Oregon’s chances of evening the series with rival Washington were over before an out was ever recorded.
The Huskies opened with four straight singles and added a home run, two doubles, a walk, hit batter and error to plate nine runs in the first, chased Ducks starter Jackson Pace without recording an out and cruised to a 18-8 win Saturday night at PK Park.
“They hit the ball all over the yard against him,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “Billy Boyer is their hitting coach; he did a fantastic job preparing those guys game planning and executing against Jackson the first inning. It was textbook. About as good as I’ve seen.”
It was the most runs allowed since May 5, 2019 for No. 24 Oregon (31-18, 14-13 Pac-12), with just three games — all in 2019 — topping the mark since the baseball program returned in 2009.
Every starter scored and seven had multiple hits for Washington (31-14, 15-10 Pac-12), which sealed the series win with its most runs in a Pac-12 game since March 16, 2019, also at Oregon (19).
Kiefer Lord (6-3) allowed five runs on nine hits and a hit batter and struck out five over 5.0 innings and Grant Cunningham picked up a save while allowing three runs on three hits and four walks with two strikeouts over 4.0 innings for the Huskies.
Pace (2-3) allowed eight runs on six hits, a walk and hit batter before being relieved by Turner Spoljaric, who immediately gave up a two-run home run, then retired nine of 10.
“The start of that game is about as bad as I’ve ever experienced,” Wasikowski said. “What you’re trying to do (postgame) is try to create positives based off of a really negative beginning to a day. So if you can create any positive momentum to try to carry into an inning, the next inning, the next inning and into another game tomorrow that’s what you’re trying to do.”
Spoljaric allowed four runs on six hits and struck out five over 5.1 innings and Matt Dallas allowed five runs on four hits and two walks over 0.2 innings for the Ducks. Ian Umlandt (3.0 IP) closed it out while allowing a run on two hits and a walk for UO.
Gavin Grant went 2 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs and Rikuu Nishida hit a two-run double for Oregon, which will attempt to avoid being swept by UW for the first time since 2009 at noon Sunday.
