Oregon baseball achieved one of the most statistically improbable victories in college baseball history Friday night.
In the third inning, the Ducks were down 8-0 to a team that hadn’t lost since April 22. Entering the day, teams were 0-96 in Super Regional history when trailing by eight or more runs.
They won.
Oregon pulled off the impossible, keeping a magical streak alive with a gutsy victory over a tough Oral Roberts team in Game 1 of the Eugene Super Regional. In front of 4,476 fans — the second-largest crowd in PK Park history — the Ducks hosted their first Super Regional since 2012 and kicked it off with a big bang. Drew Cowley provided the final heroics, while the Ducks’ 5-9 hitters shined and the bullpen locked things down after a brutal third inning to fuel the 9-8 win.
So despite the rough start, Oregon was able to send its fans happy in their evening descent across the Autzen Footbridge. The Ducks have now won 10 in a row and are just one win away from making it to the College World Series.
Starter Grayson Grinsell’s outing started strong, with two strikeouts in a scoreless first inning. After a two-out bunt single, he induced a foul popup. A key double play helped him work around a couple more singles in the second.
But Grinsell, who’s been such a valuable asset to this Oregon bullpen, had things spiral on him in the third — which led into a deeper spiral for the team. A walk, a stolen base and a single put runners on the corners, and Oral Roberts struck first on an RBI groundout. After a four-pitch walk, Grinsell surrendered a three-run homer to Matt Hogan.
A hard-hit double on the next batter brought an end to Grinsell’s evening. Dylan McShane came in and got a groundout, but then struggled mightily with control. He hit a batter, then allowed a run to score on two wild pitches. He proceeded to throw 12 consecutive balls, sinking Oregon into a deep hole. He worked from behind in the count to run it full, then allowed a chopper that bounced past first base and brought in three runs despite being held to a single.
Disaster struck early. McShane only recorded only one out as the half-inning neared 30 minutes with eight runs on the board. Lefty Ian Umlandt got the final out, and Oregon pitchers combined to throw 60 pitches in the nightmarish frame. The energy began to dissipate from the once-rowdy crowd.
But the fans nabbed some of that energy back in the bottom of the third. Jacob Walsh wasted no time homering on the first pitch he saw, and Bennett Thompson went back-to-back to cut Oregon’s deficit to 8-2.
The Ducks put runners on the corners, as Gavin Grant tapped a bunt single and Bryce Boettcher was hit by a pitch for the eighth time this season. They failed to drive in Grant, though, as Cowley grounded into a close inning-ending double play.
But Oregon went back to work in the fourth, as Tanner and Drew Smith each singled. It was the 300th hit of T. Smith’s career, while D. Smith extended his on-base streak to 26. Then Thompson, who came into the night with two homers on the season, smashed his second long ball of the game for a three-run shot. What had been an eight-run deficit just an inning earlier suddenly became a margin of three.
Logan Mercado took over on the mound and held the Golden Eagles scoreless through the fifth, sixth and seventh. He struck out three in a row at one point, then walked back-to-back hitters in the seventh before recording another strikeout to keep Oral Roberts off the board.
Meanwhile, another homer got Oregon just a little closer. D. Smith smacked his third career bomb into the left field bullpen, a solo shot to make it 8-6.
The Ducks’ knack for chipping away paid off, as they stormed all the way back to tie it in the seventh. Rikuu Nishida reached on catcher’s interference, and Boettcher tapped a bunt past the pitcher to get on, which was ruled an E1. Cowley lined an RBI single to get Oregon within a run.
Sabin Ceballos had a chance to tie the game with merely a sacrifice fly, but he popped one up for the second out.
T. Smith, facing funky left-hander Jacob Widener, stepped up to the plate with the determined look of somebody who’s been with this program for five years and didn’t want to go home early again. He fought off a tough pitch into right field for a dramatic game-tying RBI single. He got hung up between first and second, and Cowley was narrowly thrown out at home to end the inning. Oregon was denied the lead, but it still received massive clutch hits to knot this thing up at eight apiece.
Matt Dallas and Josh Mollerus combined to pitch a scoreless eighth. Ceballos made an adventurous catch of a routine popup, causing the Oregon faithful to hold their breaths for a split second.
Mollerus allowed an infield hit in the ninth, but got through the inning with another double play. Walsh displayed an animated yell after catching the third out — leading the Ducks to their heroic feat.
Oral Roberts pitcher Dalton Patten helped out by throwing eight straight balls to start the inning. With one out, Cowley kept things simple, lining an RBI single into right field to drive in Nishida and bring on the Gatorade bath.
All the Golden Eagles could do was nod respectfully and walk off in disbelief as Oregon got to celebrate in front of one of the most packed and energetic crowds in the history of this baseball stadium. The Ducks have had a flair for the dramatic lately and a knack for making comebacks and winning the tight games — and that grittiness was on its maximum display Friday night.
Oregon will look to clinch a trip to the College World Series on Saturday at 6 p.m.