May 29, 2023

Spoljaric pitches Oregon to Pac-12 Tournament Title

By Tyson Shushkewich

Canadian Baseball Network

Words of wisdom to departing pitchers headed south often sound similar to this: “Be patient not a lot of guys see action their freshman season”

Turner Spoljaric not only pitched as a freshman, he pitched the Oregon Ducks to victory in the Pac-12 championship tournament and into the NCAA 64-team tourney.

For the must-win game, the Ducks gave the ball to Spoljaric (Lisle, Ont.), looking for a statement game on the nationally televised contest at Scottsdale Stadium. He and his bullpen recorded a 5-4 win over the Arizona Wildcats.

Spoljaric allowed two unearned in six innings, leaving with a 3-2 lead. He did not walk a single batter compared to three strikeouts.

After permitting the first run of the game in the third inning, he kept the Ducks in it before reliever Austin Anderson took over in the seventh.

The Canadian did find himself in trouble on a few occasions with runners in scoring position but the former Toronto Met was able to limit the damage and keep the Wildcats at bay in the biggest game of the season.

This wasn’t Spoljaric’s first start of the tournament, as he faced the Stanford Cardinals in the second game of the tournament. He struggled through one-plus inning, allowing six earned runs on seven hits while striking out one of the 10 batters he faced.

The potent Cardinal squad had a two-run home run off the freshman and two more in the four-run first. Oregon scored twice in the second, but Stanford came back with two in the bottom of half of second. Spoljaric was pulled in the second without recording an out. Eventually, the Ducks won 8-6 in extras.

Oregon started the Pac-12 tournament going 2-0 in Pool A before besting a higher-ranked University of Washington in the semifinals to make a date in the final Saturday. They were slated to face Arizona, who bested the No. 1 ranked Stanford in the semifinals 14-4.

Spoljaric, son of former big leaguer Paul Spoljaric (Kelowna, BC), turned in one of his best outings of the season. He is 6-0 but has had an up-and-down year, making 15 appearances (six starts) while allowing 33 earned runs off of 63 hits and 18 walks. He posted a 6.32 ERA and recorded 29 strikeouts.

While the majority of his outings were longer than two innings, regardless of whether he was in the bullpen or rotation, Spoljaric had nine appearances where he allowed two earned runs or fewer but saw his ERA climb because of the remaining six outings where he allowed three or more.

His longest outing was a seven-inning affair against Utah, where he allowed just one earned run in the contest.

Fellow Canadian pitcher Matthew Grabmann (Dartmouth, N.S.) also pitched for the Ducks this weekend, as the right-hander got the start in the semifinals against Washington. The former Okotoks Dawgs hurler lasted two innings and allowed five earned runs off of four hits and two walks, striking out four Huskies on the day. Grabmann has a 4.60 ERA through 17 outings (10 starts) with 37 strikeouts.

With their win, the Ducks are bound for the Nashville regional tournament as the No. 2 seed. Oregon will face No. 3 Xavier on Friday, while Vanderbilt, No. 6 in the nation, plays Eastern Illinois.