Stringer To Start Home Opener

An in-state guy will start Oregon baseball's 2019 home opener Friday afternoon — just not the in-state guy the Ducks originally slotted for the job.

Junior all-America candidate Kenyon Yovan isn't currently scheduled to start this weekend in a four-game series with visiting Saint Mary's, after leaving his season debut at Texas Tech last week with a hand injury. Instead, junior left-hander Cole Stringer will be on the mound when the UO baseball team kicks off the series against the Gaels on Friday, at an adjusted start time of 3 p.m.

Stringer, a Portland native, made only three appearances last season before being granted a medical hardship due to arm problems. But he rebounded well and was in the rotation for last week's four-game series at Texas Tech, before having his scheduled start Monday cancelled by weather.

"I was really looking forward to that start," said Stringer, who has 17 career starts under his belt and a 4.10 ERA. "I felt like I matched up really well against Tech. And then we got outside, and it was absolutely freezing."

Stringer will make a Friday start in place of Yovan, the Beaverton native who was on the preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award. Yovan made it through two innings last week in Texas before being pulled due to the hand issue.

But after an evaluation back in Eugene this week, Yovan was diagnosed simply with "hand discomfort," rather than a more significant issue. He's considered day to day, UO coach George Horton said, and could see his way onto the mound this weekend.

"Not sure in what role, or what day," Horton said. "… The good news is, it's confirmed it was mild hand discomfort."

The series against Saint Mary's continues with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., and concludes Sunday at noon. Junior Ryne Nelson will start one of the games Saturday, and Cullen Kafka will either start the other or throw in his normal slot Sunday, after going 5 1/3 innings at Texas Tech.

Whoever is on the mound this weekend for Oregon will have some run support, at least if the opening series of the season was any indication. The Ducks scored 24 runs in three games, hitting .372 as a team and slugging .496.

Veterans provided the run production, with juniors Gabe Matthews and Spencer Steer driving in four runs each. But freshmen helped set the table, with Aaron Zavala, Tanner Smith and Sam Novitske each posting a .500 on-base average while combining for nine runs scored.

"We were excited going into the year," UO senior Jakob Goldfarb said. "And then they actually blew our expectations out of the water."

Before leaving for Texas, Horton had expressed cautious optimism about the mentality and potential of his freshmen. He'd also expressed concern about a lack of established veterans in the bullpen, and that also was borne out during the season-opening series.

The Ducks posted a team ERA of 7.92, and surrendered 23 walks in 25 innings. One bright spot was freshman Christian Ciuffetelli, who made two scoreless appearances and demonstrated that he has both the makeup and the pitching arsenal to be a late-inning option this season.

In the end though, it was only one weekend, kicking off a 2019 Oregon baseball season that's only just begun.

"The sample's a little small to say, 'Hey, this is gonna be a problem, this is gonna be good,'" Horton said. "So we're building on the things we did well, and trying to shore up the things we didn't."