It was a strange game — to end a strange series, to boot. The Ducks outhit their opponents, but couldn’t produce runs when it mattered most. The 4-2 loss ended quietly, as Oregon went 0-10 with runners on base and 0-4 with runners in scoring position.
“Just good, not great. That’s disappointing,” Ducks’ head coach Mark Wasikowski said after Oregon won the series, but lost the finale.
The No. 17 Ducks (25-10, 10-5 Pac-12) didn’t allow a hit through three innings against visiting USC (17-18, 10-7 Pac-12), and starter Kevin Seitter held strong while Oregon’s offense — despite loading the bases in the second inning and registering three hits — slowly got going. After a solo shot by Dominic Hellman barely got over the left field wall, Trojans’ starter William Watson walked in a second Oregon run before the second inning finished, and the Ducks led by two.
It fell apart a bit in the fourth — after Austin Overn halved the Ducks’ advantage with a solo shot over the right field wall, Seitter walked two straight batters before retiring the side — and after the Ducks went down in order to close the inning, the lead still stood at just one halfway through the game.
The senior pitched seven innings, including six scoreless, fanning three and only allowing two earned runs before exiting for a returning Brock Moore.
“He did good,” Wasikowski said. “He did lose a little bit of command [towards the end] — hit a guy. He’s frustrated with that one.”
Oregon’s offense continued to struggle its way through the middle of the game. Bryce Boettcher’s near-homer was robbed by Overn in center field, and although Seitter continued to impress on the mound — outside of a few questionable moments that brought batters aboard — an error on Hellman brought home the tying Trojans’ run to start the sixth. Oregon would end the inning with a 7-2-6 double play, but USC pushed the go-ahead run across with a sac-fly amidst the madness.
Two errors were the difference — something that particularly frustrated the Ducks’ manager. “There were two runs on the board,” he said, “they won by two and there were two defensive miscues.” That was mostly down to first baseman Hellman, who, despite putting the Ducks on the board, had those two mistakes on the other side of the ball that cost Oregon.
Seitter re-entered for the seventh inning, and with a short leash, he managed two ground outs and a fly out on just eight pitches to send the teams past the stretch. The home squad couldn’t take advantage, though, and went scoreless for the fifth straight inning.
Brock Moore was back on the mound, then, after an arm injury suffered against Seattle University kept him out against both UCLA and Sacramento State. The flamethrowing righty couldn’t replicate Seitter’s success, instead hitting one, walking a run in and allowing double the knocks in one frame that his teammate did in seven before. He wouldn’t finish the eighth, leaving with two outs and three runners on for Logan Mercado.
Wasikowski took a positive tack when asked about Moore’s performance. “He’s throwing 98 miles per hour,” he said, “and it’s great to have him back on the field and it’s going to be a big lift for us going forward.”
It was still within reach for Oregon: Mercado struck out the final batter to leave the bases loaded and hand the Ducks an opportunity to attack a new pitcher with the top of the order. Boettcher laid down a bunt, but that was all that would come. The Ducks would shut down the Trojan offense once again, but despite a new man on the mound for the final half-inning, there would be no joy as they continued to struggle with runners on.
“I didn’t feel like our offense showed up to play today,” Wasikowski said. “They had a guy go out there and pitch well [but] we’re going to need to capitalize on the opportunities that we have.”
“You’ve got to have really sustained efforts on weekends to win three games,” Wasikowski said. “But we’re winning series, which is great. [We] can’t complain.”
The Ducks now welcome Gonzaga in the midweek before heading south to face off against Stanford in another chance at their first Pac-12 sweep of the year. First pitch against the Bulldogs is set for 12:05 on Tuesday.
