Friday, June 2
Nashville, Tenn.
10:00 AM
University of Oregon
38-20
5
vs
4
Xavier
37-24
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9
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Xavier
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Oregon
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X
5
9
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Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com
Clutch Performances Spur Regional Win
06/02/23 | Baseball
Oregon's bullpen was lights out and the Ducks rallied into the lead in the seventh for a 5-4 win Friday over Xavier.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Carrying over momentum from the Pac-12 Tournament title run proved tough for the Oregon baseball team in its NCAA Regional opener Friday afternoon.
Eventually, though, the Ducks captured the same magic. And now, they're in the winner's bracket of the Nashville Regional.
The UO bullpen continued its phenomenal hot streak Friday in Oregon's regional opener against Xavier, and the Ducks rallied for two go-ahead runs in the seventh to post a 5-4 win at Vanderbilt's Hawkins Field. Oregon advanced to a game Saturday night against No. 3 Vanderbilt.
"I'm just really happy with the way our team came together, despite probably not playing their best game, for sure," UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. "There was some mistakes, there was what looked like rust; it might have been nerves, with just the beginning of the regional. But just very excited about the way they came together and found a way to win. That was really the bottom line, is coming out of here with a win today. And we did that."
After Xavier led 4-3 through three innings — all four runners who scored had reached on walks — Dylan McShane, Austin Anderson, Matt Dallas and Josh Mollerus combined to keep the Musketeers scoreless over the last five innings. The UO bullpen now has a 1.44 ERA in five postseason games, with McShane setting the tone Friday by coming in to start the fifth and getting five outs on just 18 pitches.
"Him coming in and doing what he did really set the tone for the bullpen," said Anderson (4-0), who got the next four outs and lowered his ERA on the season to 0.36. "Kind of showing us what we need to do: Throw it in the zone, and good results are gonna happen."
The bullpen kept the Ducks (38-20) within striking distance into the seventh, when consecutive doubles by Rikuu Nishida, Colby Shade and Drew Cowley reclaimed the lead for Oregon.
"If you win three in a row, then you advance," Wasikowski said of the regional round. "And so the focus is to win one in a row three times. We talked about (treating the regional like) a single-elimination tournament, and so, we're not eliminated after today. That's a good thing."
How It Happened: Logan Mercado got the start for the Ducks and walked two of the first three hitters he faced, with both coming around to score on two-out hits. Oregon answered in the bottom of the first with three straight singles to open the inning, from Nishida, Shade and Cowley. The hit by Cowley brought Nishida home, and two batters later Tanner Smith plated Shade with a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 2-2.
After Mercado pitched around a two-out single in the second, the Ducks took the lead. Jacob Walsh led off the bottom of the inning with a double, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on an error for a 3-2 lead.
It didn't last long. Grayson Grinsell relieved Mercado to open the third, and again free passes hurt the Ducks. Two one-out walks and a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position, and a two-run single reclaimed the lead for Xavier, 4-3.
Oregon couldn't take advantage of two two-out singles in the third, and then the UO bats went quiet. After a UO runner reached on an error to open the bottom of the fourth, Xavier starting pitcher Brant Alazaus retired the next 10 hitters in a row.
McShane came on to pitch the fifth, and pitched the first 1-2-3 inning of the game for the Ducks. After four innings in which the Ducks regularly fell behind in the count, McShane attacked the strike zone.
"Knowing if a guy's got a tight zone, you've just got to compete within it," McShane said. "So yeah, that's what we did."
The big right-hander hit the second batter in the sixth, and did allow a two-out walk later in the inning. But Anderson came on to get out of that jam before pitching a clean seventh.
That set the stage for Oregon's rally back into the lead. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Nishida poked a line drive to left that sailed over the outfielder's head, ending the day for Alazaus. Shade and Cowley followed with consecutive RBI doubles, and the Ducks were back in front.
"They came out and they punched us first, so we just knew we had to punch back," Shade said. "And then towards the middle, we kind of just battled adversity; things weren't going our way. We just had to stick with it."
Dallas threw a 1-2-3 eighth to protect the lead. Then it was up to Mollerus, who allowed a leadoff single in the ninth but then struck out the next batter and coaxed a game-ending double play for his 10th save of the season.
Notable: Smith's single in the third inning extended his UO single-season record for hits to 86. … Cowley's first RBI of the game gave him 62 this season, breaking a tie with teammate Sabin Ceballos for the UO single-season record. Cowley extended his total to 63 in the seventh. … Nishida's two runs scored Friday gave him 59 for the season, one more than Smith had a year ago and second in UO single-season history behind Aaron Zavala (64, 2021). … Drew Smith's single in the third inning extended his school-record hitting streak to 20 games.
Quotable:
UO coach Mark Wasikowski on what changed the game for the Ducks
"I thought that the pitching flipped the script. As soon as Dylan came in, passed it to Austin and then Dallas, Mollerus — those guys did a fantastic job. And so I thought that was the first thing. And then the second thing was the hit by Rikuu (in the seventh). They were playing him at Little League depth and Rikuu finally went up there with the wood bat instead of the aluminum, and that's when he shows his best power. And so, for him to get that swing, I thought that was big."
Freshman pitcher Dylan McShane on getting the ball in an NCAA Regional game
"All that really means is that they have faith in me — and when they have faith in me, that helps me have faith in myself. Just working with these guys this whole year has made it just so awesome for me; they've just welcomed me into this culture. It's a blast every time."
Outfielder Colby Shade on the production from the top of the lineup
"That's just the crazy thing about our lineup — us three did good today, but tomorrow I'm sure it'll be someone else. It could be the last three. That's what's really special about our offense, is that it doesn't matter who it is. Someone's gonna get it done — and it could be our leadoff, it could be our nine hole, it could be our four hole. I mean, they're all just the same."
Up Next: The Ducks host Vanderbilt Friday (6 p.m. PT).
Eventually, though, the Ducks captured the same magic. And now, they're in the winner's bracket of the Nashville Regional.
The UO bullpen continued its phenomenal hot streak Friday in Oregon's regional opener against Xavier, and the Ducks rallied for two go-ahead runs in the seventh to post a 5-4 win at Vanderbilt's Hawkins Field. Oregon advanced to a game Saturday night against No. 3 Vanderbilt.
"I'm just really happy with the way our team came together, despite probably not playing their best game, for sure," UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. "There was some mistakes, there was what looked like rust; it might have been nerves, with just the beginning of the regional. But just very excited about the way they came together and found a way to win. That was really the bottom line, is coming out of here with a win today. And we did that."
After Xavier led 4-3 through three innings — all four runners who scored had reached on walks — Dylan McShane, Austin Anderson, Matt Dallas and Josh Mollerus combined to keep the Musketeers scoreless over the last five innings. The UO bullpen now has a 1.44 ERA in five postseason games, with McShane setting the tone Friday by coming in to start the fifth and getting five outs on just 18 pitches.
"Him coming in and doing what he did really set the tone for the bullpen," said Anderson (4-0), who got the next four outs and lowered his ERA on the season to 0.36. "Kind of showing us what we need to do: Throw it in the zone, and good results are gonna happen."
The bullpen kept the Ducks (38-20) within striking distance into the seventh, when consecutive doubles by Rikuu Nishida, Colby Shade and Drew Cowley reclaimed the lead for Oregon.
"If you win three in a row, then you advance," Wasikowski said of the regional round. "And so the focus is to win one in a row three times. We talked about (treating the regional like) a single-elimination tournament, and so, we're not eliminated after today. That's a good thing."
How It Happened: Logan Mercado got the start for the Ducks and walked two of the first three hitters he faced, with both coming around to score on two-out hits. Oregon answered in the bottom of the first with three straight singles to open the inning, from Nishida, Shade and Cowley. The hit by Cowley brought Nishida home, and two batters later Tanner Smith plated Shade with a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 2-2.
After Mercado pitched around a two-out single in the second, the Ducks took the lead. Jacob Walsh led off the bottom of the inning with a double, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on an error for a 3-2 lead.
It didn't last long. Grayson Grinsell relieved Mercado to open the third, and again free passes hurt the Ducks. Two one-out walks and a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position, and a two-run single reclaimed the lead for Xavier, 4-3.
The #Pac12BSB Tourney Champs starting the weekend off with a W ?? @OregonBaseball storms back in Regional win over Xavier. Highlights ?? pic.twitter.com/ob2JMCKj3H
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) June 2, 2023
Oregon couldn't take advantage of two two-out singles in the third, and then the UO bats went quiet. After a UO runner reached on an error to open the bottom of the fourth, Xavier starting pitcher Brant Alazaus retired the next 10 hitters in a row.
McShane came on to pitch the fifth, and pitched the first 1-2-3 inning of the game for the Ducks. After four innings in which the Ducks regularly fell behind in the count, McShane attacked the strike zone.
"Knowing if a guy's got a tight zone, you've just got to compete within it," McShane said. "So yeah, that's what we did."
The big right-hander hit the second batter in the sixth, and did allow a two-out walk later in the inning. But Anderson came on to get out of that jam before pitching a clean seventh.
That set the stage for Oregon's rally back into the lead. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Nishida poked a line drive to left that sailed over the outfielder's head, ending the day for Alazaus. Shade and Cowley followed with consecutive RBI doubles, and the Ducks were back in front.
"They came out and they punched us first, so we just knew we had to punch back," Shade said. "And then towards the middle, we kind of just battled adversity; things weren't going our way. We just had to stick with it."
Dallas threw a 1-2-3 eighth to protect the lead. Then it was up to Mollerus, who allowed a leadoff single in the ninth but then struck out the next batter and coaxed a game-ending double play for his 10th save of the season.
Notable: Smith's single in the third inning extended his UO single-season record for hits to 86. … Cowley's first RBI of the game gave him 62 this season, breaking a tie with teammate Sabin Ceballos for the UO single-season record. Cowley extended his total to 63 in the seventh. … Nishida's two runs scored Friday gave him 59 for the season, one more than Smith had a year ago and second in UO single-season history behind Aaron Zavala (64, 2021). … Drew Smith's single in the third inning extended his school-record hitting streak to 20 games.
Quotable:
UO coach Mark Wasikowski on what changed the game for the Ducks
"I thought that the pitching flipped the script. As soon as Dylan came in, passed it to Austin and then Dallas, Mollerus — those guys did a fantastic job. And so I thought that was the first thing. And then the second thing was the hit by Rikuu (in the seventh). They were playing him at Little League depth and Rikuu finally went up there with the wood bat instead of the aluminum, and that's when he shows his best power. And so, for him to get that swing, I thought that was big."
Freshman pitcher Dylan McShane on getting the ball in an NCAA Regional game
"All that really means is that they have faith in me — and when they have faith in me, that helps me have faith in myself. Just working with these guys this whole year has made it just so awesome for me; they've just welcomed me into this culture. It's a blast every time."
Outfielder Colby Shade on the production from the top of the lineup
"That's just the crazy thing about our lineup — us three did good today, but tomorrow I'm sure it'll be someone else. It could be the last three. That's what's really special about our offense, is that it doesn't matter who it is. Someone's gonna get it done — and it could be our leadoff, it could be our nine hole, it could be our four hole. I mean, they're all just the same."
Up Next: The Ducks host Vanderbilt Friday (6 p.m. PT).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Anderson, Austin (4-0)
L: KELLY, Jonathan (3-4)
S: Mollerus, Josh (10)
Batting:
2B: SCHULTZ, Garrett 1
RBI: McCORMICK, Matt 1 ; SCHULTZ, Garrett 3
Base Running:
RUNS: HOUSINGER, Jack 1 ; WALKER, Andrew 1 ; DEMARTINO, Tyler 1 ; McCORMICK, Matt 1
SB: SCHULTZ, Garrett 1
HBP: HENDRICKSON, Carter 1
Batting:
2B: Nishida, Rikuu 1 ; Shade, Colby 1 ; Cowley, Drew 1 ; Walsh, Jacob 1
RBI: Shade, Colby 1 ; Cowley, Drew 2 ; Smith, Tanner 1
SF: Smith, Tanner 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nishida, Rikuu 2 ; Shade, Colby 2 ; Walsh, Jacob 1
Game Leaders
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H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
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0
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
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