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Jace Stoffal leads Oregon to marquee win over No. 7 Stanford

Jarrid Denneyby:Jarrid Denney•04/14/23•

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Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

Behind a stellar performance from junior right-hander Jace Stoffal, the Oregon baseball program notched its biggest win of the season Friday evening.

Stoffal tossed a complete game shutout the lead the Ducks to a 4-0 victory over the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal at PK Park in Eugene in Friday’s series opener.

With the victory, Oregon improves to 22-9 on the year and 7-5 in Pac-12 play. Stanford, which entered the weekend second in the conference standings, dropped to 22-9 and 10-3.

Over the course of nine innings, Stoffal struck out eight Cardinal batters and allowed just three hits and one walk. The Roseburg, Ore., native began the year as Oregon’s projected Sunday starter but has emerged as one of the top pitchers in the conference this spring.

One week after tossing 7.0 shutout innings against Oregon State, Stoffal neutralized a Cardinal lineup that ranks 20th nationally with a .313 team batting average.

Friday’s outing marked the first complete game of Stoffal’s career. In the process, he trimmed his season ERA to 2.64 in 44 1/3 innings.

Colby Shade, Drew Cowley, and Jacob Walsh all smashed home runs for the Ducks off of Stanford ace Quinn Matthews.

The Ducks nearly struck in the third inning when Gavin Grant cracked a hustle double. The next batter, Rikuu Nishida, ripped a single to right field that sent Grant sprinting home, but he was thrown out at the plate by Stanford’s Braden Montgomery.

One inning later, though, Oregon took a lead it wouldn’t surrender.

Shade smacked a leadoff homer to left, giving the Ducks a 1-0 lead. Three batters later, Walsh smacked a two-run shot to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, Cowley launched a home run to dead center that pushed Oregon’s advantage to 4-0, and destroyed a camera in the process.

Stoffal, meanwhile, cruised through the final four frames. He retired nine straight batters throughout the sixth, seven, and eighth innings.

In the ninth, he worked around Eddie Park’s leadoff single and retired Stanford’s 2-3-4 hitters in order to end the game.

The Ducks and Cardinals will face off for the second game of the series Saturday at 2:05 p.m. PT at PK Park.

Oregon right-hander Logan Mercado (2-0, 6.75) is expected to get the starting nod against Cardinal righty Matt Scott (5-0, 2.08).

Last weekend against Oregon State, Mercado delivered his best outing of the year and held the Beavers to one run over 5.0 innings in a 4-2 loss.

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