Saturday, April 15
Eugene, Ore.
2:05 PM
University of Oregon
24-9, 9-5
8
vs
1
Stanford
22-10, 10-4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Stanford
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
5
0
Oregon
0
0
2
1
2
1
2
0
X
8
11
0
Photo by: Deborah Mundorff, Well, Shoot! Photography
Another Gem Gives Ducks Series Win
04/15/23 | Baseball
Logan Mercado pitched Oregon's second complete game in two days against No. 7 Stanford on Saturday.
EUGENE, Ore. — Through two games of their weekend series, Stanford's elite lineup has been no match for the Oregon baseball team's starting pitching.
One day after Jace Stoffal's three-hit shutout of the No. 7 Cardinal, Logan Mercado also threw a complete game as the Ducks (24-9) won 8-1 before 2,322 fans in PK Park. Oregon's lineup hit three home runs for the second day in a row, the Ducks again played errorless defense and Mercado made it stand up by allowing one run on five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.
"Logan Mercado's bulldog mentality set the tone, and the guys in the dugout were just feeding off of his energy," UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. "It's just a ton of fun to be around these guys right now."
Mercado (3-0) made just one start in 27 career appearances the past two seasons, but he transitioned to the rotation this spring. A week after holding Oregon State to one run over five innings, he followed Stoffal's gem Friday with one of his own Saturday.
"We joke about it in the locker room as starters, like, I guess I've gotta one up you," Mercado said. "Unfortunately I didn't. But I came pretty close."
How It Happened: Oregon had the game's first baserunners, when Sabin Ceballos led off the bottom of the second inning with a single and took third on a Tanner Smith double. But the Ducks were unable to capitalize on that opportunity, off a starting pitcher in Stanford's Matt Scott who was 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA entering the game.
But Mercado pitched his third straight 1-2-3 inning in the third, and the Ducks went right back to work. Rikuu Nishida worked a one-out walk, stole second and took third on a single by Colby Shade. Drew Cowley's RBI double scored Nishida, and Ceballos plated Shade on a groundball out.
A 2-0 lead became 3-0 when Jacob Walsh led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run. Mercado finally allowed a baserunner in the fifth, but the Cardinal couldn't even advance the runner after getting a leadoff double. With two out in the bottom of the fifth, Cowley doubled again and Ceballos followed with his eighth homer of the year for a 5-0 lead.
Stanford strung together a walk and two singles with one out in the sixth, providing the Cardinal its first run of the weekend — a weekend Stanford entered as the Pac-12's leader in runs this season with 262. Walsh quickly answered for Oregon, leading off the bottom of the sixth with his second opposite-field home run — while wearing No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.
"It's a huge day in baseball history," said Walsh, who leads Oregon with 11 homers this season. "Not a lot of people get to play on this day. So it's a privilege to be able to go out there and play today."
Walsh drove in his third run of the game in the seventh, plating Ceballos with a groundball out. Smith advanced to third on the play, and he scored to make it 8-1 on an infield single by Josiah Cromwick.
All that was left to see was whether Mercado could finish out the game, and he pitched around leadoff singles in each of the last two innings to seal the win.
Notable: The Ducks clinched a series win over a top-10 ranked Stanford team for the second year in a row, after the Cardinal was No. 2 last season. … Oregon will try for its fifth series sweep of the season Sunday. … Mercado is Oregon's active leader with 10 career wins, and he went three innings longer than his previous career high. … Walsh hit multiple homers for the second time this season, and is now tied for 10th in UO single-season history with 11 homers this spring.
Quotable:
Junior pitcher Logan Mercado on bouncing back from a five-inning no decision against Oregon State
"Last week, I think they worked really well and got me out a little earlier than I wanted to. I think this team was a good matchup for me, played into my stuff well. I just had to execute pitches and mix it well. And luckily that's what we did today, and ended up getting a win."
Head coach Mark Wasikowski on letting Mercado work through some inconsistency in recent weeks
"He's coming into his own. Credit to Coach Angier — he's been patient with Logan. A lot of coaches probably would have quit on Logan a couple of weeks ago, after he got roughed up in the desert (allowing 10 runs April 1 at Arizona). And he didn't; he kept with him and he kept getting better and improving, and there were some subtle things that he kept working on. And you know, the results showed up again today, which is fantastic for our ballclub."
Up Next: The Ducks and Cardinal play the series finale Sunday at noon.
One day after Jace Stoffal's three-hit shutout of the No. 7 Cardinal, Logan Mercado also threw a complete game as the Ducks (24-9) won 8-1 before 2,322 fans in PK Park. Oregon's lineup hit three home runs for the second day in a row, the Ducks again played errorless defense and Mercado made it stand up by allowing one run on five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.
"Logan Mercado's bulldog mentality set the tone, and the guys in the dugout were just feeding off of his energy," UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. "It's just a ton of fun to be around these guys right now."
Mercado (3-0) made just one start in 27 career appearances the past two seasons, but he transitioned to the rotation this spring. A week after holding Oregon State to one run over five innings, he followed Stoffal's gem Friday with one of his own Saturday.
"We joke about it in the locker room as starters, like, I guess I've gotta one up you," Mercado said. "Unfortunately I didn't. But I came pretty close."
How It Happened: Oregon had the game's first baserunners, when Sabin Ceballos led off the bottom of the second inning with a single and took third on a Tanner Smith double. But the Ducks were unable to capitalize on that opportunity, off a starting pitcher in Stanford's Matt Scott who was 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA entering the game.
But Mercado pitched his third straight 1-2-3 inning in the third, and the Ducks went right back to work. Rikuu Nishida worked a one-out walk, stole second and took third on a single by Colby Shade. Drew Cowley's RBI double scored Nishida, and Ceballos plated Shade on a groundball out.
A 2-0 lead became 3-0 when Jacob Walsh led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run. Mercado finally allowed a baserunner in the fifth, but the Cardinal couldn't even advance the runner after getting a leadoff double. With two out in the bottom of the fifth, Cowley doubled again and Ceballos followed with his eighth homer of the year for a 5-0 lead.
Stanford strung together a walk and two singles with one out in the sixth, providing the Cardinal its first run of the weekend — a weekend Stanford entered as the Pac-12's leader in runs this season with 262. Walsh quickly answered for Oregon, leading off the bottom of the sixth with his second opposite-field home run — while wearing No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day.
"It's a huge day in baseball history," said Walsh, who leads Oregon with 11 homers this season. "Not a lot of people get to play on this day. So it's a privilege to be able to go out there and play today."
Walsh drove in his third run of the game in the seventh, plating Ceballos with a groundball out. Smith advanced to third on the play, and he scored to make it 8-1 on an infield single by Josiah Cromwick.
All that was left to see was whether Mercado could finish out the game, and he pitched around leadoff singles in each of the last two innings to seal the win.
Notable: The Ducks clinched a series win over a top-10 ranked Stanford team for the second year in a row, after the Cardinal was No. 2 last season. … Oregon will try for its fifth series sweep of the season Sunday. … Mercado is Oregon's active leader with 10 career wins, and he went three innings longer than his previous career high. … Walsh hit multiple homers for the second time this season, and is now tied for 10th in UO single-season history with 11 homers this spring.
Quotable:
Junior pitcher Logan Mercado on bouncing back from a five-inning no decision against Oregon State
"Last week, I think they worked really well and got me out a little earlier than I wanted to. I think this team was a good matchup for me, played into my stuff well. I just had to execute pitches and mix it well. And luckily that's what we did today, and ended up getting a win."
Head coach Mark Wasikowski on letting Mercado work through some inconsistency in recent weeks
"He's coming into his own. Credit to Coach Angier — he's been patient with Logan. A lot of coaches probably would have quit on Logan a couple of weeks ago, after he got roughed up in the desert (allowing 10 runs April 1 at Arizona). And he didn't; he kept with him and he kept getting better and improving, and there were some subtle things that he kept working on. And you know, the results showed up again today, which is fantastic for our ballclub."
Up Next: The Ducks and Cardinal play the series finale Sunday at noon.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mercado, Logan (3-0)
L: Scott, Matt (5-1)
Batting:
2B: Montgomery, Braden 1
RBI: Graham, Carter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cobb, Owen 1
Batting:
2B: Cowley, Drew 2 ; Smith, Tanner 2
HR: Ceballos, Sabin 1 ; Walsh, Jacob 2
RBI: Cowley, Drew 1 ; Ceballos, Sabin 3 ; Walsh, Jacob 3 ; Cromwick, Josiah 1
SH: Nishida, Rikuu 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nishida, Rikuu 1 ; Shade, Colby 1 ; Cowley, Drew 1 ; Ceballos, Sabin 2 ; Smith, Tanner 1 ; Walsh, Jacob 2
SB: Nishida, Rikuu 1
HBP: Shade, Colby 1 ; Boettcher, Bryce 1 ; Grant, Gavin 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
INF/C
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball1B
/ Baseball2024-25 Oregon Baseball Intro Video
Thursday, June 12
Oregon Baseball | Eugene Regional | Postgame vs. Cal Poly
Saturday, May 31
Oregon Baseball | Eugene Regional | Postgame vs. Utah Valley
Saturday, May 31
Grayson Grinsell & Jacob Walsh | NCAA Selection Show
Monday, May 26
