The 2009 baseball season definitely has not been one of many laughs and smiles for the Ducks, but on the last day of practice the mood was light. Head coach George Horton even changed things up a bit, letting the pitchers take batting practice to end the year.
“It was the last practice,” senior Caleb Tommasini said. “We loosened up a little bit. Horton wanted us to have fun – but serious fun.”
That definitely happened, as the sight of closer Drew Gagnier swinging the bat like Babe Ruth brought laughs from the fielders. But Gagnier had the last laugh as he hit four home runs, including one that banged off of the scoreboard in left-center field.
Horton joked that perhaps Gagnier should bat clean up for the offensively lacking Ducks, but going into the last weekend of the season the team will need more than its bats if it wants to finally break the hump and win its first Pacific-10 Conference series.
Oregon’s opponent is eighth place Arizona (27-25 overall, 10-14 Pac-10), a team that has struggled this season after being ranked in the top 25 in the pre-season polls. The Wildcats have won five of their last seven games and the team is batting .318, making them yet another tough opponent for the Ducks (14-39, 4-20).
“Arizona always has really good offensive numbers because of the environment they play in,” Horton said. “They play in a big park, but it’s at altitude, hot, and dry. It’s definitely a hitter’s park. I think some of their numbers are exaggerated. It’s a blessing we’re getting them away from Tucson.”
Horton calls Arizona’s pitching their Achilles’ Heel, saying that’s where his team is going to attack the Wildcats. But he says how his pitchers play is just as key.
“I think the reason we will have a chance to win two out of three is if we play the game of baseball better,” Horton said. “Especially from the mound. We walked nine batters and that’s something that’s gotten away from us lately. We used to be on top of that.”
Oregon’s chances of a series win rest almost entirely on the shoulders of staff ace Erik Stavert. The junior has struggled the past two weeks, losing to Arizona State and Washington State.
“I just want to get us started on the right foot,” Stavert said. “I haven’t had command of the strike zone the past couple of weekends and I need to go back to it. It starts with Friday night, and if I can’t get us going it sets a bad tone for the weekend.”
The young Ducks have had a tendency to struggle with staying consistent this year, and that has been one thing every player has expressed frustrations about. One loss can send them into a nosedive they can’t recover from.
“It’s been a rough year,” senior Andrew Schmidt said. “We’ve had our ups and downs. I think everyone is a little disappointed. Everyone told us that we were a first-year program and we were going to have our growing pains, but we internally had higher expectations.”
“There’s a saying that you can lead a horse to water,” Horton said. “Well, I’ve dunked their head in the water, but they’re still not getting that. There’s been bright spots. They’re great young people, but they just don’t compete. They cave and wear it on their sleeves. This is the softest team I’ve ever been around. Pure and simple. I haven’t been able to bring that competitiveness out in them.”
Horton’s frustrations have been evident for awhile, but everyone senses something special was accomplished this season, no matter what the scoreboard reads.
“Nobody likes to lose,” Tommasini said. “We should have won more games, but just what we did here was special. We set things in place. It doesn’t necessarily seem like it, but we’ve done some things, and when I come back in five years it will be nice to see how successful they are.”
But that doesn’t mean the team is going to take it easy this weekend.
“We want to win this series,” Tommasini added. “It would be a great note to finish on to set the tone for next year.”
[email protected]
After a year of struggle, Ducks want a last laugh
Daily Emerald
May 21, 2009
More to Discover