No. 24 Oregon figured to be in trouble with Jace Stoffal out this weekend, but nobody could have predicted it would be quite this bad.
In the first inning, the Washington Huskies managed to pull off a feat you’ll rarely see in baseball. Not only did the first nine batters of the game all reach, but they all scored, stunning the PK Park crowd under 89-degree evening heat. Starter Jackson Pace failed to record an out in his performance, and the Ducks found themselves down 9-0 after 20 minutes of action.
They fell 18-8, giving up the most runs they’ve allowed in a game since 2019.
“The start of that game is about as bad as I’ve ever experienced,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “And so what you’re trying to do is create positives based off a really negative beginning to a day.”
After Friday’s 14-5 loss, Wasikowski said he wanted to see Pace throw strikes and get ahead of batters. Pace was throwing strikes, but he gave up four straight singles to start the game, putting the Huskies up 2-0. A hit by pitch then loaded the bases.
The game sped up on Pace quickly. A double drove in two more, and Pace followed with his first walk of the night. Catcher Bennett Thompson then threw one into left field, allowing another run to come across as things reached ugly new proportions. Another double put the finishing touches on Pace’s evening. He exited the game with a 7-0 deficit and the unfulfilled distinction of having retired a batter.
“They hit the ball over the yard against him,” Wasikowski said. “Whether it was backside hits… Billy Boyer’s their hitting coach; he did a fantastic job preparing those guys, game planning and executing against Jackson. It was textbook. About as good as I’ve seen.”
Washington’s No. 9 hitter, Sam DeCarlo, greeted long reliever Turner Spoljaric rudely with a two-run homer. That closed the book on Pace, and completed one of the worst starts to a baseball game a team can possibly have.
Leadoff hitter Cam Clayton, batting for the second time in the inning, then lined one right to center fielder Colby Shade. The crowd cheered about as loudly as it has all year, sarcastically celebrating the first out of the game with more enthusiasm than they’ve shown for much bigger moments.
Pace’s season ERA rose to 8.44. Ever since he threw six scoreless innings against San Diego on March 4, his ERA is 12.07.
After the dust settled, Spoljaric was able to calm the storm. He retired nine of the next 10 batters he faced, in what could very well be an audition for a rotation spot.
The Ducks got on the board in the third inning. Gavin Grant recorded their first hit of the game, smacking a solo home run to right-center field. Rikuu Nishida and Drew Cowley added singles, but Sabin Ceballos grounded out to strand them on the corners.
The Huskies responded with a couple doubles in the fourth, extending their lead to 10-1.
Grant, refusing to go down without a fight, drove in his second run in as many innings. After infield hits from Jacob Walsh and Bennett Thompson, he hit Oregon’s third straight single. Nishida then hit a popup that nobody caught, and it dropped to bring in two more runs.
Cowley and Ceballos led off the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back hits, getting the Ducks within a 10-5 margin. For a team that erased a 10-0 deficit earlier in the season against Arizona, surely they weren’t going to let a 9-0 hole intimidate them.
“It’s hard because there’s emotions involved, and boy, you get down, and all that kind of stuff,” Wasikowski said. “But we try to teach them not to get emotional with that.”
Spoljaric kept the Huskies to two runs through five innings of “relief” — with “relief” in quotes because he recorded the first 16 outs of the game. With one out in the sixth, he surrendered back-to-back hits, which ended his outing. Matt Dallas replaced him and gave up two more hits, bringing in two more runs and tainting Spoljaric’s overall line. He wound up being charged with four runs in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five and didn’t issue a walk.
Seven straight batters reached against the Spoljaric/Dallas combo. Clayton added a two-out, two-run single just for good measure. It was a seven-run frame for the Huskies, extending their lead back to a dominant 17-5. Dallas gave up five of those runs while only recording two outs.
“I didn’t think the contact against [Dallas] was super great,” Wasikowski said. “They had about three or four jam shots against him that went for hits.”
Freshman left-hander Ian Umlandt had a nice seventh inning, striking out Coby Morales and Will Simpson in a perfect frame. He ended up eating the final three innings, allowing just a run in the eighth. Umlandt has been used sparingly as of late, but it was a nice outing for him. He and Spoljaric kept things from being even uglier.
“[Spoljaric] definitely settled in for a few innings. I thought he did a very good job,” Wasikowski said. “I thought Ian Umlandt did a very good job. I think those guys did an outstanding job with their opportunity today for sure.”
The Ducks scored two in the bottom of the ninth. Cowley walked, and pinch-runner Carter Garate advanced to third on defensive indifference and scored on a passed ball. Drew Smith added a two-out RBI single with two outs. But it wasn’t anywhere near enough, as they ultimately fell 18-8, with the Huskies leading the series 32-13.
“We never felt like we were gonna lose the game until the last out was made,” Wasikowski said. “We were gonna contribute and keep grinding and keep battling up there. The bottom line was, we ran out of outs.”
No. 24 Oregon (31-18, 14-12 Pac-12) will look to salvage the final game of the series against Washington (31-14, 15-10 Pac-12) Sunday at noon, with the Ducks honoring their seniors before the game.
