Oregon baseball opened their postseason run in the Santa Barbara Regional with a win over San Diego, 5-4. The game was quite compelling even as it was at parts both marvelous and frustrating to watch at the same time.

RJ Gordon has been the leading starter for the first game of the weekend series this season and was again the starter for the first game against the Toreros. San Diego brought their big gun, Josh Randall, to the hill against the Ducks.

The game started as a pitcher’s duel with the offenses of both sides not being able to connect for runs in the first four innings. Scratch beneath the surface of the box score, however, and one pitcher was distinguishing himself better than the other – and it wasn’t Gordon.

In the first five innings in which the starters were on the mound, Randall fanned 6 batters, while Gordon only recorded 3 Ks. The Oregon bats were not able to get a solid bead on Randall, who walked none of the Ducks in his start. Even when he gifted Oregon base-runners by hitting batters with pitches, the Ducks could not capitalize.

That’s not to say that RJ Gordon’s outing was a bad start. It wasn’t, and even if he was being helped by a great Oregon defense, he wasn’t giving up home runs.

Something had to give, and that something happened in the fifth inning.

Carter Garate drew first blood in the fifth with a solo shot to lead off the top of the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, Gordon picked up a pair of fly-up outs and could not close the inning. The Toreros pecked away at him with a single, a walk, and another single to tie the score 1-1.

Randall opened up the top of the sixth inning by giving up a single and hitting the third batter of the game, and with two on base and no outs his afternoon was done. San Diego could not quash Oregon’s offensive momentum, and after loading the bases the Ducks followed with a couple of sacrifice plays to take the score to 3-1.

The Ducks rolled the dice by keeping Gordon in the game, and were rewarded with San Diego flying or grounding out in the sixth and seventh innings.

In the top of the eighth inning, and with two outs, Carter Garate hit a double to extend Oregon’s lead to 4-1.

In the bottom of the eighth, Oregon pushed their luck too much by trotting Gordon back out on the hill. At best, Gordon’s game begins to fall off after his pitch count hits the mid-90’s, and with a pitch count at 110 the Ducks had no business keeping him in the game. It should not have been a surprise at all when he walked the first Torero batter, and San Diego followed up with a single to put two on base with no outs.

Brock Moore came in for relief. Unfortunately for both him and the Ducks, San Diego immediately clocked him for a three run homer.

Moore walked the next two batters and his miserable outing was over. It was up to Logan Mercado to come in and stop the arterial blood loss.

The game became a nail biter. Mercado can be brilliant at times and also give up home runs and the lead at times. Both sides could not score and with Mercado trying to help keep Oregon in this ball game, the tension was real with the foreboding that every one of his pitches could yield a leadoff home run and send the Ducks to the path of elimination.

It may not have been pretty, but pretty does not win ball games and Mercado did everything he had to do to send the game into extra innings.

In the top of the 11th inning, Bryce Boettcher connected with the second pitch throw at him – a solo shot to left field that would be all Oregon needed to come away with the win.

Mercado’s white-knuckle pitching in the 11th made the bottom of the inning seem like forever, but the lead stuck and Oregon escaped with a win.

Here is your final line:

And we recap with the game highlights:

UC Santa Barbara had their own not-very-pretty win against Fresno State, but came out on top 9-6 and will face Oregon on Saturday. The teams know each other and play nearly every season in the nonconference slate. The Gauchos took the series earlier in the season, and if there is a game that is must-see for Oregon baseball, this is the game.

Oregon vs. Santa Barbara is Saturday at 7:00 pm PT. The game is scheduled to be shown on ESPN+.