Ducks Look To Turn Page In Civil War After Rough Patch
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
The occasion of a Civil War matchup is not anything the Oregon baseball team takes lightly.
Oregon State comes to PK Park this weekend, beginning Friday night (7:35 p.m., ESPNU). And while beating the Beavers is Oregon's goal, it will mean more to put in the rearview mirror an anguishing stretch of baseball that began exactly one month ago.
On March 10, the Ducks got out of bed with a 13-2 record, ranked in the top 10 nationally. On April 10, Oregon finds itself at 19-15 entering the Civil War series, having endured a 19-game slog that included just six wins.
"Until we start playing the game better, it's not about the Beavs, it's not about Michigan State, it's not about Portland, it's not about Seattle," UO coach George Horton said. "It's about us, and unfortunately we haven't held up our end of the bargain very well."
The Ducks will send left-handed ace Cole Irvin to the mound in the series opener. The normal Saturday starter, Conor Harber, left his start prematurely against Michigan State last week due to shoulder trouble. But the Ducks are cautiously optimistic about Harber's status based on reports from medical staff.
"We're Irvin, TBA, TBA," Horton said of the UO rotation this weekend. "Some of that's based on whether David Peterson's able to come back on short rest (and pitch Saturday after starting last Sunday against the Spartans), which we think and hope. And some of that's based on Conor as well."
Irvin (1-2, 3.52 ERA) will be matched up in the opener with Oregon State right-hander Andrew Moore (3-1, 1.63). The two are on friendly terms, and exchanged text messages this week — mostly friendly grumbling about Friday's late start time, Irvin passed along.
The UO sophomore, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, said matching up with Moore will be a benchmark game in gauging his recovery, as would be a start again UCLA ace James Kaprielian.
"Those two guys in the Pac-12 are the best pitchers, in my mind," Irvin said. "They can command the zone, they can command all their pitches. They're the best of the Pac, and you've got to go through them to win ball games."
Irvin threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings in a no decision against Michigan State last week, rebounding from an outing at Arizona in which he allowed eight runs in less than two innings. That's a microcosm of how erratic the Ducks have been of late; Horton compared dealing with their myriad of issues lately to plugging holes in a dam — just when you get one stopped up, another leak springs.
The Ducks have had weeks when their defense failed them, such as seven errors in three games at Cal. And they've been pressing at the plate, as illustrated by their 47 strikeouts in five games last week — a loss to Portland, a win over Seattle and a sweep at the hands of the Spartans.
Oregon caught a few breaks to beat Seattle, but the most recent victory, this past Tuesday in a bounce-back against Portland, was more encouraging. The Ducks pounded out 15 hits and struck out just four times.
"That's one thing we've been working on for the last week, is shortening up, trying to hit line drives," first baseman Brandon Cuddy said. "Not necessarily trying to hit doubles off the wall and bombs. They'll turn into that, of course, but the approach has got to be line drives and ground balls through the infield."
Horton said a potential turning point to the season was the fifth inning Tuesday. He has encouraged the Ducks to build momentum defensively that they can carry over at the plate; the fifth inning Tuesday featured second baseman Mitchell Tolman taking an excellent looping path to a groundball that put him in position to fire to first for an out on a bang-bang play, followed by left fielder Phil Craig-St. Louis crashing into the fence to make an inning-ending catch.
Craig-St. Louis then led off the top of the sixth, sparking a three-run rally that broke open the game, which Oregon won 11-3. It was work with the glove that provided a spark that carried over into the batter's box.
"We've definitely all known that, but it was just a good example of it," Cuddy said. "The Ducks have been built around defense and pitching, and without those you can't win a game no matter how many runs you score."
Thanks to the win over Portland, Oregon enters its second straight weekend series optimistic about a breakout. Doing so in the Civil War would make it that much sweeter.
"We couldn't have picked a better series for us to be ready to compete and get off this hump we're in right now," Irvin said. "We're just excited to get on the field again and play with each other, and play the game."
Of course, the Ducks were riding positive vibes last week, too, only to be swept by Michigan State.
"We know we can play baseball better than we have," Horton said. "So again, no disrespect to the Beavers or anybody else; it doesn't matter who our opponent is this weekend. It's about the game, and us."
