Tag: ncaa baseball super regional

Oral Roberts forces a Game 3 with ninth inning rally to beat Ducks

With the game on the line, Oral Roberts scores two in the bottom of the ninth to beat Oregon 8-7 and extend the Eugene Super Regional.

Oregon was three outs away from having its ticket punched for Omaha, but Oral Roberts had other plans.

The Golden Eagles scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth off of closer Josh Mollerus to shock the Ducks 8-7 and extend the Eugene Super Regional to a deciding Game 3 Sunday afternoon at 3 pm.

The usually reliable Mollerus was quite as sharp as he was in Game 1 and ORU’s Justin Quinn lined a ball down the left field line that landed on said line to score two and win the game.

It was eerily similar to how Oregon lost the last time they hosted a Super Regional against Kent State. The Ducks also lost on a ball that landed on that very same line and it happened again.

Unlike in Game 1, this contest went back and forth. Oral Roberts led 3-1 after two innings of play, but in the fourth, Sabin Ceballos broke out of his slump with a two-run home run to left-center field to tie the game.

The Golden Eagles grabbed the lead right back in the bottom of the inning, but it could have been a lot more. They had the bases loaded and no out. but Oregon pitcher Ian Umlandt coaxed a double play to end the threat.

Oregon was the “visiting” team due to NCAA Super Regional rules and grabbed the lead for good in the top of the fifth on Drew Cowley’s run-scoring single and Ceballos’ double to left-center for the 5-4 lead.

Reliever Austin Anderson came in and held the powerful ORU offense off the board for two straight innings, allowing the Ducks time to socre some insurance runs.

Those came in the seventh off of All-American closer when Drew Smith crushed one to the wall that found its way into the glove of Jonah Cox and then out of the glove of Jonah Cox for a triple.

Up 7-4 and nine outs to go, Oral Roberts didn’t make it easy.

Single runs in the seventh and eighth made it 7-6, including a homer run from Cox that extended his 46-game hitting streak.

Now the Ducks have to somehow forget this game, move on, and win Sunday afternoon. The Golden Eagles managed to move on from blowing an 8-0 lead and now it’s the Ducks’ turn to put a major disappointment behind them.

Oregon rallies from eight-run deficit to stun Oral Roberts

Down 8-0 in the third, Oregon manages a comeback for the ages to stun Oral Roberts 9-8 in Game 1 of the Eugene Super Regional.

The Oregon Ducks baseball team knows how to keep things exciting.

They spotted Oral Roberts an 8-spot in a top of the third inning that took 36 minutes. Teams that have fallen behind by eight runs in the Super Regional round of the NCAA baseball tournament were 0-96.

Now they’re 1-96.

Although there was a snowman on the scoreboard, Oregon didn’t throw in the towel. The Ducks chipped away and were propelled by two Bennett Thompson homers and stunned the Golden Eagles 9-8 to take Game 1 of the Eugene Super Regional Friday night in front of a packed PK Park of 4,476.

With the win, the Ducks are just one win away from Omaha. It’s a position they haven’t been in since 2012. The victory also happened to be Oregon’s 10th straight and broke Oral Roberts’ 21-game winning streak. Before tonight, the Golden Eagles hadn’t lost since April 22.

After Oral Roberts’ big inning, Oregon was able to respond right away thanks to back-to-back homers from Jacob Walsh and Bennett Thompson.

But the Ducks’ sophomore catcher from Medford was far from finished. Thompson then made it 8-5 in the fifth with a three-run homer that landed in the Golden Eagles bullpen. Before this game, Thompson had two homers the entire season. He doubled that total.

Oregon’s power was on display again in the sixth with Drew Smith’s solo homer to make it 8-6. Then in the seventh, the Ducks scored two more runs to tie it 8-8 on run singles from Drew Cowley and Tanner Smith.

The rally couldn’t have happened if the Duck bullpen didn’t step up in a big way. Pitchers Ian Umlandt and Logan Mercado held the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard for 4 1/3 innings before Matt Dallas and Josh Mollerus closed things out.

Tied at 8-8 and heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Golden Eagles decided to leave reliever Dalton Patten in the game instead of bringing in All-American closer Cade Denton to start the inning.

Patten proceeded to walk both Gavin Grant and Rikuu Nishida to runners on first and second and no one out. This was when Denton came in, but for Oral Roberts, it was too late.

Denton did retire Bryce Boettcher, but Drew Cowley hit a 2-2 pitch into right field to score Nishida and send PK Park into a frenzy.

Now Oregon will look to punch its ticket to Omaha for the first time since 1954 Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6 pm PST and will be televised by either ESPN or ESPNU.

Oregon is one of six schools to reach Super Regionals on two diamonds

Oregon is one of just six schools to advance to the Super Regional round in both baseball and softball this season.

Reaching the Sweet 16 is no easy feat. That’s why there’s such a celebration when you do make it on the basketball floor. The NCAA even trademarked the term “Sweet 16.”

In baseball and softball, those sports’ version of the Sweet 16 are the Super Regionals. It’s probably more rare to reach the Super Regional round because of how unpredictable baseball and softball can be.

Oregon baseball hasn’t made a Super Regional since 2012 until now and softball just made its first Super Regional appearance since 2017 before getting swept at Oklahoma State in two straight games.

It’s not easy.

But this season, the Ducks are fortunate enough to advance to the Super Regional in BOTH sports. They are just one of six schools to complete the feat in 2023.

Ironically, both Oregon and Stanford represented the Pac-12 in each sport. Stanford softball made it all the way to the semifinals of the Women’s College World Series before losing to Oklahoma.

Also, both Pac-12 teams are hosting their baseball Super Regionals and have a fairly decent chance of moving on to the CWS in Omaha.

Here are the six schools that advanced to the Super Regional round on both diamonds this season.

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.