Ducks stun Stanford, advance to Pac-12 semis

Thursday, May 25

Scottsdale, Ariz.

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

35-20

Stanford

38-15

Oregon

Stanford

Ceballos HR Reaction - Pac-12 Tournament

Photo by: Arianna Grainey

05/26/23 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score: Oregon 8, #4 Stanford 6 Photo Gallery

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Sabin Ceballos led off the top of the 10th inning with a solo home run and the Ducks tacked on another run in the inning to complete a come-from-behind 8-6 win over No. 4 Stanford in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament on Thursday night.

With the win, the Ducks won Pool A with a 2-0 record and earned a spot in the tournament semifinals on Friday where they will play three-seed Washington. Top-seed Stanford, who claimed the wild-card spot in the semis, meets Arizona in the other semifinal on Friday night. Oregon, the six seed, and Arizona, the eight seed, were the only two teams to win both of their games in pool play.

How It Happened: Stanford jumped on Oregon starter Turner Spoljaric early scoring six runs in an inning-plus off the freshman before Logan Mercado came in to get out of the second with a ground-ball double play.

The Ducks got some offense of their own going in the second. Tanner Smith singled and stole second to get into scoring position. Jacob Walsh followed with a two-out RBI base hit to right field to score Smith. Red-hot Bennett Thompson followed with a run-scoring double into the left-field corner scoring Walsh all the way from first. The hit by Thompson was the ninth in his last 12 at-bats.

Thompson continued his tear at the plate in the fifth leading off with a hit to make it 10 hits in 13 at-bats. After moving to second on a Grant ground out, Thompson came around to score on a Rikuu Nishida RBI single.

The Ducks cut the lead to two with a run in the eighth, but stranded the tying runs on base. Colby Shade led off the inning with a single to center before advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch. Tanner Smith picked up the RBI with a base hit to right field scoring Shade.

The Ducks comeback wasn't complete and once again Thompson was at the center of the rally. The Ducks' catcher led off the ninth inning with a double, making it 11 hits in his last 14 at-bats, before being pinch ran for by Tyler Ganus who moved to third on a fly-ball out off the bat of Gavin Grant.

Nishida then lifted a ball into center field scoring Ganus on a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to just a run, but leaving Oregon with only one out to tie the game.

Stanford (38-15) couldn't get that final out before Oregon (35-20) tied the game. Shade stepped to the plate after Nishida's sac fly, and lined a shot into the right-field corner that narrowly evaded right-fielder Braden Montgomery's lunging effort to end the game by catching the ball.

Shade motored around second challenging the Stanford defense in an effort to turn the surefire double into a triple. Montgomery hit cutoff man Drew Bowser who threw wildly to third allowing Shade to score the tying run when the ball went out of play.

Oregon closer Josh Mollerus stranded a pair of runners on base in the bottom of the ninth to set up Ceballos' heroics in the 10th.

The Ducks third baseman worked ahead in the count and then lined a 3-ball, 1-strike pitcher over the wall in left-center field to give Oregon its first lead of the game. Oregon added an insurance run when Jacob Walsh scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.

Mollerus (2-2), who worked a scoreless 2.2 innings which was his longest outing of the season, tossed a scoreless bottom half of the inning to lock up Oregon's win.

Box Score Notes: The Ducks, who were one of only two teams to win a series against Stanford this season, are now 3-1 vs. the Cardinal this season … Four Oregon relievers combined to toss nine scoreless innings … Logan Mercado led the group giving up just one hit in 4.1 innings of work … The Ducks' bullpen hasn't allowed a run in 15 innings in the Pac-12 Conference Tournament … Freshman Drew Smith extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the second longest in Oregon history (Spencer Steer 18 in 2019) … Smith (2-for-4) has at least one hit in all 16 of his starts, eight of those multi-hit games … Tanner Smith moved back into sole possession of sixth on Oregon's career stolen base list with his 31st in the second inning, a day after Colby Shade stole his 30th to tie Smith … Thompson (4-for-4, RBI, R) had his eighth multi-hit game of the season and the 12th of his career with three of those coming in the last four games … Thompson's four hits matched his career-high that he set on Saturday in a win at Utah … Gavin Grant made his 177th career start moving into a tie for fifth with Danny Pulfer (2009-11) for fifth on the all-time list.

On Deck: Oregon meets Washington at 2:30 p.m. on Friday in the first of two semifinals at Scottsdale Stadium. The winner advances to the championship game on Saturday at 7 p.m. against either Stanford or Arizona.