Much like Saturday’s loss, Oregon’s 12-2 loss to Oregon State will be one they will quickly try to forget. Aside from Friday’s win, a testament to how incredibly well Tommy Thorpe pitched, Oregon didn’t look to be in the same league as Oregon State.
With the loss, Oregon falls two games behind Oregon State in the Pac-12 standings and with four games left in the regular season, one coming against the Beavers this Tuesday in Corvallis, Oregon State controls their own destiny.
“We got whooped, there’s no question about it,” said Oregon coach George Horton. “We got out pitched, out defended and out hit.”
“If things go the rest of the way in the Pac-12 like they probably will, if they handle their business like they have all year … It’s a hard thing to say, but their the best team in the conference. Sometimes you just need to call it as you see them.”
Jake Reed (6-4) got shelled, going just two and two-thirds innings, giving up seven runs (two earned because of two errors early, one on Reed himself) on eight hits while striking out two.
Oregon State blew the game wide open in the second inning when Reed loaded the bases, then walked in a run, giving Oregon State a 2-0 lead. Michael Conforto, 3-5, 6 RBI, ripped his second homer of the series, this time a grand slam, giving Oregon State a 6-0 early lead.
“Conforto is seeing (the ball) really well right now,” said Reed. “It’s tough to pitch to that kid when he’s seeing it really well. I played with him over the summer and when he’s going, he sees it like a beach ball.”
Oregon bounced back in the middle of the game thanks to a couple strong innings from Darrell Hunter and Garrett Cleavinger, but fell apart in the eighth inning for the second-straight game. Jimmie Sherfy, their most reliable pitcher out of the pen, had a forgettable two-thirds innings, giving up three earned runs on four hits.
Oregon State again scored a run in the ninth, giving them 12 runs on an unbelievable 17 hits.
Oregon, for the second straight game, and really since the third inning of Friday’s game, had their offense shut down. The Ducks could only muster two runs on six hits with Scott Heineman being the only Duck to have a multi-hit game.
Turning Point. Oregon’s best opportunity came in the bottom of the second inning as a response to the Oregon State five run second inning. With the bases loaded, J.J. Altobelli stepped up and hit a ball to the warning track in center field.
The hit would have been out of nearly every park in the country and looked like it would surely drop and score three for Oregon. OSU’s center fielder Max Gordon robbed the Ducks of three runs with an incredible leaping grab. Instead of a 6-3 ball game with seven innings to play, the Ducks were staring at a six run deficit.
“It was carrying up there for awhile so I thought he might have a chance,” said Altobelli of the catch. “On Friday he made another play like that. It was just a good play. That was a big momentum changer.”
Oregon, having one the first non-conference game against Oregon State, has a chance to win the season series against their state rivals on Tuesday and carry some momentum going into their final series with Utah when they take on Oregon State in Corvallis. The game is the second of two non-conference games between the teams.