Bats come to life, freshmen dominate on mound

Saturday, March 4

Eugene, Ore.

2:05 PM

University of Oregon

7-3

San Diego

5-4-1

San Diego

Oregon

Photo by: Deborah Mundorff

03/04/23 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score: Oregon 13, San Diego 0 Photo Gallery

EUGENE – Oregon's offense shook off its early season struggles and four freshman pitchers combined for a shutout Saturday in a series-clinching 13-0 win over San Diego at PK Park.

The Ducks' combined for a season-high 13 hits, including three homers and three doubles, while Oregon pitchers allowed just four hits in the Ducks' first shutout since Feb. 28, 2022 vs. St. Johns.

Freshman Jackson Pace (6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K) put together his second official quality start in as many chances. Fellow freshmen Grayson Grinsell (2 strikeouts), Dylan McShane (1-2-3 inning) and Logan Olson (1 strikeout) each contributed a scoreless inning to preserve the shutout.

How It Happened: It was a scoreless pitcher's duel through three and a half innings before Oregon got its offense going. Sabin Ceballos sparked the Ducks' bats with a leadoff double in the bottom of the third before scoring on Drew Cowley's RBI base hit. After USD (5-4-1) turned a double play to erase Cowley, Colby Shade double and came around to score on a Bennett Thompson RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

It didn't stay a two-run game for long. The Ducks put a four-spot on the board in the bottom of the fifth while sending nine hitters to the plate. Tanner Smith singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on an error on a Rikuu Nishida sacrifice bunt to put runners on first and second before Ceballos walked to load the bases.

Walsh pushed the lead to three lining a shot off third baseman Kevin Sim's glove allowing Smith to score. Shade followed with a three-run double he pulled just inside the third-base bag plating Nishida, Ceballos and Walsh for a 6-0 lead.

San Diego threatened to cut into the lead in the top of the sixth putting runners on second and third, but Smith made an amazing diving catch toward the left-field line to end the inning.

After making the remarkable catch, Smith led off the bottom half of the inning hitting his first home run of the season for a 7-0 lead. After an out, Ceballos walked and moved to second on a Drew Cowley before scoring on a Walsh single up the middle.

Shade added RBI number four, five and six on the day when he lined his first home run of the season over the left-field wall scoring Cowley and Walsh for an 11-0 lead.

Ceballos capped the scoring with a two-run home run in the seventh inning giving the Ducks a 13-0 lead.

Box Score Notes: Shade (3-for-4, HR, 2 2B, 6 RBI) set a career highs for RBI and doubles … It was his first multi-hit and multi-RBI game of the season and the 22nd and 14th respectively of his career … Ceballos (2-for-2, 2 BB, HBP) reached base five times while scoring an Oregon season-high four runs … Walsh (2-for-4) had his second consecutive 2-hit game and the 24th of his career … Smith (2-for-5) added to his Oregon career record with his 68th career multi-hit game and his third of the season … Nishida (2 BB, 2 R) reached base twice and now has scored at least one run in seven of Oregon's 10 games … Freshman Carter Garate made his career debut playing shortstop in the eighth and ninth innings … Pace matched his career high tossing 6.0 innings.

On Deck: Oregon will look to complete the sweep on Sunday with a 12:05 p.m. first pitch. The Ducks send Matthew Grabmann (0-1, 3.00) to the mound. USD will counter with Morgan Lunceford (0-1, 9.82).

Quotes:

Coach Mark Wasikowski:

Overall thoughts on what was the Ducks' most complete game of the season:
"Played a complete game, yes, and that's what it looks like. We faced a tough pitcher. That's probably their ace, the guy who threw yesterday is really good. This guy, we just got to him. The offense did a great job through 4.2 or whatever he had with 86 pitches. We were able to get his pitch count up and that helped us work counts deep and get better pitches to hit, which was good."

On Jackson Pace's outing:
"Well, him and all the other freshman pitchers. Four freshmen threw today and threw a shutout. I was proud of that, that's not easy to do, that's a good hitting team. You got two Cape Cod League all-stars on that team and a really good hitting club, I think they scored 16 runs at one point this year through the first ten games. They are a very good offensive club and four freshmen did that today. Credit coach (Jake) Angier on his birthday, he gets to celebrate that."

On putting 13 runs on the board:
"It was a complete game. So, it's hard to have a lot of complaints about what you saw today. It was a tremendous effort and prep work from the assistant coaches with the guys, and it was a lot of fun to be in the dugout."

Colby Shade:

Thoughts on the home run:
"Just looking for anything up and was just on time to it. Trying to be on time to any pitch that was over the plate, and luckily, I was on time, and it felt really good to hit it."

Distance on the home run:
"Not yet (got a distance check on the hit), I was talking to Tanner (Smith), it was definitely the furthest one I have ever hit. I don't really think I'm a home run guy, but I don't know, maybe that will change after that, hopefully, but stick to the approach for sure."

Thoughts on six RBI game and offensive flow:
"It felt really good, credit to the guys that got on base before that and put me in that spot. I think really, we have to trust in our offense that if anyone's up there, they're getting their job done. That was the message this morning: 'When you're up there in that spot, get done on the first pitch or the first chance you get'. So, I think we did a good job as a team today of doing that with runners in scoring position."

Tanner Smith:

Thoughts on catch after the balk:
"Just mayhem, but credit to the preparation and being out in the outfield with (Coach Mark) Wasikowski every day, that's an everyday thing for all of us. So, it's not too crazy but just enjoying the moment."

Thoughts on his home run:
"Like you said and mentioned last night, there has been a lot of heavy off-speed attack. So, it's just kind of being able to stay balanced, use the opposite side of the field and see a ball deep, and I was able to do that."

Jackson Pace:

Thoughts on his performance:
"I think I did well. I definitely didn't really get ahead early, but I pitched to contact a lot and that helped me save my pitch count and go deeper into the game."

On having other true freshmen come in to finish off the game:
"It's great. Those are some of my best friends and I love seeing them go out there and do their thing and just tear guys up. It's great, I love watching them."