Grant Taylor had perhaps his worst start of the season in his final WSU career start, but still found himself climbing the WSU record books.

WSU baseball (21-30, 9-19 Pac-12) lost to No. 20 Oregon (35-16, 17-11) 9-2 Thursday in Eugene, Oregon.

The Cougs are 0.5 games back from a spot in what would be their first Pac-12 baseball tournament, in which the top nine teams in the conference quality. WSU trails UW by 0.5 games.

Against the No. 20 Oregon Ducks, the WSU senior right-hander allowed six runs on five hits, one walk and two hit-by pitches, but struck out seven in 5.0 innings. Taylor’s seven K’s gave him 99 total on the season and 252 Cougar career strikeouts. 

Taylor’s 99 strikeouts in 2024 are tied for the seventh-most single-season strikeouts in program history and the most since 2009. His 252 career K’s surpassed Joe McIntosh (1971–73) for the third-most in program history.

While there was no doubt Taylor was one of the more talented pitchers in WSU’s program history, he allowed more runs in a single start than he had all year.

Taylor hit Drew Smith, Oregon’s lead-off man with a pitch and allowed Mason Neville to homer for an early 2-0 Duck lead.

Joey Kramer reached base four times, first reaching in the second inning on a walk, and coming around to score thanks to singles from Casen Taggart and Jacob Morrow. WSU trailed 2-1 in the second inning.

Neville’s orbital launches were far from finished, as he hit a second straight home run in the bottom of the second. With two swings of Neville’s bat, the Ducks led the Cougs 5-1 after two innings.

Taylor conceded his sixth run on a wild pitch in the third inning but settled in for scoreless fourth and fifth innings.

Kramer reached base again in the fourth and advanced to third on Nate Swarts’ single. In the sixth inning, Kramer cranked a solo shot down the leftfield line to cut into the Duck lead 6-2.

Kramer reached on a lead-off walk in the ninth inning finishing 2-for-2 with two walks and a HR, but got stranded 90 feet from home plate. Kevin Haynes pitched 2.0 innings and allowed three runs while Carson Judd tossed a scoreless eighth.

The Wazzu outfielders were busy making two highlight-reel home run robbery grabs. Swarts tracked down a would-be home run in left-center, leaping at the wall to make the catch. Logan Johnstone tracked a ball deep to right field, lept and robbed a home run from Ryan Cooney.

WSU baseball seeks to even the series at 6:05 p.m. Friday. Fans can watch on the Pac-12 Network as Conner Wilford takes the mound.