The Oregon Ducks have found their ace. And his name is Jace Stoffal.
The right-hander turned in one of the best pitching performances in Oregon baseball history Friday night, in a sunny evening matchup between the Ducks and the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal. As if his seven scoreless innings last week weren’t enough, he went the distance this time, completing a shutout with just three hits allowed against a lethal Stanford offense.
“It’s really cool. I’m just blessed to be able to come out here and play,” Stoffal said. “Just give it all I can every time, and good things happen.”
Stoffal struck out eight, walked only one and threw 118 pitches in the effort. He has now thrown 21 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run, lowering his ERA to 2.19. He’s seemingly only done better as the competition has gotten tougher; Stanford was the most potent one yet, with a .934 team OPS coming into the day.
“Just try not to think about it,” Stoffal said. “I don’t care who’s gonna come out and line up against me. I’m just gonna throw with intent, try to throw all four pitches for strikes and trust my defense behind me. I think with that formula, that’s gonna beat a lot of teams.”
Stoffal’s utterly dominant outing led Oregon to a quick series-opening win, with three home runs powering the Ducks to a 4-0 victory. The game lasted just an hour and 58 minutes, hardly giving the packed PK Park crowd a chance to settle in.
“Spectacular outing for Jace,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “He was just on point. He’s a really spectacular, tough kid. And he’s starting to feel like not only does he belong at this level, but he feels like he wants to be something a lot more than that.”
The game was a pitching duel for the first three and a half innings, as Stanford left-hander Quinn Mathews held serve with Stoffal. Mathews threw Oregon a heavy dose of strikes and consistently got ahead of batters, setting down the first eight Ducks he saw while collecting four strikeouts.
Gavin Grant was the first Oregon batter to get to him, poking one through the left side and reaching second on a hustle double. Rikuu Nishida followed by slapping a single, but Grant was thrown out at home on a strong throw from Stanford right fielder Braden Montgomery.
Stoffal gave up a hit on the first pitch he threw, but then retired the next 13 batters. The Cardinal batters were aggressive against him, swinging early in counts, which helped keep his pitch count down. They made a fair amount of hard contact but came up short.
The game was scooting by, already in the bottom of the fourth in under an hour with no score. But Colby Shade would have none of that. He broke the scoreless tie with authority, blasting one off the All-Americans sign in left field. He said it was the farthest ball he’s ever hit.
But Shade didn’t need to worry with Stoffal on the mound. He said Stoffal sent him a text before the game asking him to “do good,” but regardless, Stoffal was “going to be elite today,” Shade said.
“I texted [Stoffal] and asked him if he could pick me up some Dutch Bros because I was running late to the field today,” Shade said. “And so he said, ‘Yeah, only if you do this,’ and so I was like, ‘Alright, that’s fair.’”
Shade came true on his promise. Four batters later, Jacob Walsh joined the party, smacking a two-run shot into the Karcher Korner Bullpen to give Oregon a 3-0 lead.
“[Mathews] was attacking me with fastballs,” Walsh said. “I think that was their game plan, especially with him.”
Stoffal survived a single and a walk in the fifth inning. With two outs, Owen Cobb hit a hard line drive, but right fielder Bryce Boettcher calmly made the catch. Boettcher got the start after reaching base six times on Wednesday, while always being a reliable defensive presence.
“Woo!” Wasikowski said when asked about Boettcher. “He’s gonna run through walls for you. It’s unbelievable what that kid does on defense in the outfield.”
Mathews appeared to settle in, as he struck out four batters in a row after Walsh’s home run. But Drew Cowley took him dead central, swatting the Ducks’ third homer of the game to make it 4-0.
Stoffal, on the other hand, never let up. After the fifth-inning walk, he went back into a groove, retiring 11 in a row.
With eight innings in the books, Stoffal was still yet to hit 100 pitches. He had no doubt he was going back out for the ninth.
“I told [pitching coach Jake] Angier I was going back out,” Stoffal said. “I wanted to finish it.”
He was the first one back out on the field, raring to get back into his rhythm. He surrendered a hit to leadoff hitter Eddie Park — the same guy who got a hit on Stoffal’s first pitch of the game. It was just the third hit overall for Stanford.
But, with his pitch count in the triple digits and a shutout on the line, Stoffal wasn’t phased. He induced a flyout, then struck out the final two batters of the game. Catcher Josiah Cromwick greeted him with a big hug as the team celebrated a win over the No. 7 team in the country in front of a raucous crowd.
“We’re trying to build this thing, man,” Wasikowski said. “You’ve gotta earn the respect. You’ve gotta earn the fact for them to come to the ballpark. Hopefully we’re earning their trust and confidence to say ‘Yeah, the hard-earned money that we make, we want to come and spend it, bring our family to the ball game and see these guys play.’”
Oregon (23-9, 8-5 Pac-12) will look to clinch the series over No. 7 Stanford (22-9, 10-3 Pac-12) Saturday at 2 p.m.
