There was a different atmosphere at PK Park Friday night, with the Oregon State Beavers making an always anticipated visit down the freeway for a competitive series of baseball. The stadium saw easily its highest attendance all year — at 3,224 — with possibly more than half of them donning Beaver orange.
It was Oregon’s energy that reigned supreme, despite the large Oregon State presence. The Ducks beat the Beavers 2-0 behind seven masterful innings from Jace Stoffal and clutch hits from Colby Shade and Sabin Ceballos. The win didn’t come as easily as the previous 10, but Oregon extended its winning streak to 11, setting a new modern school record.
“Great energy. A lot of fun when you’re playing in a rivalry weekend,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “It was awesome. It’s a lot of fun to be in a park that’s a full house.”
Offense didn’t come in droves the way it has for the Ducks recently, with the game scoreless until the fifth inning. Stoffal outlasted Oregon State right-hander Trent Sellers, not allowing a hit until the seventh. He locked things down in a close, intense and loud matchup between the two best baseball teams in the state of Oregon.
“If we [pitchers] give up four or more, we know they’re gonna put up nine, 10,” Stoffal said. “So being able to pick them up for once is what a winning team is gonna do. So if we keep that going, we’ve got a special thing going.”
The Ducks’ offense came out slowly, as they blew a critical scoring chance in the second inning. Tanner Smith recorded the first hit of the game — extending his hitting streak to 11 games — sandwiched by walks from Ceballos and Jacob Walsh. Oregon had the bases loaded with nobody out. But with a relentless swarm of orange dominating the noise in the stadium, Josiah Cromwick, Jackson Jaha and Gavin Grant all struck out swinging.
Sellers came into the night with a K/9 nearing 16, and he buckled down at the most important time to give the Ducks an early kick in the jaw.
But Stoffal was sharp from the get-go, not letting the missed opportunity phase him. He retired the first 10 batters he faced while recording a strikeout in each of the first three innings.
Stoffal fell into his first sticky situation in the fourth inning, as he issued walks to Oregon State’s No. 2 and 3 hitters. But under pressure, he utilized his hook to get his fourth strikeout, then ended the inning with a soft lineout to Jacob Walsh. Stoffal roared and pumped his fists as he stormed off the mound, briefly silencing the Beaver faithful.
“Just trusting what [Jake] Angier’s gonna call, trusting myself and trusting my defense behind me,” Stoffal said. “I know they’re gonna make a play. They’ve been making plays all night, and so I knew that if I just gave them a chance, moved the bat, stopped walking people, I felt like I was very confident we were gonna get out of that.”
Sellers struck out Walsh and Cromwick in a perfect bottom of the fourth. That racked up his strikeout total to eight, but it also came with 90 pitches.
He finally showed fatigue in the fifth as his pitch count surpassed triple digits. After Grant doubled, Shade lined one off shortstop Mikey Kane’s glove, into left-center field for an RBI single. Drew Cowley followed with another hit, bringing an end to Sellers’ night after 4 2/3 innings and 109 pitches. He left to a raucous crowd and the tune of Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” playing over the loudspeaker.
“I think [Sellers] was just spotting up really well,” Shade said. “They were calling pitches in a good order and mixing well, and so I think just spotting up and using the strike zone as an advantage worked well for him. So we just knew we had to make adjustments.”
Ceballos tacked on Oregon’s second run in the same inning, lining an RBI double into the left field corner.
Stoffal stayed locked in, striking out five over a perfect fifth and sixth inning. He ramped his fastball up to 93 miles per hour while effortlessly mixing in his breaking stuff. Through six innings, he didn’t allow a hit and struck out nine.
The Beavers finally ended Stoffal’s no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the seventh by Mason Guerra. Stoffal said he had been looking at the scoreboard and knew he had a no-hitter, but he didn’t let it phase him.
“I mean, it’s nothing,” Stoffal said. “Next pitch. It’s cool to have it. I lost it. Next pitch. Go get the shutout.”
Micah McDowell followed with a sacrifice bunt that Ceballos fielded, but Walsh couldn’t hold onto the throw, and McDowell was confirmed safe after a replay review.
Stoffal issued his third walk, loading the bases with one out. Facing his highest pressure situation of the night, he stayed composed, inducing two enormous flyouts to keep the shutout intact. He screamed and pumped his fists as he exited the mound once again, possibly even more emphatically than the previous time.
“I feel like I pitch better the more adrenaline I’ve got, so if I can keep the emotions high but under control — I can’t get too wild — keep them under control, but keep that adrenaline up,” Stoffal said. “I feel like that’s when I’m at my best.”
It was undoubtedly the best outing of Stoffal’s career. He allowed just one hit in seven scoreless innings, throwing 104 pitches. It was the second straight outing he’s gone seven innings.
Matt Dallas replaced Stoffal in the eighth, and surrendered a double and a two-out walk. Oregon elected to go to Josh Mollerus for the four-out save. He induced a soft pop-up to left field that Smith nearly lost in the lights, but he stayed under it and made the catch, allowing Duck fans to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Runners on is just something you’ve gotta practice,” Mollerus said. “Like everything else, you don’t make too much of it. There’s one out to get, so it’s just getting after the guy and making quality pitches first and foremost, and then you go from there.”
Mollerus shut the door by striking out the side in the ninth, extending his season streak to 15 innings without allowing a run. It put a clean capper on a dominant pitching performance from Oregon.
The Ducks (20-7, 7-3 Pac-12) will look to match the longest winning streak in school history in the second game of the series against Oregon State (18-11, 5-8 Pac-12) Saturday at 3 p.m.
