RJ Gordon was stellar in the series opener.
Between the man on the mound and the seven guys behind him, No. 17 Oregon had everything it needed to snatch Friday’s game over the Trojans.
USC entered this weekend’s series winners of eight of its last nine. The Tojans had been playing red-hot ball over the past couple of weeks that included a pair of wins over No. 2 Oregon State and a sweep of Washington in conference play. With Oregon sitting third in the Pac-12 and USC in fourth, PK Park gets to host an incredibly important weekend of West Coast ball.
A good, old-fashioned pitcher’s duel went down on Friday night as the No. 17 Ducks (24-9, 9-4 Pac-12) outlasted the Trojans (16-17, 9-6 Pac-12) 4-1 to open the series.
Gordon showed out.
Across his 8.1 innings — a new career high — he allowed just one run on five hits while fanning three and walking three. His sixth inning only featured six total pitches, and his seventh only had seven.
He recorded six 1-2-3 frames across his dominant outing. In five of his innings, he threw 12 pitches or less. He exited after 8.1 with his Ducks leading 4-1. He earned his fifth win of the season and brought his ERA from 4.07 to 3.22.
“RJ, obviously, was the story of the day,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “I thought RJ was tremendous.”
It’s been roughly one year (April 14-15 of the 2023 season) that Oregon saw pitchers Jace Stoffal and Logan Mercado throw back-to-back complete games. Mercado’s outing serves as the Ducks’ most recent complete game. Gordon missed the 2023 season with an injury, but was two outs away on Friday from being the latest Duck to go the distance.
“After not playing last year, there’s rust,” Gordon said. “And there’s things that I really had to grind through and work through and I’m starting to find what my process is throughout the week and on the mound.”
The Trojans applied pressure early, using a walk and hit-by-pitch to load the bases in the top of the first. Ethan Hedges drove in Friday’s first run with a sacrifice-fly to right field. Gordon limited the inning’s damage to one, and acclimated himself for the time being.
USC starter Tyler Stromsborg, on the other hand, settled into the contest right away. He opened with an eight-pitch first inning and didn’t allow an earned run until the third.
Jeffery Heard, however, was able to score an unearned tally as he knotted the game up in the second. After leading the frame off with a double, he scampered home on a passed ball and brought PK Park’s “Greek Night” crowd to life.
A small two-out rally produced Oregon’s first lead of the night in the third. A hit from Bryce Boettcher and a balk put the Ducks’ leadoff hitter in scoring position for Bennett Thompson to drive him in with an RBI single.
The trend of Oregon plating one run every inning continued in the fourth as Chase Meggers picked up an RBI groundout after the Ducks strung a pair of hits together. That streak, however, would only span three innings as Oregon went down 1-2-3 in the fifth.
Boettcher flashed some serious leather in the top of the fifth. With two on and two out, USC’s Jacob Galloway put a ball over the fence. Unfortunately for the Trojans, Boettcher’s defensive range spans continents and he brought it back with an incredible catch to keep Oregon ahead.
“He said that was an easy one,” Wasikowski said. “He just does it every day and he does it in practice every day. He doesn’t take reps off.”
Stromsborg’s day ended with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Drew Smith opened the frame with a leadoff double, and advanced to third on a Meggers groundout. Ryan Cooney pinch ran for Smith and got thrown out at home on a baserunning snafus.
In all, Stromsborg went 6.1 innings while allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits while fanning four and not walking a single batter. He had a very good night, it was just the second-best outing that Friday featured. He earned the loss — his sixth of the year — and his ERA moved from 5.35 to 4.66.
“He’s pitching like a Friday night guy,” Wasikowski said. “As good as there is in the conference right now. That was one of his goals, and he’s doing that at this point in time.”
Gordon utilized a lot of soft contact in the win, but he had the defense working hard behind him as well. Jacob Walsh had several impressive plays at first, Carter Garate snared a couple of line drives at third and Heard made an incredible catch in right.
“It could easily have been a different game if some of those plays aren’t made,” Gordon said. “I think that’s what’s great about Oregon baseball: when we all play our position the way we should, nobody’s going to beat us.”
Oregon added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Cooney took a pitch off the top of the helmet with the bases loaded to plate Boettcher. It was another unearned run, as he reached on a wild-pitch third strike. The run gave Gordon a three-run lead to take into the ninth.
After allowing a hit and a walk, he was pulled. Two outs away from what would have been his first career complete game. Mercado came in and slammed the door to cap off the series-opening win.
“RJ was going to finish the game,” Wasikowski said. “And then [the four-pitch walk] was a pretty clear indicator that a fresh arm was needed. He might have been able to finish the game, I know some fans would have loved to have seen him do it, We would’ve too. But, Logan came in and he slammed the door and he was fantastic.”
The Ducks can go for the series win tomorrow as Grayson Grinsell (3-2, 3.79 ERA) is expected to take the mound for Oregon. First pitch from PK Park is slated for 2:05 p.m.
