Oregon’s bats finally awoke on Tuesday with runners in scoring position.
The Duck offense, which stranded 28 runners on base during the Oregon State series over the weekend, exploded for 13 runs on 13 hits against San Diego. Add in seven extra base hits, and it seems to the players that they are closer to getting back on track after the wreck in Corvallis.
“We let the ball travel a little bit,” catcher Eddie Rodriguez said after the game. “We swung at strikes and not at balls. We got caught in that trap where we were swinging at everything we saw … and (Tuesday) we let some close balls go by and trusted in our swing. “We were swinging at a lot of dirty balls and a lot of balls we couldn’t handle.”
Left fielder Marcus Piazzisi, who is left handed, said he worked on hitting pitches that were on the outside part of the strike zone during practice Monday and during batting practice before the game. Lately, pitchers have been throwing outside to Piazzisi because he’s more of a pull hitter, and he wanted to shore up this part of his game.
It worked against the Toreros, too. Piazzisi’s very first at-bat was an opposite field double, which scored three runners.
“We just got our own swings going, and (batting practice) was more what we needed to work on, not just squaring balls over the fence,” Piazzisi said. “Especially with me, I was working on opposite field a lot because I’ve been getting a lot of outside pitches. It was much more focused and it paid off a lot … I’d rather pull the ball, but it’s something I’ve gotta do.”
Head coach George Horton said he was pleased to see his club break out offensively, but also play aggressively. One thing the Ducks tend to do, he said, is try to press too hard, and they swing themselves into slumps.
“The thing I probably liked the most was our guys played confident,” Horton said. “That’s what I was sharing with them: We can go one way or the other. Try harder, yeah, but keep that confidence and swagger.”
Horton theorized a few different reasons why the team didn’t perform like it had all year up in Corvallis, but he was still at a loss. Oregon State just caught them at the right time, he admitted, and on Sunday he took part of the blame for not instilling in the Ducks a sense of urgency. The Ducks have played well on the road, winning two Pac-10 series against ranked teams away from Eugene; however, the Beavers were cornered and needed a series win to keep a shred of hope alive.
“We got in a relaxed intensity mode and we were not as amped up as playing at home,” Horton said. “When you’re playing in front of Oregon State and there’s some negative stuff coming out of the stands and there’s lots of orange, you try too hard to put it in their face — here you feel comfortable.”
Now Oregon enters a stretch of 11 games to end the season in which every game might mean the difference between making a regional and not. The Ducks are No. 22 in the country and 31-18 on the year. Horton figures they will need at least four more wins to secure a spot, but he would love to win eight or nine of the last 11 and go into the
postseason on a roll.
“Every game is crucial from now on to get those Ws,” Rodriguez said. “We just need to stick with our plan and we’ll put up some more Ws on the board.”
This weekend, the Ducks play East Tennessee State at home, followed by a single game with Portland on May 18 in Portland. That weekend, Oregon travels to Seattle to play Washington, followed by a May 26 game with Oregon State in Portland, and the season finale series with California at home on May 28-30.
“It’s kind of something we all think about,” Piazzisi said of regionals. “It’s hard to not think about; we try to focus on the game at hand, but we’re really excited about it and trying to take it a game at a time.”
However the season ends, Horton is confident it will be on a strong run. His team has proved to him this year they can overcome rough patches.
“It’s up to us,” he said. “I love my kids. I don’t always love the way they play, but I like the way they respond.”
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