Wins have been hard to come by lately for Oregon. Just a couple weeks ago, the Ducks had hopes of hosting a regional, but now, they’re playing just to make the NCAA tournament in any form.
Those efforts went unrewarded Thursday night in Oregon’s series opener against the worst team in the Pac-12, Utah. The Ducks jumped out to a lead in the third inning, and the game was tied through the majority of the middle innings. But some sloppy play and tough luck led to a complete collapse in the seventh inning, a six-run frame Oregon couldn’t recover from. The Ducks fell 12-5, losing their fifth in a row and eighth of their last nine. It was the first time since 2017 they’ve lost to Utah.
Oregon got off to a shaky start. Logan Mercado issued a four-pitch walk to begin his outing, and shortstop Drew Cowley committed a two-base error to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Utah grabbed a run on a single, and Mercado nearly escaped there as he struck out two. The inning appeared to end on a rundown at the plate, but Josiah Cromwick’s tag was too high, and it was overturned to give Utah a 2-0 lead.
Mercado, with his rhythm disrupted by the review, issued his second walk of the inning. He fell behind 3-1 on the next batter, but induced a lineout to right fielder Rikuu Nishida to finally end the frame after 36 pitches.
The Ducks wasted little time generating a response. Sabin Ceballos and Tanner Smith led off the second inning with back-to-back singles, and Drew Smith smashed a go-ahead three-run homer to right-center field. That was D. Smith’s second career home run and extended his hitting streak to 13. In the DH slot with Ceballos playing the field for the first time since April 29, Smith has been a massive spark plug for this Oregon offense.
A different Drew drove in Oregon’s fourth run; this time, it was Cowley, who ripped an RBI double in the third. He scored all the way from second on an errant pickoff attempt, extending the Ducks’ lead to 5-2.
In the bottom of the third, the home run issues that have plagued Mercado all year returned. With head coach Mark Wasikowski being interviewed by Pac-12 Network, the Utes hit back-to-back homers to get within a run. They didn’t stop there, tacking on a double and a single to knot the game up at five apiece.
Utah reloaded the bases on Mercado’s third walk, but he weaseled out of it. It took him a whopping 83 pitches to get through three innings, and he saw his ERA rise above seven. His HR/9 climbed to 2.39. It was another rough outing for a team that can’t seem to buy good starting pitching with Jace Stoffal on the mend.
Mercado hit a batter with one out in the fourth, which ended his day after 91 pitches. Left-hander Grayson Grinsell came in to get the final two outs of the inning.
Grinsell went on to retire the first six batters he faced, striking out three in the process. Meanwhile, fellow left-hander Bryson Van Sickle settled in for Utah, striking out 10 in six innings while throwing 115 pitches. The dueling left-handers kept things tied at 5-5.
Grinsell permitted a walk in the bottom of the sixth, but he nicely executed a pickoff to end the inning. He didn’t allow a hit in his 2 2/3 innings of work.
Things went much more poorly for fellow freshman reliever Dylan McShane. He didn’t have his best command, though some tough luck hurt him as well. The Utes loaded the bases on a pair of hit batters sandwiched by an error from Cromwick. McShane issued a four-pitch walk to force in a run and give Utah the lead, and an infield hit off first baseman Jacob Walsh’s glove brought in another. That ended McShane’s evening, with still no outs.
Lefty Ian Umlandt came in to try to clean up the mess. He induced a ground ball to Ceballos, who was playing the field for the first time since April 29. Ceballos botched it, nearly making another Oregon error, but he managed to get the force out at third while a run still scored.
The second infield hit of the inning loaded the bases back up. Then the Utes finally squared one up, extending their lead to 10-5 with a two-run single. Another run came in on Oregon’s second error of the inning and Cowley’s second of the game, making it a disastrous six-run frame. Ten batters came to the plate.
Utah tacked on one more in the eighth on another error by Cowley, continuing his nightmare day in the field. The Ducks made four errors on the night, with Cowley committing three of them.
Oregon’s offense had no response, falling meekly by a seven-run margin. The Ducks — as if this stretch couldn’t get any worse — are now in danger of losing their final regular season series of the year to the worst team in the conference.
Oregon (31-20, 14-14 Pac-12) will look to end this skid and even the series with Utah (22-30-1, 9-18-1 Pac-12) Friday at 10 a.m.