For the second night in a row, the Eugene Super Regional ended on a walk-off single.
Oregon was two outs away from reaching the College World Series, but Oral Roberts staved off elimination by stringing together two singles, a walk and a walk-off, opposite field two-run single just inside the line in left off the bat of Justin Quinn to win 8-7 Saturday night in Game 2 and silence the sellout crowd of 4,476 at PK Park.
The teams will play a deciding Game 3 at 3 p.m. Sunday with the winner advancing to Omaha.
“It’s probably a blessing that we get a chance to be one more day at PK Park to be able to earn a chance to get to Omaha,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “Yeah it burns them because, would they like to celebrate tonight? Yeah, you’d always want to celebrate to get to Omaha, but if you turn a negative into a positive, it’s real simple, it was a negative ending and so the positive behind it is we get a chance to suit up tomorrow in front of PK Park fans and win a baseball game to get to the College World Series.”
The Ducks (41-21) led 7-4 midway through the seventh, but the Golden Eagles got a run back in the bottom of the frame on a double by Jake McMurray and Jonah Cox led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo blast to get Oral Roberts within a run.
Oregon turned to Josh Mollerus in the ninth, but he could not close it out and had his shortest appearance of the season. Jacob Godman hit a one-out single to right and Blaze Brothers rocketed a grounder up the middle that second baseman Gavin Grant managed to get in front of but could not field cleanly to put the winning run on base.
Grant, a senior who has been one of Oregon’s key leaders, said “I’ll wear that one” for being unable to snag the hard-hit grounder the Ducks were anticipating.
“He could have played it off to the side and gotten timid and he didn’t,” Wasikowski said. “He got in front of a line drive at over 100 miles an hour. I challenge anybody in the world to get in front of a line drive at over 100 mph and see how that feels when it hits you.”
Mollerus walked McMurray to load the bases and Quinn sent an 0-1 fastball to the opposite field line to keep Oral Roberts’ season alive.
“I was sitting fastball first pitch and he threw me a slider and had me fooled,” Quinn said. “I went back to my approach to sit fastball and he threw me a heater. Was able to put a good swing on it and happy it was fair.”
Mollerus (3-3), who wasn’t made available to talk to reporters postgame, allowed two runs on three hits and a walk in 1/3 inning. It was only his second appearance of less than an inning in 27 appearances this season.
“Josh, he competed exceptionally well and I can’t wait to give him the ball tomorrow,” Wasikowski said.
The Golden Eagles (50-12) led 3-1 after two after a two-run single by Stahl and RBI single by Brothers.
Sabin Ceballos tied it with a two-run homer to left center in the top of the fourth, but Oral Roberts regained the lead in the bottom of the inning on a double play that allowed a run to score.
Oregon took its first lead of the night in the fifth. Drew Cowley tied the game with an RBI single, then came around to score on a double to left-center by Ceballos that made it 5-4.
After not going to closer Cade Denton to start the ninth in a tie game on Friday, ORU turned the All-American with one on and two outs in the sixth to keep its season alive. Denton (2-1) threw 63 pitches over the final 3.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks.
“It’s a different mindset; you got to go out and know that you got to make yourself last for a few more innings,” Denton said. “I didn’t leave anything in the tank, but you got to ride and you got to be able to go out and pitch that first inning and see if you can get out of it quick.”
In the seventh, Ceballos drew a two-out walk, Tanner Smith doubled to left and Drew Smith hit a long fly ball right of center that Cox tracked down and had in his glove, but the ball popped out after the All-American hit the wall and Oregon took a 7-4 lead.
“There was no panic in our team,” Oral Roberts coach Ryan Folmar said. “They hung in there and made a swing when we needed to. Cade made several pitches we needed to. We drew some walks when we needed to. We look forward to tomorrow now.”
While Oral Roberts may have exhausted Denton in the process, Oregon doesn’t have an obvious Game 3 starter, having utilized eight of the nine pitchers it has relied on exclusively over the last month. The only exception is Matthew Grabmann (2-1, 4.28 ERA), who last threw 2.2 innings to start the Pac-12 tournament semifinal against Washington on May 26.
Wasikowksi said Matt Dallas (2.0 IP, two runs on three hits) and Mollerus, who both pitched in Games 1 and 2, would be available out of the bullpen on Sunday.
“They would literally hit me in the face if I didn’t give them the ball,” Wasikowski said. “I don’t even have to ask them. Those guys would punch me between the eyes if I didn’t give them the baseball tomorrow.”
Two outs away from its first trip to Omaha since 1954, Oregon will attempt to punch its ticket on Sunday.
“I think it’s going to make tomorrow more exciting,” Tanner Smith said. “I think the feeling of us getting it done and dogpiling tomorrow to go to Omaha is going to be even better than tonight would have been.”
