The Oregon baseball team finally returned to the field last week, splitting a four-game series with the Seattle Redhawks on Feb. 25-28. After winning the first two and losing the next two, there are plenty of positives and negatives to take away from the Ducks’ performance.
Pitching was a strength throughout
Despite the team’s uneven play overall, their pitching was generally not the problem. Their starters combined to allow just five runs in 19 innings (2.37 ERA) while striking out 17. The pitching staff had 44 strikeouts as a whole, including 16 in game four.
The standout pitching performance came from junior right-hander Peyton Fuller, who threw seven scoreless innings in game two. While he didn’t strike out the world like the rest of the staff did, he induced a lot of friendly contact.
The bullpen struck out 27 batters in 17 innings, plagued by only a couple rough innings in game four.
“You’re going to see some power pitchers on our staff,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “They’ve got a chance to overpower hitters at times just by their stuff.”
The offense needs more timely hitting
Without a doubt, the biggest problem for the Ducks was lack of consistent clutch hitting. While there were a couple of moments where they put things together, such as their four-run bottom of the ninth in game one and six-run third inning in game two, those moments were few and far between.
“The story for last weekend was strictly the mentality at the plate,” Wasikowski said. “I could beat up the pitchers all I want, and that’s not fair. They did a good enough job for us to win four games, and the hitters didn’t.”
With redshirt-junior Kenyon Yovan still working his way back from an injury, the Ducks lack a true, established power hitter outside of Gabe Matthews. A couple names to keep an eye on in Yovan’s wake are second-year freshmen Josh Kasevich and Anthony Hall. Kasevich surprised with two home runs and a double this series, and Hall has a powerful left-handed swing but just hasn’t had enough of a chance yet to utilize it in games.
One or more of these guys is going to have to step up for this team to be successful.
Wasikowski also said that as a coaching staff, they need to do a better job preparing their hitters, as the offense often swayed back and forth between an aggressive and passive approach. Wasikowski was particularly disappointed in some of his more veteran players.
“You’re really wanting your older players…to carry a little bit of the offensive load on their backs, and maybe that was too heavy of a load for these guys…,” he said. “It’s really disappointing to see that after a year off, after missing a weekend, and then that’s the attitude that shows up at home plate.”
The team has some exciting freshmen
The Ducks have a young team, and some of their talented freshmen got their first taste of college ball this week.
On the pitching side, Isaac Ayon and Rio Britton stood out. Ayon showed some sharp fastballs and nasty breaking balls in his two appearances, and while he got hit around a bit in game four, he bounced back in the next inning to strike out two.
Bryce Boettcher stands out on the offensive side. The freshman made some good plays in center field in game two while also collecting his first two collegiate hits.
“We’ve got several talented young players…,” Wasikowski said. “They bring joy, they’re always smiling and they’re just great kids to be around.”
The team is deeper in all areas
Part of this comes naturally considering the extra year of eligibility gained by the pandemic, but the Ducks have a crowded clubhouse and therefore, a deeper roster. While the pitching rotation is pretty similar to what they had last year, they have a lot more guys behind the starting five who could potentially step up.
The Ducks have a deeper crop of position players as well. In the infield, Yovan is still yet to be worked into the mix and Stanford transfer Nick Bellafronto has been rotating with Sam Novitske at third base.
Going into the season, Wasikowski said he wanted to emphasize outfield defense, and the Ducks have done exactly that. Along with Boettcher’s play in center, two-sport athlete Robby Ashford is another speedy freshman who can man the position.
Along with players like Anthony Hall and Tanner Smith, who are more than capable in the corners, the Ducks are stronger in all three outfield spots.
“I thought (the defense) was steady, routine plays were made,” Wasikowski said.
All that being said, the group that does play on the field is going to have to hit more.
“We have power arms and uncompetitive hitters based off of four games,” Wasikowski said in terms of his impression of the series as a whole.
The Ducks will certainly need to bring their A-game for their four-game series starting Friday against the UCSB Gauchos, who are ranked in the top-25 of all six national polls.
