The Oregon Ducks baseball team defeated the Santa Barbara Gauchos 2-1 on Saturday night to move to 2-0 in the NCAA baseball tournament. With their win on Saturday, the Ducks have punched their ticket to the Regional Final, where they will play the winner of Santa Barbara vs. San Diego. The Final will take place on Monday.
For a 2-1 ball game, there was no shortage of excitement in Oregon’s Saturday night victory. The game was scoreless for the first six innings, with each team’s starting pitcher playing near-perfect baseball, but in the final three, the offense picked up.
The Ducks starter Grayson Grinsell, pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and four walks, while punching out nine Gaucho batters. Tyler Bremner, UCSB’s starter pitched six scoreless innings, but he allowed the Ducks to break the deadlock in the seventh inning.
Oregon finally scratched their first run across the board in exciting fashion. After a one-out single, designated hitter Justin Cassela stole second base, where he was initially called out. After an Oregon challenge, the call was overturned, and on the next at-bat, third-baseman Carter Garate drove Cassela home with a single up the middle, giving the Ducks the lead.
Oregon manufactured their second run in the eighth inning, beginning with a Chase Meggers double. Jack Brooks was subbed in as a pinch-runner for Meggers, and after a wild pitch moved him to third, Brooks scored on an RBI groundout from Drew Smith.
Things got spicy for Oregon and relief pitcher Ryan Featherston in the ninth inning. After a dominant eighth inning, Featherston began the ninth by plunking the Gauchos’ leadoff hitter and conceding a double to their next batter after a long at-bat.
Soon, the bases were loaded, and Santa Barbara scored a run on an RBI hit-by-pitch with two outs. But on the very next pitch, Featherston forced a groundball to third, where Garate stepped on the base for a force out to win.