By Jack McArthur
The Oregon Ducks fell short to the Cougars saturday night after a tough 10-8 home loss against Washington State at PK park. Oregon stayed resilient, yet their efforts weren’t enough in the end due to their lackadaisical and inconsistent pitching outings. One of the Cougars’ best hitters, Jack Smith, hit a double early at the top of the first, which was the first hit of the night for Washington State. Minutes later, the next batter, junior designated hitter Jacob McKeon slammed one home, which was a two-run homer in the top of the first to open up the scoring.
The Ducks’ starting pitcher was Jace Stoffal, who didn’t have a good outing, giving up four runs in 2.1 innings of work. The Cougars were hitting home runs on the Ducks all day long. Washington State’s Collin Montez hit a two-run slam past the right field wall in the top of the second inning, giving the Cougars an early 4-0 lead. Oregon’s Anthony Hall hit a single which got the Ducks on base in the bottom of the second. In the same inning, Colby Shade smashed one central which granted him a single, which sent Hall to third base. With two on base in the bottom of the second, Oregon was unable to capitalize; the second inning retired with Oregon leaving two runners stranded. At the top of the third, second baseman Gavin Grant leaped up to secure an out by making an impressive catch. The Cougars led 5-0 in the top of the third. Brennan Milone hit one through the second and third base gap, singling, and sending Cowley to third. Oregon struggled offensively and failed to find their rhythm until they scored one run in the third inning. After three innings, the Cougars still had a commanding advantage over Oregon, leading 4-1. Jack Smith scored and got sent home because of Jacob McKeon’s single that was blasted through the second and third base gap. Washington State had complete control of the game in the first four innings. After giving up a brutal three runs in the fourth inning, Oregon trailed eight to four through four innings.
Oregon got on base after Anthony Hall hit one deep to left field which gave Hall a double in the bottom of the fourth inning. Then, the succeeding batter, Colby Shade, hit a double, which sent Hall home. The Cougar’s starting pitcher, Taylor, hit Jack Scanlon with 0 outs in the bottom of the fourth at this point, which put two on base for Oregon. The Cougars completed a double play minutes later, and Scanlon scored for the Ducks on that same play, which gave Oregon more momentum, since the score was 8-4 at this point at the end of the fourth.In the fifth inning, the Ducks didn’t give up a single run. Before the fifth inning, the Ducks gave up at least one run in each of the previous four innings, letting Washington State score two runs in both the first and second innings, one run in the third, and a game high three runs in the fourth inning. Josh Kasevich crushed one into left field for a single in the bottom of the fifth. At this point, Oregon had two on base, trailing by only four runs, the score was 8-4. Bases were loaded at the bottom of the fifth, and the Cougars brought in a new pitcher, Kmetko. Kmetko only ended up facing one batter, then they pulled him. At the end of the sixth inning, the Ducks trailed by 3, with a score of 9-6. Anthony Hall hit a historic home run in the bottom of the 7th inning, which was home run number 57 on the season for the ducks, which broke the old single season record in school history for the most home runs in a season, which was previously 56 homers in a season. Washington State pitcher Grillo hit Brennan Milone which walked Milone in the bottom of the eighth, with two on for the Ducks at this point. At the top of the ninth inning, the Ducks pulled pitcher Caleb Sloan, and brought in the lefty, Rio Britton. Britton threw three straight strikes and struckout Hylan Hall which was the first batter he faced. Britton had a strong outing; he left the Cougars scoreless in the 9th inning.The score was 10-8 ducks were down two after eight. In the end, the Cougar’s offense was too powerful, and Oregon’s pitching was unable to contain Wazzu. The Ducks have continuously had pitching issues, and they’ve been unable to have sustainable and reliable outings from their pitchers.
Washington State had an impressive four homeruns in their 10-8 victory today, including three two-run homers. The main storyline of the night was Jacob McKeon, who was one triple shy of hitting for the cycle. McKeon finished the game going four for five, hitting a single, a double, a home run, while also adding three RBI’s. Oregon also stranded multiple runners, but their lack of pitching consistency ended up costing them this loss in the end. With the series currently tied at one a piece, Oregon will look to bounce back tomorrow at noon as they will face the Cougars for the third and final game of the series tomorrow afternoon at PK Park.
Post Game Audio
Coach Wasikowski