Tag: ncaa baseball regional

Texas uses 7-run inning to dispatch Louisiana in the College Station Regional

A 7-run inning propels the Horns to a winner’s bracket showdown with Texas A&M.

The Texas Longhorns move on in the College Station Regional after taking care of the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns on Friday evening at Blue Bell Park. The Horns blasted their way to a rematch with the Texas A&M Aggies after the 12-5 win.

The scoring started in the bottom of the second inning after Louisiana third baseman Lee Amedee took a hanging slider from Max Grubbs and launched it over the right field fence for the 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the third, first baseman Trey LaFleur followed that solo shot with one of his own to give the Ragin Cajuns the 2-0 lead after three. Texas would quickly answer back.

The Horns got on the board after Kimble Schuessler doubled to left and advanced to third on a single from Porter Brown. Rylan Galvan doubled to left field scoring Schuessler and putting two runners in scoring position for Dee Kennedy.

Kennedy hits a two-rbi single to take the lead over Louisiana after they hit a pair of solo home runs.

To start the fifth inning, Texas loaded the bases after singles from Belyeu and Schuessler. David Christie then walked the next two batters to give Texas the 4-2 lead. Christie came on in the fourth after starter Carson Fluno went just 3.1 innings. Texas would add two more runs thanks to an error that allowed Kennedy to reach base and an rbi single from Jared Thomas, setting up a big moment from Jalin Flores.

Flores blasted a grand slam to bust this game wide open in the fifth inning to put the Horns up 10-2.

The Texas starter would pitch five innings to earn a decision after allowing five hits and four earned runs with four strikeouts and three walks. Grubbs gave way to Cade O’Hara who pitched 1.1 innings allowing one run which came on a LaFleur rbi single in the bottom of the seventh when the game was out of reach. Andre Duplantier II came on to pitch the final 2.2 innings and close out the win.

Texas now turns its sights to the Aggies.

Ducks outlast San Diego 5-4 in 11 innings to advance in NCAA tourney

Bryce Boettcher’s 11th-inning home run propels Oregon to a 5-4 win over San Diego in the Santa Barbara regional.

The Oregon Ducks baseball team put the saying “survive and advance” to its limit Friday afternoon.

They watched a 4-1 eighth inning lead evaporate with one swing of the bat, then hold on with runners on the corners with one out in the 11th inning to eventually hold on and defeat San Diego 5-4 in the Santa Barbara regional.

With the win, the 3-seeded Ducks will play the winner of the UCSB-Fresno State game to be played later on Friday.

This wasn’t what coach Mark Wasikowski would have drawn up in order to advance to the winner’s bracket, but a win is a win and the Ducks will happily take it.

Lost in the late-game hoopla was the effort of starting pitcher RJ Gordon, who pitched his best game of the season. He went 7+ innings, allowing three runs on six hits, struck out three and walked four. He led his defense behind him make the plays and left throwing 115 pitched.

But Gordon ran out of gas in the eighth as he allowed the first two Toreros on before the Ducks went to the bullpen. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Brock Moore’s day as he gave up a game-tying three-run homer to San Diego’s best hitter Jakob Christian.

It was back to the bullpen where the Ducks went to Logan Mercado and that was ultimately the right call. The senior closer went the rest of the way, not allowing the Toreros to score in the next four innings to earn the win.

Oregon would eventually pull ahead in the 11th on a Bryce Boettcher blast down the left field line to give the Ducks the 5-4 lead and win.

The Ducks never trailed in the game as Carter Garate got the scoring off to a start with his fourth homer of the season, a 423-foot bomb to right-center field in the fifth.

After San Diego tied the game in the bottom half of the inning, Oregon managed to score on a Maddox Molony fielder’s choice and a safety squeeze pulled off perfectly by Garate. The Ducks made it 4-1 on Garate’s third hit, a double that went to the wall that scored Drew Smith all the way from first base.

Oregon will next play Saturday night at 7 pm PST on one of the ESPN networks.

Oregon baseball projected to be a 3-seed in Stillwater Regional

D1Baseball.com has put out its final NCAA tournament projection ahead of Monday’s selections and it has the Ducks heading to Stillwater.

The Pac-12 baseball tournament didn’t go in the way the Oregon Ducks baseball team thought it would, but it seems as if the Ducks are safely in the NCAA tournament.

According to D1baseball.com, Oregon is projected to be a 3-seed in the Stillwater, Okla. Regional that will be hosted by Oklahoma State. In the latest Field of 64 projection, the website has 2-seed Southern Miss and 4-seed Penn also in that particular regional. The Ducks would open with the Golden Eagles to begin the tournament.

Oregon finished the season with a 37-18 record and 19-11 in conference play.

Oklahoma State would be the national 13-seed with a regular season record of 39-17 with a Big XII record of 19-9. They play Oklahoma in the conference tournament Saturday night.

Southern Miss is 39-18 and finished 20-10 in the Sun Belt and are playing in their league’s tournament against Appalachian State.

As for Penn, they have already qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning the Ivy League tournament with an overall mark of 24-23. The Quakers defeated Cornell twice to advance in the postseason.

Duck baseball projected as a 2-seed and play in Clemson Regional

D1Baseball has Oregon projected as a 2-seed in the Clemson Regional where the national 4-seeded Tigers would await.

Clemson might have to call Vandiaerbilt to see what the Oregon Ducks baseball team has to offer when it comes to NCAA regional action.

In their latest Field of 64 projection, D1Baseball.com has Oregon going to Clemson, South Carolina and playing in that regional along with the Tigers, Coastal Carolina, and Sacred Heart.

Going across the country and playing in a regional on the road is nothing new for coach Mark Wasikowski and his Duck team. Just last season, Oregon traveled to Nashville and won the four-team, double-elimination tournament on Vanderbilt’s home field.

If this projection is accurate, the Ducks would have a chance to do something very similar. According to the website, Clemson would be a national 4-seed and would host a Super Regional should the Tigers advance. Currently, Clemson is ranked No. 2 in D1baseball’s Top 25. The Tigers are currently 37-10 and 17-7 in the ACC.

Coastal Carolina, a traditional good baseball program, is having a down season, at least for them. The Chanticleers are currently 28-20 overall and just 11-13 in the Sun Belt Conference.

As for Sacred Heart out of the Northeast Conference, the Pioneers are 27-20 overall, but a whopping 20-7 in league action.

Other notable projections are Oregon State as a 2-seed in the Columbia, SC regional, Utah as a 3-seed in the Norman, Okla. regional and Arizona as a 2-seed in the Santa Barbara regional.

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Photo Gallery: Oregon comes home as Nashville Regional champs

Photo Gallery: Oregon upset No. 6 Vanderbilt and then defeated Xavier to win the Nashville Regional in the NCAA baseball tournament.

The college baseball season has been one wild ride and the Oregon Ducks made sure that ride continued by winning the Nashville Regional.

Oregon defeated Xavier, upset No. 6 Vanderbilt, and then Xavier again to move on to the Super Regional where the Ducks will host Oral Roberts this weekend at PK Park.

The Ducks put everything on display with home runs, clutch hitting, spectacular game-saving defensive play, and some gutsy pitching performances to win the regional.

There were even a couple of lightning strikes during the Vanderbilt-Xavier game Sunday afternoon. But it seems has if Oregon channeled the lightning in order to win and they hope it strikes twice at PK Park to move on to the College World Series in Omaha.

Ducks defeat Xavier and will host a Super Regional vs Oral Roberts

Oregon blows out Xavier to win the Nashville Regional and will now host Oral Roberts with a trip to Omaha on the line.

Xavier may not want to schedule Oregon in any sport ever again.

The Oregon Ducks baseball team began this season with a four-game sweep over the Musketeers and just ended the Nashville Regional with an 11-2 win over that same Xavier team.

Now the Ducks will come home and host Oral Roberts in their first Super Regional since 2012. The Golden Eagles were a 4-seed in the Stillwater Regional and upset Dallas Baptist 6-5 to advance. The weekend series will be a Best of 2-of-3 with the winner going on to Omaha for the College World Series.

Playing and defeating Xavier for the sixth time this season was probably the last thing on anyone’s mind when this weekend started. Vanderbilt, a national 6-seed, was the overwhelming favorite to win this regional, but the Ducks beat the Commodores Saturday night and Xavier ousted the host team 2-1 Sunday afternoon.

Although they upset Vandy, Xavier was still in a tough spot. The Musketeers had to beat the Ducks twice in order to advance.

The game was scoreless through three innings until Oregon finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on Sabin Ceballos’ 442-foot solo home run to left-center field that left the entire stadium.

The Ducks added to their 1-0 lead in the fifth thanks to some old-time small ball. Rikuu Nishida stole second and the ball went into center field to score Bennett Thompson.

Nishida went to third on the play and two pitches later, he scored on a balk to make it 3-0. Drew Cowley’s double to right-center scored Bryce Boettcher to increase the lead to 4-0.

Boettcher started the game in center as he replaced Colby Shade, who was hit on the wrist by a pitch Saturday night. Thankfully for the Ducks, Boettcher is as good of an outfielder as Shade, so there wasn’t any loss of defense in such a crucial spot.

Xavier managed to score an unearned run in the sixth and then the Ducks absolutely blew the door off in the bottom half with six runs to make it 10-1.

The big blow came off the wooden bat of Nishida with a bases-clearing double to extend their lead to 7-1. Just for good measure, Drew Cowley hit a three-run homer to left-center to put double digits on the scoreboard to erase any doubt.

Perhaps lost in the offensive exploits is the effort on the mound. Oregon used Grayson Grinsell, Ian Umlandt, and Logan Mercado to hold the Musketeers to just two runs, one unearned, and nine hits.

Oregon’s late-season run has been something else. This victory was the Ducks’ ninth straight and if that streak reaches 11 next weekend, they’ll be going to Omaha for the first time in the program’s history.

Ducks hold on to defeat Vanderbilt to advance to regional final

Oregon advances to the Nashville Regional final with an 8-7 victory over 6-seed Vanderbilt.

Should Oregon advance to the Super Regional, the Ducks are going to remember this play by third baseman Sabin Ceballos.

The junior college transfer, who has led Oregon with his bat, turned in the defensive play of the year for the Ducks. Ceballos’ barehanded play to get Alan Espinal by literally a quarter of a step erased Vanderbilt’s rally in the seventh inning.

Oregon then went on to defeat the Commodores 8-7 and advance to the Nashville Regional final. Vanderbilt will now play Xavier in an elimination game at 12 pm PST and the winner of that contest will play Oregon at 6 pm and they’ll have to defeat the Ducks twice in order to win the regional.

Game 7 of the regional would be played Monday if Oregon loses Sunday night.

After two innings of play, it was 4-4 and the thought of Turner Spoljaric going six wasn’t looking good for the freshman. But once RJ Scheck hit a homer that seemingly went five miles to tie the game at 4-4, Spoljaric settled down and retired the next nine straight Commodores.

The Ducks were able to grab the lead in the fifth on Ceballos’ run-scoring single and later in the inning, Jacob Walsh lined a double to left-center that scored three runs to give Oregon an 8-4 advantage.

Vanderbilt managed to put together a small rally in the six by putting on the first two hitters and Spoljaric looked like he was at the end of his rope. But the Duck pitcher was able to retire the next three hitters.

Everything was calm in the eighth with Matt Dallas pitching a perfect inning, but the ninth created some excitement that Oregon did not need.

Closer Josh Mollerus made it interesting, to say the least as he allowed a 2-run homer off of the bat of Chris Maldonado. It was 8-7 and Oregon still needed two outs. Fortunately, Mollerus coaxed fly balls to centerfielder Colby Shade and that huge exhale came from the Oregon dugout.

Now the Ducks are 27 outs from going to a Super Regional for the first time since 2012.

Photo Gallery: Ducks avoid Xavier upset in Nashville Regional

Photo Gallery: Oregon had plenty to be happy about after it rallied to defeat Xavier 5-4 in the Nashville Regional.

Xavier’s starting pitcher Brant Alazaus was on a roll. He retired 12 straight batters, was up 4-3 in the seventh, and had one out. Then Oregon’s Rikuu Nishida hit a fly ball over the head of left fielder Andrew Walker to be in scoring position.

Alazaus had 105 pitches under his belt and Musketeer coach Billy O’Connor felt that was enough and went to his bullpen. That decision might have cost Xavier as Colby Shade and Drew Cowley also doubled to give the Ducks the 5-4 lead.

Fortunately, Oregon’s bullpen came through whereas Xavier’s didn’t. The Ducks won by that score and will now play either Vanderbilt or Eastern Illinois on Saturday at 3 pm PST.

Oregon Ducks Regional Preview: Vanderbilt Commodores

An outstanding March where they finished 18-2, Vanderbilt earned its No. 6 national seed by winning the SEC tournament.

When it comes to the NCAA baseball tournament, having a regional in Nashville is pretty much a sure thing.

Vanderbilt has hosted a regional nine times and the Commodores are making their 17th straight postseason appearance. Vandy, as the No. 6 national seed, would host a Super Regional should it advance.

The Commodores finished second in the SEC West Division with a 19-11 record, one game behind Florida. But Vandy was able to win the SEC tournament, including an 11-6 win in the semifinals before beating Texas A&M for the title.

That victory solidified Vanderbilt’s national seed and gave it an overall mark of 40-18. Nearly half of those wins came in March where Vandy got on a major roll and finished 18-2 for the month.

Surprisingly, not one Commodore player was an All-SEC First-Teamer, but three made the Second Team (outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., starting pitcher Devin Futrell and reliever Nick Maldonado) with two making the All-Defensive Team (Bradfield and third baseman Davis Diaz) and RJ Austin was on the All-Freshman squad.

Austin, a second baseman, finished the regular season with a .267 batting average with seven home runs and 42 runs batted in. Vandy is led by RJ Scheck with his .309 average, 13 homers and 57 RBIs.

Bradfield hit .286 for the season with six homers and 33 RBIs. Futrell, who is likely to start in Game 1 of the regional, was 7-3 with a 3.44 earned run average. Maldonado was the Commodores’ closer as he had eight saves and a 1.45 ERA.

Vanderbilt isn’t going to outslug anyone, but it’s not going to beat itself either in the field. The Commodores made just 38 errors all season. By comparison, Oregon, which is considered a very good defensive team, committed 50 errors.

The Nashville Regional begins for Vanderbilt at 4 pm PST as they play 4-seed Eastern Illinois on the SEC Network.

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.