Tag: Nashville Regional

Four Ducks named to all-regional team; Nishida Most Valuable Player

Four Ducks were named to the All-Nashville Regional team with Rikuu Nishida as the Most Valuable Player.

Whether it’s a wood bat or an aluminum bat, it’s all the same to Oregon right fielder Rikuu Nishida.

The junior from Japan and three other Ducks were named to the All-Nashville Regional team after Oregon went 3-0 and advanced to the Super Regional round.

Nishida was also named Most Valuable Player of the regional after hitting .500 (6-for-12) with three runs driven in. He was joined by Sabin Ceballos, Drew Cowley and Grayson Grinsell on the all-regional squad.

Ceballos just went 2-for-13 with a homer and four RBIs, but it was his defensive prowess on the hot corner that earned him this honor. His barehanded play in the seventh inning to end a Vanderbilt rally alone probably got Ceballos on the team.

Without that play, the Commodores might have come back and beat the Ducks and Oregon might not be in the Super Regionals.

Cowley was a star at the plate as he went 6-for-13 with six RBIs, including a home run.

Grinsell appeared in two of the three games and was great. In Game 1 against Xavier, the lefty freshman threw two innings of relief where he was a bit wild with three walks, but he held the Musketeers in check.

Things went a lot better in the second and deciding game with Xavier where Grinsell started and threw four scoreless innings, giving up just three hits and striking out seven. His effort gave the Oregon offense time to get hot in the fifth with three runs in the fifth and six more in the sixth for the 11-2 win.

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Twitter Reactions: Oregon fans react to Ducks’ thrilling win over Vanderbilt in regional

Twitter Reactions: Oregon fans react to Ducks’ thrilling win over Vanderbilt in regional

The Oregon Ducks are nothing if not interesting, to say the least.

After ending the regular season on a high note by winning the Pac-12 Tournament championship, they got a bid into the Nashville Regional where the hot play has continued.

On Friday night, Oregon beat Xavier in impressive fashion, and they picked up another massive victory on Saturday night against the host team Vanderbilt, surviving a two-run rally in the ninth inning to win 8-7.

The Ducks are now in a prime position, needing just one win on Sunday night β€” against either Xavier or Vanderbilt β€” to get to advance to a Super Regional. Should the Ducks lose on Sunday night, they will have another opportunity to advance on Monday.

With such a massive win, Duck fans on social media were exuberant on Saturday. Here are some of the best reactions from Twitter:

Ducks rally late to advance past Xavier in Nashville Regional

Three straight doubles in the seventh inning was just enough to propel the Ducks past Xavier 5-4 in Nashville Regional.

Using six pitchers and relying on your bullpen for seven innings isn’t the normal game plan in baseball.

But Game 1 in the Nashville Regional went exactly how Mark Wasikowski envisioned. Two runs in the bottom of the seventh also helped.

Oregon was able to win its first NCAA tournament game with a 5-4 victory over Xavier. The Ducks will now await the winner of the Vanderbilt-Eastern Illinois contest to see who they play Saturday at 3 pm PST.

Ironically, these two teams met in the first weekend series of the season with the Ducks sweeping the Musketeers. Those games went just about how this went, which was a nail-biter until the very end.

The Ducks went the “Johnny Whole Staff” method here in the opener with Logan Mercado starting and relievers Grayson Grinsell, Dylan McShane, Austin Anderson, Matt Dallas, and closer Josh Mollerus shutting down the Musketeers.

Although they walked six batters with four of them scoring, the Ducks locked it down for the last five innings with just one hit and no walks.

Xavier wasted an outstanding start from its pitcher, Brant Alazaus. The left-hander had the Duck batters off-balance all day long with his 82-mile-an-hour fastball and low-70s breaking ball.

After the Musketeers scored two in the first, the Ducks answered quickly with two of their own. Oregon took a brief 3-2 lead with Xavier taking the lead back in the next half-inning, but then it was zeros put up for four straight innings.

With nine outs left, the Ducks’ offense finally went to work in the seventh. Rikuu Nishida hit a one-out double to get the rally started. Alazaus was over the 100-pitch mark and Xavier felt that was enough. Fortunately for Oregon, it was a decision that went its way.

Jonathan Kelly came in and promptly gave up two more doubles to Colby Shade and Drew Cowley to give Oregon the 5-4 lead.

Dallas pitched a perfect eighth and Mollerus gave up a single before coaxing Matthew Deprey into a double play to end the game.

Oregon Ducks Regional Preview: Eastern Illinois Panthers

Eastern Illinois was able to upset three higher seeded teams to win the OVC tournament and make its way into the Nashville Regional.

Playing must-win games might become a bit old for the Eastern Illinois Panthers baseball team.

After finishing fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference, EIU had to win three straight games, including a 6-5 win over regular-season champion Morehead State to win the conference tourney and earn a bid into the NCAA tournament.

The Panthers reward for the upset? A date with the No. 6 national seed Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville. But considering their season was on the brink, Eastern Illinois would have welcomed playing the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field if it meant continuing the season.

EIU enters the NCAA Tournament with a 38-19 overall record and the 38 wins ranking as the most in program history. EIU’s previous two trips to the NCAA Tournament were in 1999 at the Waco Regional (hosted by Baylor) and 2008 at the Lincoln Regional (hosted by Nebraska). The Panthers are 1-4 all-time in the tourney.

Eastern Illinois placed three players on the Ohio Valley Conference first team this year with utility player Ryan Ignoffo (.336, 15 homers, 59 runs batted in), starting pitcher Ky Hampton (7-2, 4.33 earned run average) and closer Zane Robbins (seven saves, 1.38 ERA).

Ignoffo also pitches and was named as one of the top 5 two-way players in the country with his 4.71 ERA and four saves.

The Panthers and Commodores play Friday at 4 pm PST and will be live on the SEC Network.

Oregon Ducks Regional Preview: Xavier Musketeers

Xavier has rebounded nicely after a slow start to its baseball season to earn the 3-seed of the Nashville Regional.

On Feb. 23, being in a regional, any regional, would have seemed far-fetched for the Xavier Musketeers baseball team.

The team sat at 0-5 after a four-game sweep at Oregon and a loss at Lousiville. After that, the Musketeers went a robust 37-18 for the season to earn a 3-seed for the regional.

The Musketeers finished second in the Big East with a 14-7 conference record and had to beat regular-season champion UConn three times to win the conference tournament.

Like the Ducks, Xavier doesn’t exactly play station-to-station baseball. It likes to hit the ball a long way and the Musketeers will be looking to do just that in Nashville.

As a team, Xavier has hit 88 home runs this year. In comparison, Oregon has hit one more homer for a program record of 89. But the Ducks do put the ball in play more often. The Ducks have a team batting average of an even .300, while the Musketeers come in hitting .278.

Matthew Deprey and Jared Cushing both lead Xavier with 14 homers a piece. Both are also hitting .286 for the season. Their leading hitter is Andrew Walker with a .329 average, seven home runs and he leads the team with 53 runs batted in.

Xavier has used a weekend rotation of Ethan Bosacker, Brent Alazaus and Luke Hoskins. Odds are the Musketeers will go with Bosacker to go against the Ducks with his 7-4 record and 3.83 earned run average. He started on opening day and was outstanding at PK Park. Bosacker went seven innings, giving up just one run on a grand total of two hits and he struck out six.

Oregon and Xavier will begin the Nashville Regional at 10 am PST on ESPN+.