“We are the best team in Oregon,” Ducks pitcher RJ Gordon said after their loss to Oregon State last Tuesday.
The Beavers proved otherwise over the weekend, sweeping the Ducks and taking all five of the season matchups. Oregon then limped into Tuesday’s matchup with University of California San Diego, getting shut out for the third time in an eight-day span after going over three years without being held scoreless.
“I’m not sure exactly what happened [Tuesday],” Oregon closer Kolby Somers said. “Sometimes baseball just sucks, and things don’t go your way.”
The Ducks beat UCSD Wednesday in an attempt to regain some momentum, but it was still the roughest week of the season so far for this team. They’ll have two more Pac-12 series to regroup and get hot before the postseason.
Oregon’s victory Wednesday snapped what had been a six-game losing streak. It began with a bullpen implosion against Cal last Sunday. The Ducks were shut out by Oregon State in Eugene on Tuesday, then went to Corvallis over the weekend and lost three more.
The Ducks’ control woes finally caught up to them against a disciplined Beavers offense. Oregon starting pitchers allowed 16 free passes in 10 2/3 innings over the three-game series. As a staff, the Ducks rank 209th in the country and last in the Pac-12 in walks per nine innings. Oregon State, meanwhile, leads the country in the same stat. That says it all right there.
“I’m not very patient at this point in time,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “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.”
Wasikowski did indeed make some slight changes to the upcoming rotation against Arizona State. Gordon, who threw more balls than strikes last Friday, will not start any of the three games. Isaac Ayon, who allowed five runs and issued six free passes on Saturday, was bumped to Sunday’s slot. Jace Stoffal was moved up to Saturday after having the relatively best outing among the three of them.
Right-hander Christian Ciuffetelli will be taking Gordon’s place on Friday. He’s looked good in his last two midweek starts, and he’s the hardest thrower on the team. He has the second-best ERA on the staff, behind only Logan Mercado. Batters have a .211 average against him this season.
The offense also hit its first major skid during the losing streak. The Ducks suffered their first three shutouts since April 20, 2019, when George Horton was still the head coach.
Wasikowski’s first major shakeup of the lineup came Wednesday, when Oregon subsequently exploded for 15 runs. Sam Novitske, Bryce Boettcher and Bennett Thompson were added to the starting nine, and all three made an impact. The team hopes this will spark a return to the elite level the offense was at during the beginning of the season.
“We know that there’s an expectation at the University of Oregon,” Wasikowski said. “When we meet it, we know what it looks like, and when we don’t, we know what that looks like as well. And so, very simply, we’re gonna try to meet that expectation of what fans and people around here expect out of their athletics programs.”
Somers said the players had a meeting before Wednesday’s game after losing 3-0 on Tuesday. He said they agreed to just have fun with each other and appreciate that they get to play baseball at a high level.
“Every day is a great opportunity to be playing the game we love,” Somers said. “I think that can be easy to take for granted sometimes. That was one of the key points, just loving it out here and embracing the opportunity to be with each other every day.”
Wasikowski was vague about whether he’ll stick with the new lineup, simply saying he’ll put the best lineup out there to win each game. Anthony Hall and Jacob Walsh will very likely return to the lineup, though Walsh has been in a funk for multiple weeks. Still, Wednesday showed that maybe change is good every once in a while.
“Not that the guys we’ve had in the lineup haven’t been doing good, but I think sometimes when teams get into slumps, you need to make some changes,” Somers said. “We were all just excited to see some new guys get the opportunities.”
Oregon has seven regular season games left to finish the year strong. After the Arizona State series, the Ducks will host No. 24 Gonzaga on Tuesday, who they beat on the road earlier this year. They’ll finish the regular season with three games in Eugene against Arizona before going on to the inaugural Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, which is also in Arizona.
The Ducks are currently projected by D1Baseball to be the No. 2 seed in the Spokane Regional, with Gonzaga hosting. In order to have a chance at hosting a regional for the second straight year, Oregon will have to finish strong.
“We all realize the importance of winning games now, and I think dwelling on games lost in the past isn’t gonna help us,” Somers said. “Hopefully we can go on a hot streak now and put everything in the past.”
