.”
Oregon begins a four-game series against San Diego Thursday at 3 p.m. in PK Park.
