No ace, no problem.
Going against No. 2 Stanford with star pitcher Adam Maier out due to injury, the Ducks might not have necessarily loved their chances as they opened up Pac-12 play Friday.
But reliever RJ Gordon played hero, locking down the middle innings and silencing the Cardinal offense at Sunken Diamond. Despite stranding a few too many baserunners, the Ducks’ hitters provided just enough offense to get the job done. Tanner Smith provided the big hit, a go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth to secure a gutsy 4-3 victory.
The game got off to an ugly start for Oregon. Junior reliever Caleb Sloan, getting the spot start in place of Maier, walked the first batter he faced. Errors by Jacob Walsh and Drew Cowley then led to two unearned runs for Stanford in the first.
Oregon got the leadoff man on in each of the next three innings but left them all stranded. It looked to be an underwhelming, unsatisfactory performance against a highly regarded Stanford team in the early going.
The Ducks finally broke through in the fifth. Anthony Hall and Colby Shade led off the inning with back-to-back triples, and Sam Novitske singled to tie things up.
Gordon entered in relief after Sloan pitched two innings. Gordon has been on the cusp of making the starting rotation, and with Maier hurt, Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski has to be thinking about bumping him up.
Gordon certainly made his case. He was masterful, keeping the Ducks right in there with a career-high 4 2/3 innings. He kept the Cardinal off the board, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out five. Dominant lefty reliever Rio Britton came in to record the last out of the seventh.
Oregon went to work in the eighth. Walsh did what he does best, smacking a double to left field. After Josiah Cromwick was hit by a pitch, an infield single by Hall loaded the bases with two outs.
Shade drew a full count, then was barely able to check his swing on a ball out of the strike zone. His gutsy walk brought in the go-ahead run for the Ducks, giving them their first lead of the game.
That lead didn’t last long. Stone Churby gave up a pair of doubles in the bottom of the eighth, tying things back up at 3-3.
With runners on the corners and one out, Churby induced an enormous double play to prevent Stanford from taking the lead.
Churby’s ability to limit the damage in the eighth proved monumental. Smith led off the ninth by smashing one deep to right, a solo homer that put Oregon back on top 4-3. Smith has exploded after a slow start to the season, homering in three straight games now.
All-American closer Kolby Somers entered for a save opportunity in the bottom of the ninth. His control was shaky, walking the first batter to put the tying run aboard. Catcher Jack Scanlon made a nice play on a sacrifice bunt, but it advanced the tying run into scoring position with one out.
Somers continued to have trouble locating his fastball, falling behind 3-0 on the next batter and letting him take the intentional walk. He fell behind 2-0 on the next guy but buckled down to record a swinging strikeout for the second out.
With two on and two out, Somers fell behind yet again, this time 3-1. After the count ran full, he nearly allowed a walk-off three-run homer, but the ball held up just enough that Shade was able to make the catch in center.
It was quite a stressful but nonetheless impressive win from the Ducks, who are now 9-5 overall and 1-0 in Pac-12 play. Stanford falls to 8-4, 0-1 in conference action.
The Ducks will have their best healthy pitcher, Isaac Ayon, going Saturday in Game 2 of the three-game slate at 2:05 p.m.
