Homegrown talent helps Oregon to sweep of No. 25 Arizona in regular season finale

Frequently this season, Ducks’ coach Mark Wasikowski has mentioned that he loves having players from the state of Oregon in his program.

On Saturday, the faith he has put in building his roster around in-state products was rewarded as two such players delivered big contributions.

Sophomore right-hander Jace Stoffal delivered his best start of the season, and freshman catcher Bennett Thompson has a big performance at the plate for the second consecutive day as the Ducks topped No. 25 Arizona 5-3 and completed a series sweep of the Wildcats.

“When the battery is southern Oregon kids, that’s pretty exciting,” Wasikowski said of Thompson and Stoffal. “I believe deeply that Oregon kids are tough — probably tougher than others at times, for sure. They just have a lot to play for, especially in front of a lot of family and friends every single day.

“I want to build this program with local kids.”

Stoffal, a former star at Roseburg High who spent last season at Umpqua Community College, held Arizona to three hits, one walk, one hit batter, and one earned run over 7.0 innings while striking out three.

Right behind the plate was Thompson, a former South Medford High star. The two grew up playing travel ball against each other, and Stoffal admits that Thompson still reminds him from time-to-time about the doubles he hit off him during their high school days.

On Saturday, though, they tactfully navigated a loaded Wildcats’ lineup and kept it quiet all afternoon.

“It’s a pretty good connection — it’s a lot of fun throwing to him,” Stoffal said. “He’s good behind the plate. So it was very fun. … Even as a freshman, he’s very vocal back there and he receives very well. As a pitcher, you love vocal catchers that are gonna give you good feedback.”

Once again, the Ducks pounced on Arizona’s starter in the second inning, just as they did on Friday.

Anthony Hall lined a one-out single to left, and Jacob Walsh followed with a hard-hit single to right. Thompson then stepped to the plate and plated Hall with a single to center to open the scoring for the Ducks.

Two batters later, Tanner Smith lined a two-run double to the right-field gap to push Oregon’s lead to 3-0.

After Oregon’s early offensive outburst, Stoffal settled in and cruised through the rest of his outing. He retired 16 batters in a row spanning from the second to seventh innings. He needed just seven pitches to retire the Wildcats’ 4-5-6 hitters in order in the fourth, and he once again sat Arizona down in order with just seven pitches in the fifth.

“Good pitch-calling, great defense, and they gave me a lead early,” Stoffal said when asked what was working for him on Saturday. “It makes it a lot easier to pitch when you have a lead early, so I just go out there and throw as many strikes as I can and the defense behind me was amazing.”

Stoffal’s effort was bolstered in the sixth when Walsh crushed a single up the middle to score Drew Cowley and extend Oregon’s lead to 4-0.

The Wildcats finally put a runner aboard to lead off the eighth when Stoffal hit Wildcats’ center fielder Mac Bingham with a pitch, and Tommy Splain followed with a single. That brought an end to Stoffal’s day.

Rio Britton came on in relief of Stoffal and struck out pinch-hitter Blake Paugh for the first out. Wasikowski then went to his bullpen again, opting for a righty, and brought in Logan Mercado.

Mercado got Nik McClaughry to fly out to left, then surrendered an RBI single to Daniel Susac that cut the Ducks’ lead to 4-1.

With No. 3 hitter Tanner O’Tremba at the plate as the tying run, though, Mercado buckled down and struck him out swinging to escape the jam.

The Ducks padded their lead in the eighth when Thompson drew a bases-loaded walk and made it 5-1.

Oregon closer Kolby Somers then came on and was hit around a bit and surrendered two runs. But he buckled down and finished the Wildcats off to record his 10th save of the season.

“I think what’s big is really just winning on Sundays,” Smith said when asked about the significance of the series sweep. “We kept it simple as that. We wanted to finish this series strong and not settle for two (wins). If this is our last game at PK Park, we wanted to finish it right.”