It turns out that good starting pitching can help a team win.
Oregon, amidst its worst stretch of the year that saw it lose five in a row — giving up double-digit run totals in all five games — turned to freshman right-hander Turner Spoljaric on Friday in desperate need of a competitive start on the mound.
And it got just that.
Spoljaric dealt with traffic all day, but worked efficiently around the chaos to limit Utah’s offense through seven solid innings. It all but assured him a rotation spot down the stretch, with options seemingly dwindling by the day.
His outing led Oregon to a 9-1 win at Smith’s Ballpark, evening the series with the last-place Utes and ending a miserable five-game losing streak. Oregon now has a chance to win its final series of the regular season ahead of the Pac-12 tournament.
The Ducks nabbed an early lead on doubles from Drew Cowley and Tanner Smith, taking a 2-0 advantage in the first inning. Utah starter Merit Jones has allowed over 13 hits per nine innings this year, and Oregon took advantage.
It wasn’t perfectly smooth sailing for Spoljaric, but he kept things under control while limiting his pitch count. He worked around a hit and a walk in the first inning, then recorded his only perfect frame with three groundouts in the second — helped by a great play from Gavin Grant. He navigated two more baserunners in the third, then stranded a double in the fourth.
He only had one strikeout and two walks to his name, so he was able to get through all that on only 42 pitches through four innings.
Things got hairier in the fifth, as Utah loaded the bases with one out. The bullpen quickly got stirring. But Spoljaric, working under constant pressure all day, was unphased. A popout and a looking strikeout weaseled him out of the jam, putting another zero on the board.
Oregon’s offense, meanwhile, extended the lead to 5-0 with two in the third and one in the fourth. Sabin Ceballos hit an RBI single in each of those innings, while also scoring on an errant pickoff throw.
The Ducks scored in a strange way in the seventh inning. Colby Shade struck out, but reached on a wild pitch. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch, made it to third on a flyout, then scored on yet another wild pitch.
Later in the inning, the Smiths — Tanner and Drew — hit back-to-back singles. It extended D. Smith’s hitting streak to 14. The fourth wild pitch of the inning allowed another run to score, making it 7-0 Oregon.
Spoljaric, working with a bigger lead, allowed just an infield single in the sixth inning. He got the first two outs of the seventh, but then finally let up. He issued a two-out walk, then surrendered a double as he allowed his first run of the day.
Still, Spoljaric wound up throwing seven innings of one-run ball, which is exactly the type of performance this team needed. It was the fourth time this year that an Oregon pitcher has thrown at least seven innings and allowed no more than one run — two of those were Stoffal. One would have to figure this earned Spoljaric a rotation spot going forward, especially if Stoffal isn’t healthy.
Reliever Austin Anderson made his first appearance since April 26, as Mark Wasikowski indicated he would this weekend. He issued two free passes and recorded two outs. Left-hander Ian Umlandt, who’s been getting more work lately, came in to try to protect the 8-1 score and Anderson’s 0.46 ERA. Umlandt gave up a hit, but T. Smith nabbed the runner trying to advance to third, and nobody scored.
The Ducks tacked on more insurance run in the ninth, as Bennett Thompson doubled in Jacob Walsh. It was the third hit of the day for Thompson.
Umlandt ended up getting the final three outs, working around a couple leadoff baserunners in the ninth. It capped off a stress-free win for the Ducks as they returned to their winning ways.
Oregon (32-20, 15-14 Pac-12) will end the regular season with a rubber game against Utah (9-19-1, 22-31-1 Pac-12) Saturday at 10 a.m.