Charles Fischer Administrator No. 1 Share Posted March 17 After getting our butts kicked by Portland on Tuesday 15-5, and then by Cal on Friday by 13-1, it was beginning to change my entire outlook on Oregon's season. Hitting slump, and poor pitching spells disaster if it continues. But it didn't. Oregon came out and won on Saturday 5-1, and then strides into a confident 10-3 win today--that I never saw coming. Good pitching again, but many of Oregon's hits cleared the fence, and in particular--Jacob Walsh had a couple of biggies. More later, but this puts the Ducks tied for first after winning the first two Pac-12 series against Arizona State, and now Cal. Quite the turnaround and bounce-back! 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Author Administrator No. 2 Share Posted March 18 Ducks clinch series with win over Cal EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon got a strong start from pitcher Kevin Seitter and the Ducks pounded four home runs to hand California a 10-3 defeat and clinch the Pac-12 series on Sunday afternoon at PK Park. Seitter (2-0) allowed just one run on four hits over 5.0 innings while striking out six. Bradley Mullan pitched a scoreless inning, while Logan Mercado got the final six outs to pick up his third save. Jacob Walsh hit a pair of homers, while Anson Aroz and Ryan Cooney both went yard once. How It Happened: Oregon jumped on top early with a three-run first inning, all coming with two outs. Justin Cassella led off the inning with a base hit before moving to third on a pair of ground outs. Bennett Thompson gave the Ducks the lead with a RBI single between shortstop and third base. Walsh followed with a two-run opposite field home run to make it 3-0. Cal cut into the lead with a run in the third, but Oregon responded with three in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Walsh and Aroz made it 4-1 and then after a Carter Garate walk put runners at the corners, Cassella drove in a pair with Oregon’s third double of the inning. The Golden Bears cut the lead to 6-3 in the seventh with a pair of runs, but Oregon put the game away with a four-run eighth inning with back-to-back home runs from Walsh and Aroz and a Cooney solo shot. Jeffery Heard started the four-run rally with a leadoff double before moving to third on a Thompson ground out. Walsh made it 8-3 when he smashed a 3-2 pitch over the center-field wall. On the next pitch, Aroz deposited one on the roof of the Player Development Area beyond the right-field bullpen. After an out and a pitching change, Cooney slugged the first pitch he saw from reliever Austin Turkington over the left-field wall. Box Score Notes: Walsh’s two home runs were the 29th and 30th of his career, moving him into a tie for second all-time at Oregon with Tom Dodd (1977-79) … He is just one behind all-time leader Tanner Smith (2019-23) … Walsh’s fourth-inning double moved him into a tie for eighth all-time with Brett Thomas (2011-13) with 34 career two baggers … His four RBI ran his career total to 100, just the seventh Duck to reach the century mark in runs batted in … Walsh became the first Duck to hit two homers in a game since Cassella did it against Lafayette on Feb. 24 … It marked the third time in his career that Walsh has homered twice in a game … He also did it last year at Arizona (3/31/23) and vs. Stanford (4/15/23) … Cooney home run was his sixth of the season, tying Walsh’s school freshman home run record … The Ducks won the series against Cal for the fourth consecutive season. On Deck: Oregon returns to PK Park next weekend for a three-game series against Arizona. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On Walsh’s performance…“When he hits a ball to the pull side of the field, one of the first games of the series over the hitter’s eye and onto the soccer field for a 490-foot home run, and then he hits two to the opposite field and one to center field, that’s pretty spectacular. You’re looking at a guy who’s probably going to have a pretty good career if he keeps his head on straight, and he doesn’t have any reason why he wouldn’t. He’s a great kid. He’s a really good hitter and he’s getting older by the day. Credit to Coach Marder and Hinkle, and Brett Thomas for helping him with his offensive game.” On defensive improvement and performance… “I don’t have stats on it, but it feels more under control. I feel like infield play has stabilized. I think Carter Garate and Drew Smith have done a tremendous job. The play that Drew Smith made up the middle on their leadoff hitter was a tremendous, SportsCenter type play. He’s settled in at second base and Carter has played an outstanding third base for us. I think Ryan Cooney ended up breaking the freshman home run record today, so he’s quite a talent. For two sophomores and a freshman to be doing that, it looks pretty bright.” On bullpen options… “We still had a fresh Brock Moore, and we still had plenty of guys down there. Cole Stokes and (Ryan) Featherston and (Collin) Clarke were all available down there and ready to go, which is nice. They haven’t pitched consistently great, not all of those names. But some of them, like Brock Moore and Bradley (Mullan) have, so that’s why they’re getting the opportunities. We started our day with the message of what Duck fans had with Oregon basketball and Coach (Dana) Altman’s excellence with their staff and their unity as a program. We tried to do everything we could to reflect on how awesome their accomplishment is so far and the fact that they have a chance to win the big tournament is really awesome. We’re pulling for them and they’re doing it with unity and chemistry and that’s pretty special stuff they’ve got in their locker room right now.” On focus moving forward… “It’s growth, it’s unity, it’s togetherness and it’s about fundamentals. When we do those things, it’s really good baseball. When we don’t, it’s ugly, and nobody wants to see the ugliness. They want to see how we ended the weekend with the last two days.” Anson Aroz On offense breaking through in later innings: “It’s big time. Finishing a weekend, that excitement and leaving on an awesome note is huge. A guy like Carter Garate firing us up going into the dugout telling all of us ‘Hey we got an opportunity here, let’s take advantage of it and really finish this weekend’ and we did it.” On ending the weekend with a series win after losing the first: “It’s kind of proof of what this program is capable of doing, and this team. Those games don’t matter, it’s only one loss. To be able to flip the switch and turn it back on for games two and three is big time and I’m happy to be a part of it.” On what makes Kevin Seitter so hard to hit: “Yeah, that kid’s nasty, he’s a dog up there. He’s really competitive and he’s getting on you with each pitch, there's no break. You don’t get an easy pitch to watch go by or swing at. When you mix four pitches like that, all in the zone, it's pretty hard to hit.” Jacob Walsh On being in rhythm and hitting the ball the other way: “Yeah, that’s usually my approach. Kind of stay on more balls when you’re going that way, so that’s what I try to do and when you get a good pitch to hit that’s what happens.” On what it means to bounce back from a series opener loss: “Since I’ve got here, we’ve always had resilient squads and that was on display this weekend. It is what it is, and every day is a new day, so we go out and play. We’re not worried about last night, we’re not worried about tomorrow. In every game it’s worry about the game happening today.” Kevin Seitter On the theme of pitching old… “It’s a lot to do with presence and staying where your feet are, opposed to maybe pitching young and things get sped up, you’re not staying with your breath. I’m definitely trying to focus on that, especially between innings. That’s a huge thing if you have to do a mental reset, you have to take care of that. That’s a big part of pitching old.” On pitching for game three of the series… “It’s an honor and a privilege anytime coach gives me the ball. I really appreciate that, and I don’t want to get that twisted. Pitching on Sundays when it’s a rubber match is a lot of fun. You need somebody to go out there and throw strikes and compete, and I pride myself on doing that. I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to stay in this role if I may. I love it.” On positives of today… “I had a good mix, that’s for sure. Today was definitely more of a mental approach that I have been working on for a while now. Today I played well, but there’s always room to improve. I think we’re going to do that going forward.” 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
