Oregon Uses Biggest Comeback In Super Regional History To Beat Oral Roberts

Oregon on Friday completed the biggest comeback in super regionals history when it erased an eight-run deficit against Oral Roberts. The Ducks came back to win, 9-8, in game 1 of the Eugene Super Regional.

Oregon scored nine unanswered runs, capped by a walkoff, RBI single from Drew Cowley to defeat ORU. The Ducks (41-20) are now just one win away from reaching the College World Series for the first time since 1954.

ORU (49-12) seemingly broke the game open with an eight-run third inning. The Golden Eagles, who came into the series riding a 21-game winning streak, sent 12 runners to the plate and scored their eight runs on just four hits thanks in part to four walks and a hit by pitch. Outfielder Matt Hogan provided the big hit, sending a three-run home run to right field.

No team in super regionals history had won a game after going down eight runs. Teams were 96-0 going into Friday when they took an eight-run lead in super regional history, which dates to 1999.

Oregon, however, was not going to go quietly. It started its comeback immediately as Jacob Walsh and Bennett Thompson hit back-to-back home runs to start the bottom of the inning.

The Ducks kept chipping away. Thompson homered again in the fourth inning, this time a three-run blast. The sophomore catcher came into the game having hit just two home runs in 94 at-bats this season. He blasted two in consecutive at-bats Friday, keying the comeback. Drew Smith went deep in the sixth inning, a solo blast, to cut the deficit to two runs.

Still, ORU was 41-2 when leading after six innings and for good reason. Lefthander Jacob Widener and righthander Cade Denton, the Summit League pitcher of the year, form a formidable combination in the bullpen. Widener was 2-2, 3.00 with 74 strikeouts in 45 innings. Denton was 1-1, 1.65 with 75 strikeouts and nine walks in 54.2 innings. Smith’s homer had come off Widener, but the edge was still a reasonable one for the Golden Eagles.   

In the seventh inning, Oregon sparked a rally out of nothing against Widener. Rikuu Nishida reached on catcher’s interference and Bryce Boettcher reached on an error. Cowley drove in one run and Tanner Smith dumped a two-out single into right field to tie the game. That bloop nearly gave Oregon the lead as Cowley tried to score but was thrown out on a close play at the plate. Still, Oregon had erased the deficit and PK Park, filled with a sold-out crowd of 4,476, was rocking.

After a quiet eighth inning and an inning-ending double play in the top of the ninth, Gavin Grant, Oregon’s nine-hole hitter, drew a leadoff walk. Nishida also walked and ORU went to the bullpen for Denton. While the closer made a good play to get Grant at third on a bunt attempt from Boettcher for the first out, the situation was too much for the Golden Eagles. Cowley followed the thwarted sacrifice bunt attempt with a line drive single into right field and Nishida scored from first base to give the Ducks the win.

Oregon became the first team to beat ORU since April 22, when it lost to North Dakota State, 4-2. The Ducks now are tied with TCU for the nation’s longest active winning streak at 10 games.

The Ducks got some big offensive performances to spark the comeback, but the bullpen also delivered. Oregon is dealing with several key injuries on the mound, leaving it short on starting pitching. Freshman lefthander Grayson Grinsell on Friday made just his third start of the season and threw two scoreless innings, striking out three, before ORU got to him for five runs in the third. The Golden Eagles added three runs on freshman Dylan McShane.

Ian Umlandt and Logan Mercado steadied things for Oregon, however. Umlandt threw 1.1 innings and Mercado covered three innings before the Ducks turned to Matt Dallas and closer Josh Mollerus for the final two innings. That quartet combined for 6.1 scoreless innings and kept ORU from adding to its lead. The Golden Eagles only once after the third inning advanced a runner into scoring position.

In the end, Oregon produced a comeback for the ages. The Ducks, which lay dormant for nearly 30 years, as the program was cut after the 1981 season and didn’t return to competition until 2009, on Friday landed perhaps the biggest win since the program’s revival. Another win this weekend, which would send the team to Omaha, would surely top it, however.