Thanks to a huge day from the top of its lineup, the Oregon baseball team (13-5, 1-1 Pac-12) crushed USC (10-7, 1-1) by a score of 7-2 on Saturday to even the series at one apiece.
Mitchell Tolman (2-for-5, four RBI) showed why he’s the cleanup hitter, ripping a pair of two-run doubles in the third and fourth innings to blow the game wide open.
“He (Tolman) is certainly on it right now,” head coach George Horton said after the game. “(There are) certain hitters that you just don’t want to see get in the batter’s box, and Mitch certainly has the look in his eye.”
But the biggest impact arguably came from the three hitters in front of Tolman. Aaron Payne (1-for-4, HBP), Austin Grebeck (2-for-2, two walks) and Tyler Baumgartner (2-for-2, one walk, one HBP) combined to get one base 10 times, setting the table for their cleanup hitter.
The Ducks started the scoring early. With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Oregon catcher Jack Kruger (1-for-4, one RBI) smoked a double over Garrett Stubbs’ head in left field to score Kyle Garlick (1-for-4, one run).
The Ducks would add onto the 1-0 lead just an inning later. After a Payne doubled to lead off the inning, Grebeck laid down a sacrifice bunt. Baumgarter got hit by a pitch on the next play to set up a first-and-third with one out situation for Tolman. After a seven-pitch battle with USC pitcher Bob Wheatley, Tolman hit a shot that one-hopped up against the 325-foot sign in right field. Both runners scored to increase Oregon’s lead to 3-0. Garlick flied out to right field the next at-bat but moved Tolman to third base. Next up was A.J. Balta, who laid into a 1-0 pitch and crushed a two-run home run just over the right field fence. Balta’s second home run of the season increased the lead to 5-0.
“After the grand slam against Ohio State, just another one to tack on,” Balta said. “A great feeling.”
In the next inning, Kruger struck out and Mark Karaviotis (0-for-2, one walk) flew out to lead off, but the top of the lineup came through yet again. For the eighth time this season, Payne got hit by a pitch. Grebeck followed that up with a walk, as did Baumgartner on four pitches. Tolman fell behind 0-1 but launced a deep fly ball to left, out of Stubbs’ reach for a ground-rule double. The score was 7-0.
While the Ducks were scoring all these runs, freshman starting pitcher Matt Krook had to wait in the dugout. While some pitchers might get out of their rhythm, Krook settled down after a wild top half of the second.
AJ Ramirez led the second inning off with a double and Jeremy Martinez followed that up with a single. Martinez got caught in a rundown, but the Ducks failed to get a defender back to second base in time to tag him out. The next batter, Jake Hernandez, grounded out to third without Ramirez advancing home. Dante Flores also grounded to third in the next at-bat, but this time, Martinez sprinted for home. Tolman, who heard his coaches yelling “down and going,” threw to Kruger and Martinez got caught in a rundown. Tolman eventually tagged Martinez out and also threw out Flores, who tried to advance to second, for an inning-ending double play.
“It was huge,” Krook said of the play. “It gave me a lot of energy and brought a lot of momentum to our team.”
Krook (two hits, two earned runs and six strikeouts in 6.1 innings) walked four batters in the sixth and seventh innings. He was behind hitters all night and said his offspeed pitches were a little off, but he managed his way out of several tough spots and was much more efficient than last week (97 pitches Saturday).
“Definitely in the middle (of the game), I was efficient,” Krook said. “That’s where I should be, seven innings every game, but definitely the seventh inning got away from me, and that’s frustrating.”
It might’ve not been his best start of the season, but Krook did earn his first win of his college career. Unlike his previous four starts, Krook received plenty of run support and early, making his job in the middle innings much easier.
“First college win — hopefully the first of many,” Horton said.
Noteworthy
– While the Ducks had a five-run lead in the ninth, the game still ended with a thrill. Baumgartner, who struggled in the field last night, made a tremendous diving play in right field to rob Turner Clouse of a hit. “That was a kind of neat and culminating way to finish the game,” Horton said.
– When asked who has the most power in the Ducks lineup, Horton mentioned Balta and Tolman, but the first name that came to mind was catcher Shaun Chase. “Batspeed-wise, electricity in their hands, Shaun Chase and Kyle Garlick probably,” Horton said.
– Scott Heineman didn’t play on Saturday and Horton said, “He wasn’t even close to playing today.” Horton doubts Heimeman will be able to play on Sunday and even said a return for Heineman next weekend “is a little bit wishful thinking.”
Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415