This hasn’t happened since 1954.
Oregon baseball won its first conference championship, regular season or tournament, with a 5-4 win over Arizona at Scottsdale Stadium in front of a partisan Wildcat crowd.
Matt Dallas managed to get the last six outs to seal the deal and clinch the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. Oregon’s seed and regional location will be announced on Monday.
But the Ducks certainly made things interesting in the top of the ninth. Arizona was able to get its top hitter, Chase Davis, up to the plate with two outs and a runner on. Dallas was able to get Davis to pop out to Bryce Boettcher in left to end the game and send the Duck bench out onto the field for a dogpile on the mound.
This was a close game throughout and relatively low-scoring as this tournament and the stadium is made for an offensive showcase. The Oregon pitching staff was up to the task.
Starting Turner Spoljarik was coming off a disastrous outing on Thursday against Stanford where he lasted just one inning. But the good Spoljarik, the one that was the Pitcher of the Week in the last series against Utah, showed himself right in time.
The freshman went six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and striking out three. The Duck defense also turned three double plays behind Spoljarik to erase potential big innings.
Austin Anderson came on in the seventh inning and found himself in a world of hurt as Arizona was able to load the bases with two out. With the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base, Anderson whiffed Kiko Romero with a changeup in the dirt.
After the Wildcats dented the scoreboard first with a run in the third, Oregon evened the score in the bottom half thanks to Colby Shade’s run-scoring single. Oregon took a 3-1 lead in the fourth on Gavin Grant’s single to right and Rikuu Nishida’s infield chopper.
Arizona wasn’t going to go quietly, however. It scored a run in the fifth and then tied the game in the sixth on Romero’s inside-the-park-homer to dead center.
As they seemingly have all season, the Duck immediately responded. This time it came as a monster homer to right-center off of the bat of Jacob Walsh. Oregon gained some insurance in the seventh on Tanner Smith’s single to center which was just enough to score Drew Cowley from second.
Tony Bullard made it 5-4 in the eighth with a homer, but it was just a solo shot because the Ducks turned a key double play just before the home run.
Now the Ducks fly home to Eugene with a trophy in hand to await their NCAA tournament fate. The Field of 64 will be announced on Monday at 9 am PST on ESPN2.
According to projections from D1Baseball.com, the Ducks could be sent to Gainesville, Flor. where the No. 2 Gators will host.
But that was before Oregon was crowned Pac-12 champs.