SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Unbelievable, down 8-0 before its home crowd in Eugene, scrapy Oregon is now one win away from reaching the College Baseball Division I World Series for the first time since 1954, and all it took was the biggest comeback in NCAA Super Regional history.
Not only were the Ducks way behind, they were still without three injured players as they took the field for Game 1 of the best-of-3 series. so now it’s the last of the third inning, their supporters were becoming weary, and just like that, Oregon made its move.
It steadily chipped away at a deficit 96 teams attempt and failed to overcome in a super regional, tying the score in the seventh on an RBI single up the middle by Tanner Smith.
“I hung in there,” said Smith, a freshman,” and was able to catch a low curve and knock it over second base. We were just going wild in the dugout and I was happy to join in.”
In the bottom of the ninth, Seniors Gavin Grant and Rikuu Nishida drew back-to-back four-pitch walks against Oral Roberts junior starter Mitch Dawkins, and the visitors called for their closer, which proved costly. ‘
Two batters later, senior Drew Crowley lined a single to right to score Nisidia, and raced to third on a misplayed ball in the outfield. Then the suddenly sell-out throng of 4,476 at PK Park went into celebration mold when, with the bags full and two out, the winning run was issued a 3-2 walk.
Said Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski: “This team’s got a toughness that I’ve never seen before — they won’t quit. Coming back from an 8-0 gap, as disappointed as we were in the third inning, they’ve been working to build this thing to where a day like this would happen with this number of people here and the energy.”
Nishida also had his say.
“To get really punched in the face at the beginning of this game before our home crowd,” he said, “I don’t think I’d ever imagine another team being able to rebound from that, the disappointment of what probably our guys were feeling at that time and yet they did.”
It was the 10th straight triumph for Oregon and it improved to 41-20 overall. Now it will try to punch its ticket to Omaha, Neb., in a Saturday night, 6 o’clockcontest against Oral Roberts on ESPNU.
As for the three injured Ducks, one is junior centerfielder Colby Shade with a wrist injury, the others are sophomore pitchers Jace Stoffal (finger) and Isaac Ayon (arm)
