On his way out of the bullpen after Oregon’s 7-3 win over Stanford, starting pitcher Cole Irvin yelled to assistant coach Dean Stiles about a discovery he made during his impressive outing.
“I have a curveball!” Irvin exclaimed.
Normally Irvin relies on his “bread-and-butter” pitch, his changeup, to complement his low-90s fastball. This week in practice he set aside extra time with closer Garrett Cleavinger, who’s appeared in more games than any pitcher in school history, to establish his breaking pitch.
The curveball proved effective Friday night, as Irvin struck out six Cardinal hitters and tied his longest outing of the season.
“I’m just excited to keep finding it and see if I can get a little more nastiness out of it,” Irvin said of his curveball. “It’s good to have all my pitches back.”
Irvin allowed three runs on seven hits through seven innings and earned his first win since defeating Arizona State on March 22. The Ducks seem to be riding a hot streak, having won eight of their last 12 games, including five of seven at home.
“They’re revealing what we thought they were to begin with,” manager George Horton said of his players. “We had efficient offense and timely hitting; if we can maintain that, we got a chance to win a few games.”
Stanford pitched erratically but the Ducks remained discipline at the plate and took an early advantage. Mitchell Tolman supplied Oregon’s first two hits, an RBI-triple and a two-run single with the bases-loaded.
In his last six games, Tolman has hit .476 with six RBIs and raised his season batting average to .321.
“I’ve been feeling good at the plate,” Tolman said. “Just slowing things down and trying to see the ball well—I feel like it’s paid off lately.”
Mark Karaviotis’s RBI-double extended Oregon’s lead to 6-0 after three innings. Irvin held the shutout until the sixth inning, when the Sun Devils manufactured three runs on three hits.
Stephen Nogosek and Garrett Cleavinger polished off the clean team performance with two innings of hitless relief. The win places the Ducks (26-19, 8-11) in seventh in the Pac-12.
Game two between Oregon and Stanford will take place at 2 p.m. at P.K. Park on Saturday.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby