Advertisement

Ducks stun Stanford to reach Pac-12 tournament semifinals

Chris Pietsch, The Register-Guard

Bring on the Dawgs.

Oregon scored two in the ninth and two more in the 10th inning to stun No. 1 seed Stanford 8-6 to advance to the Pac-12 tournament semifinals where Washington awaits.

The Ducks officially win Pool A and will face the Huskies Friday afternoon at 2:30 pm PST and it will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.

But to think Oregon would be in the position when it was down 6-3 in the eighth is almost unfathomable. The Ducks scored a single run in the eighth and another one in the ninth and it was 6-5, no one on base and two outs.

Then things got a bit nutty.

Colby Shade ripped a line down the right field line that was just out of the reach of Braden Montgomery. Not only was it out of his reach, but the ball didn’t hop the fence and was still in play. Montgomery’s throw was perfect to the relay man Drew Bowser, who turned and airmailed the ball into the camera well, sending Shade home to tie the game.

Closer Josh Mollerus sent the game into extra innings with a scoreless ninth innings, but not before coaxing Owen Cobb to ground out with runners on second and third.

Sabin Ceballos was due up in the 10th inning for the Ducks, and boy was he due.

Ceballos might have hit the biggest home run of his life off Cardinal reliever Brandt Pancer. It was an absolute shot to left-center to give Oregon the 7-6 lead.

But the Ducks weren’t done.

After three straight walks with two out, Toran O’Harran uncorked a wild pitch that scored Jacob Walsh.

Mollerus stayed in the game in the extra frame and after a bit of a scare that saw Stanford bring the game-winning run to the plate in the form of Alberto Rios, the Duck closer managed to get the Pac-12 Player of the Year to fly out to center to end the game.

Coming into the game, Oregon’s RPI was in the low 30s, and with this win, that number will go down even further and increasing the chances of hosting a regional in Eugene. But the Ducks would most likely need to win the conference tourney and defeat the Cardinal a second time in the process.

First things first, however. Oregon needs to beat Washington, a team that came to PK Park and swept the Ducks three straight just two short weeks ago.

Stanford will play Arizona at 7 pm in the other semifinal.

More Baseball