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Ducks upset Vandy to advance to Regional Final

by GoDucks.com
Jun 3, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A precocious freshman pitcher, a deep lineup and some spectacular defense Saturday night helped propel the Oregon baseball team into the finals of its NCAA Regional.

Turner Spoljaric came through with his second strong start under the pressure of the postseason, seven different Ducks scored or drove in a run and the UO defense made multiple plays worthy of SportsCenter's nightly top 10 as Oregon beat host Vanderbilt, 8-7, in the Nashville Regional at Hawkins Field. The Ducks are one win away from advancing to Super Regionals.

"Just really proud of the way that the team that I represent and get a chance to coach every day responded to a really great college baseball game, in a very good environment," UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. "They didn't back down from anything and they came out and they played their hearts out, and came out with a win."

Spoljaric (7-0) followed up his win a week earlier in the title game of the Pac-12 Tournament by limiting the No. 3 Commodores to four runs over six innings. He left with an 8-4 lead after early homers from Tanner Smith and Bennett Thompson, and three-run double by Jacob Walsh during a four-run fifth inning. After Vandy clawed back within a run in the ninth, a barehand play for a bang-bang out at first by Sabin Ceballos to leave the bases loaded in the seventh loomed incredibly large.

"These guys are special," said Spoljaric, who struck out two, walked two and scattered six hits. "It's a really great group of people on this team. We're all very close and, if they go out there and put up runs, I want to go have a shutdown inning, put up a zero for them and just keep the momentum building. It's awesome pitching with the talent we have behind me."

How It Happened: The Ducks (39-20) saw the top of their lineup spark them for the second day in a row, as Rikuu Nishida was hit by a pitch to open the game and scored on an error after Drew Cowley singled to right field. On Saturday, though, the top of the order got more support down the lineup — after Cowley took third on the error, Ceballos brought him in with a groundball out and Smith followed with a solo homer for a 3-0 lead.

"One to nine, it doesn't matter who's in the box," Walsh said. "We have confidence in everyone on our team."

Spoljaric allowed a run in the bottom of the first, but he also got out of a bases-loaded jam to end the inning. In the top of the second, Thompson's solo homer made it 4-1, which meant Vandy only was able to tie it with a three-run bottom of the second.

But after the solo homer with two out in the second that made it 4-4, Spoljaric retired the next nine in a row. Later, he set down three straight in the sixth after the first two batters of the inning reached.

"I was trying to do a little bit too much I think in the first inning, and then I backed off and then I was just trying to focus," Spoljaric said. "Once I got my feet under me, just trying to focus on executing pitches and competing, making good pitches — because we've got a great defense and I was letting them work — things have worked out doing that this season."

Among the early defensive highlights was a diving play at first by Walsh, and he contributed with the bat as well. He doubled and was stranded in the fourth, but in the fifth he came up with the bases loaded and doubled again, clearing the bases to cap a four-run inning that included an earlier RBI single by Ceballos.
 

Vanderbilt began clawing back in the seventh, after reliever Austin Anderson got two quick outs to open the inning. A walk, a hit by pitch and a walk loaded the bases, and when the next batter got ahead in the count 2-0, Matt Dallas was called upon from the bullpen. He couldn't avoid a walk that forced in a run, but the next hitter sent a dribbler toward third base that Ceballos charged, fielded with a his bare hand and fired to first for the out — a play that Vanderbilt challenged but which was confirmed by video review.

"When it was hit, I was like, yeah, this is gonna be a tough play," Walsh said. "And then he actually did it. And I was like, well, that was cool. So yeah, it was great to see."

Dallas then pitched a 1-2-3 eighth that included a couple of ground balls to Gavin Grant at second base. Josh Mollerus pitched the ninth, and though he allowed a two-run homer that made it 8-7 with one out, he retired the next two hitters for his 11th save of the season.

Notable: The Ducks are playing in their sixth NCAA Regional final all-time, and are looking to make their first Super Regional appearance since 2012. … Smith's home run was the 30th of his career, tied for the UO record with Tom Dodd (1977-79). … Drew Smith saw his school-record hitting streak snapped at 20 games.

Quotable:
UO coach Mark Wasikowski on Oregon's defensive impact
"The defense tonight was tremendous. I thought Coach (Marcus) Hinkle as a matter of fact, with the preparation that he invested in with just charting and all the video watching, was probably something that paid a lot of dividends for us as well tonight."

UO coach Mark Wasikowski on the development of Spoljaric
"With a lot of these young guys, or some of the old guys, it really does come down to believing in yourself and trusting that you're good. And you see especially in tonight's game, you see young people both sides with their confidence waver from time to time. And you know, that's the big deal in coaching or in playing you know, when you figure that out, that's it right there. And when you can just go out there and trust that you're a player or a good pitcher and trust in your abilities and all your preparation, those are usually the best players on the field. And tonight Turner was one of the best players on the field, for sure."

Up Next: The Ducks play Sunday at 6 p.m. PT, against the winner of an elimination game earlier in the day between Vanderbilt and Xavier.

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