Oregon can’t say it didn’t have its chances.
Unfortunately, the Ducks had too many unforced mistakes and Oral Roberts didn’t make hardly any and it’s the Golden Eagles who will be going to Omaha for the College World Series with an 11-6 win in Game 3 of the Eugene Super Regional.
At the end of the day, the Ducks will look at the 11 walks, an error, and baserunning blunders and see those are what cost them a ticket to the CWS. The Ducks used a grand total of nine pitchers, four in the ninth inning alone, trying to piecemeal the entire game and it didn’t work.
They can even go back to the night before when a potential double-play grounder to win the game that wasn’t made. At this level and at this point in the NCAA tournament, teams will take advantage and Oral Roberts took full advantage.
Everything looked to be going Oregon’s way in the first inning with Tanner Smith’s three-run homer to put the Ducks up 3-1 early. But Oral Roberts cut into that lead with one in the third and three more in the fourth, chasing Oregon starter Jackson Pace from the ballgame
Logan Mercado, pitching on one day’s rest, held down the fort as best he could. He went three innings and gave up just one run.
Sabin Ceballos made it a one-run game in the sixth with a homer to center to make it 5-4. But that was when the wheels started to come off.
Oregon went to the bullpen and brought in Grayson Grinsell and after just two batters, he went down with what looked like a serious arm injury and couldn’t continue. Matt Dallas came in and thanks to a walk, a wild pitch, a hit and an error, Oral Roberts extended its lead to 8-5.
Heading into the ninth, with their offense, the Ducks still had a reasonable belief that they could still pull this one out. But the top of the frame turned into a complete disaster. Ian Umlandt began the inning harmlessly enough and he got two outs and there was a runner on second. Just one more out to let the bats get to work.
The decision was made to bring in Dylan McShane, a freshman that struggled mightily on Friday and it was the same story here. With his first pitch, he plunked a batter and proceeded to walk the next hitter. The Baes were loaded and Oregon had to go to two more freshmen who hadn’t pitched in more than a month. By the time Jacob Hughes restored order, it was 11-5 Eagles and those rally hopes were dashed.
So were the hopes of going to Omaha for the first time since 1954. The Ducks will have to wait for another season to make that happen.