One month ago, Oregon baseball was at the bottom of the Pac-12 standings and looked like it was going to let the season go to waste.
Fast-forward to Sunday night, and the Ducks looked like a lock to make the NCAA Tournament.
“I can remember back at USC coming apart at the seams emotionally and physically,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “From that day on, things have turned around in a positive manner.”
Since dropping two-of-three against the Trojans in Los Angeles at the end of April, Oregon won every series it played to post a 15-5 record over the final 20 games.
The Ducks’ midseason turnaround was capped with a series win over the nation’s No. 1 overall seed UCLA, a feat that catapulted them into the selection committee’s favor.
While the team surely knew it had earned an at-large bid to the tournament, it was still a relief to see their name pop up early in the selection show.
“It was a great feeling, just fun,” starting pitcher Cole Irvin said. “There’s no other way to describe it because not knowing if you’re going to be in the playoffs or not is difficult. You’re fighting for your life for the past five, six weeks. You did your job, you did your part. The fact that the committee felt that we deserved a regional bid was nice.”
Horton said he didn’t have the chance to scout Iowa, Oregon’s first opponent in the Missouri State regional bracket, but was ecstatic about going back to work Monday morning.
“I thought maybe I’d be fishing or something,” Horton said. “It really is surreal and I couldn’t be more happy for a group of athletes that accepted the challenge. It would have been really easy to continue down that spiral.”
Oregon may have been one of the final teams to make the tournament, but it may be the hottest team in their bracket.
For instance, the Ducks won nine of their final 10 games, while Iowa lost four of its final six.
“We’re beyond thrilled, excited and obviously not done yet,” first baseman Scott Heineman said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do right now and we’re excited to get after it.”
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