With the season teetering on the precipice and another defeat in the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament dangerously close, Oregon Ducks senior Gavin Grant decided it was time for a chat.
So in the bottom of the eighth inning, with the Ducks trailing 2-1, he called his teammates together for a huddle inside the first base dugout at Scottsdale Stadium. The second baseman reminded everyone how hard they had worked this season, how much time they put into the game they love, and urged them to come together for just two innings and save their season.
“Play team baseball,” Tanner Smith said, recalling Grant’s final words. “And just really believe in ourselves.”
And the Ducks responded.
Oregon scored two runs in the eighth inning to defeat the Cal Bears 3-2 Tuesday night in the first day of pool play in Scottsdale, Arizona, using a timely error and a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to earn a crucial come-from-behind victory.
The sixth-seeded Ducks (34-20) will take Wednesday off before playing No. 1 seed Stanford at 7 p.m. Thursday in the final round of pool play. If they beat the Cardinal — which they did twice in the regular season — the Ducks would clinch a berth to the semifinals and all-but lock a trip to the regionals of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
Oregon is projected to earn an at-large bid by multiple web sites, thanks in part to a No. 39 ranking in the RPI and 16 regular-season wins in the Pac-12. But the Ducks sputtered down the stretch of the season, finishing 13-13 over the final 26 games, including a dismal 3-7 in May. So Tuesday’s win — and Grant’s eighth-inning chat — was crucial, if not critical.
Grant doesn’t speak up often, Smith said, so when he does it carries weight. Oregon wasted little time answering his challenge against the Bears (24-27).
Sabin Ceballos started the rally with a leadoff single to left and Smith followed with a double off the glove of Cal right fielder Kade Kretzschmar, who appeared to make a nice running catch on the play but couldn’t keep hold of the ball. It would not be the last time a Cal player failed to make a key play in the inning.
Three pitches later, Drew Smith smacked a routine grounder to shortstop, seemingly stalling the rally. But Cal shortstop Carson Crawford booted the ball and Bryce Boettcher — who had entered the game as a pinch runner for Ceballos — scored easily to even the score 2-2. That sent Jacob Walsh to the plate with runners on the corners, and the sophomore first baseman hammered the first pitch he saw to deep center field, sending Smith home with a sacrifice fly.
The late-game rally salvaged an otherwise frustrating offensive performance by the Ducks, who finished with 11 hits, but went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. The team that scored 24 runs in its final two regular-season games and set a school record for home runs was left feeling frustrated most of the game, especially in fourth and fifth, when inning-ending double plays sabotaged potential big innings.
The gutsy comeback, combined with the those momentum-building wins at Utah, could suggest bigger things are coming for the Ducks, who earned their first conference tournament victory after going 0-2 last year.
“Time will tell,” coach Mark Wasikowski said. “They answered the bell three different times in a row now. So that’s what it says about them right now. Hopefully it turns into something bigger and we can go from there. But right now, it says they did it three times in a row when their backs were against the wall and they played tough.”
Tanner Smith went 3 for 4 with two runs scored, Drew Smith added two hits and an RBI and Bennett Thompson finished 1 for 2 with a walk and a second-inning sacrifice fly. But it was the Ducks’ injury-ravaged pitching staff that deliver the win Tuesday.
Freshman left-hander Grayson Grinsell made his first career start and fought through four hits — including a triple and two doubles — to allowed just two runs in three innings. The bullpen was exceptional from there, combining to surrender just two hits and two walks, while recording seven strikeouts, over the final six innings.
Logan Mercado (5-1) earned the win, striking out two in 1 1/3 innings, and Josh Mollerus pitched a scoreless ninth for his ninth save.
And even though he struck out three times and failed to record a hit, Grant delivered perhaps the biggest moment of all inside the dugout, gathering the Ducks for a season-saving talk.
“It’s so influential,” Smith said of Grant’s words. “Just to be able to hear his voice. It’s calming in big moments and it really kind of puts the right perspective … in our heads of what we need to do and … how much we need to just slow the game down and really just appreciate the moment.
“I think Gavin has a really good feel as far as when the moment requires him to kind of use his voice as a leader and step up in situations like that. And it seems like every time he does, the team really responds really well.”
Joe Freeman reported from Scottsdale
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