Washington was firing on all cylinders Friday night as the Huskies (30-14, 14-10 Pac-12) topped the Ducks (31-17, 14-11 Pac-12) 14-5 in the series opener at PK Park.
“I think anybody in the crowd could have given the same message I gave at the end of the ballgame,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said.
It seemed Washington could do no wrong while Oregon struggled in every category. A mixture of walks and long balls has caused most of Oregon’s Logan Mercado’s struggles throughout his first eight starts of 2023. His ninth fell victim to a similar fate as Duck pitching coughed up its most runs allowed in nearly two months.
The Huskies opened the scoring with a solo shot off the bat of Coby Morales. Oregon right fielder Rikuu Nishida robbed Cam Clayton of what would have been a solo home run — a play that, at the time, felt like it could have a massive influence on Friday’s game. But it would have been just another tally on a night Oregon is looking to forget.
Oregon responded in the second courtesy of a two-run laser from Josiah Cromwick that snuck over the wall in left and gave the Ducks their first lead of the night. Cromwick’s seventh home run puts Oregon’s catcher one blast away from doubling his total from last year.
A pair of walks to lead off the top of the third inning gave Morales a chance to hurt the Ducks again. He provided the Huskies a double to right-center that drove both of Mercado’s walks in and made it a 3-2 ball game. At the time, Morales had either drove in or scored each of Washington’s runs. Despite three free passes in the inning, Oregon was able to limit the damage to just Morales’s double, but still surrendered the lead.
A leadoff shot from Aiva Arquette added to Washington’s lead in the fourth. The Huskies’ second baseman’s fifth bomb of the season would have been a homer at PK Park before its renovations as it cleared both walls. Morales got up again after another pair of walks and — to no surprise — promptly doubled down the right field line and drove in another run. One batter later, Will Simpson crushed a ball to center field and drove home three more Washington runs and ended Mercado’s night, who would be pulled as the Huskies went up 8-2 in the fourth.
Mercado finished with 97 pitches across his 3 2/3 innings — although only 49 found the zone for strikes. He allowed eight earned runs on just six hits while striking out six and walking five. His ERA rose to 6.97.
“[Mercado] was up in the zone,” Wasikowski said. “When you’re trying to throw fastballs in the top of the zone against good college hitters, you’re going to have a tough time unless there’s exceptional ride on the ball and I don’t know that Mercado had that tonight.”
Dylan McShane came in to relieve Mercado, but it still took him eight pitches to record the final out and finish a nightmarish fourth inning that stunned and silenced the once-excited Friday night crowd.
Washington’s Stu Flesland III, on the other hand, had a career night. Across his six innings of work he relented just two runs on five hits while striking out three and walking just one. Of his 101 total pitches, 67 were strikes. Cromwick’s home run served as the only moment where the Ducks were able to harm Flesland III as the Huskies’ ace picked up his fifth win of the season.
“[Washington] did a good job of commanding the strike zone,” Wasikowski said. “[Flesland III] had good angle on the ball and kept the ball down. He was doing a nice job throwing ground balls.”
Washington struck again in the seventh on a Jeter Ybarra sacrifice fly that plated Johnny Tincher. Tincher singled and moved to third after a two-base throwing error by McShane on a pickoff attempt. Tincher’s run would serve as Washington’s lone score through McShane’s 3 1/3 relief innings.
“I thought McShane did a tremendous job throwing ground balls,” Wasikowski said. “You saw the tale of two pitching performances right there [between McShane and Mercado].”
Jacob Walsh and D. Smith both reached to lead off the bottom of the seventh, and Flesland III’s day was finished. Sam Boyle took over on the hill for the Huskies and promptly shut down the Ducks with three straight outs including a strikeout of Cromwick.
Simpson launched another home run in the ninth. This one, his 17th of the season, cleared the Huskies’ bullpen. Yet another string of Oregon walks and Washington hits led to another five-run inning and brought the score to 14-2.
The Ducks finally strung together consecutive hits with two outs in the ninth. Anson Aroz, Nishida, Colby Shade and Drew Cowley all singled as Oregon was able to find three desperation runs to make the game slightly closer.
Oregon left eight runners on base in its series opener with Washington, but even if they had all been driven home, the Huskies’ offensive display would have more than covered Washington. Oregon pitching aided the barrage by walking eight batters as Duck pitchers combined for 205 pitches with only 54% of them being strikes.
The Huskies’ 30th win of the season matches their total from last year and marks the second time Washington has reached thirty wins since 2018. The Ducks entered Friday on a seven-game winning streak against the Huskies that stretched back to March 6, 2019, in a game that Washington won 19-3. The Huskies’ win on Friday leapfrogs Washington over Oregon into fourth in the Pac-12 standings.
Oregon now faces an uphill task: winning on Saturday and Sunday to salvage a series win. The Ducks still have a lot to play for over the following weeks with Pac-12 seeding, national ranking and a possible NCAA Tournament-hosting opportunity still lingering. But the next two games serve as crucial for Oregon. The Ducks will send Jackson Pace (2-2, 6.75 ERA) to the bump on Saturday and Matthew Grabmann (0-3, 3.79 ERA) to do their defensive bidding on Sunday.
“A loss is a loss,” Wasikowski said. “The challenge is seeing what kind of pride we have to get up off the mat and get up and get after somebody.”