It wasn’t without controversy, but the Ducks beat Austin Peay 5-4 in the first round of the NCAA Division One baseball championship.
Oregon’s offense got started in the second inning with Kyle Garlick setting the tone. He led off the frame by smacking a double off the base of the left field wall. Soon Ryan Hambright advanced Garlick to third, and Brett Hambright hit a long flyball to right deep enough to score Garlick.
The Ducks added a second run in the fourth inning when Vernell Warren’s sacrifice bunt proved too difficult for Ausin Peay’s Zach Toney to handle.  The pitcher’s fielding miscue allowed Ryan Hambright to come around to score, giving Oregon the 2-0 lead.
The Governors took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning when Jordan Hankins hit a three-run home run into the Ducks bullpen. But the lead didn’t last long as Oregon scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
The Ducks tied the game on another mistake from the Governors, once again advancing extra bases on a misplayed bunt. Oregon took the lead on the first pitch of the next at-bat when J.J. Altobelli stroked a double down the right field line. Yet, Austin Peay refused to go away, tying the game in the seventh and taking their second lead of the game in the eighth on a sacrifice fly.
With the Ducks trailing 4-3 entering the game’s final frame, the Governors handed the ball to their submarine closer, Tyler Rogers. With a PK Park crowd of 3,771 making life difficult for Rogers, the Ducks drew back-to-back hit batters to open the frame.
After a sacrifice bunt from Aaron Jones and an intentional walk to Ryon Healy, leftfielder Brett Thomas hit an infield single that allowed Altobelli to break from third base and score — narrowly avoided the tag in the eyes of home plate umpire Greg Street.
“My job was to get the run in anyway I could, and luckily J.J. got one good first step,” Thomas said.
Austin Peay head coach Gary McClure wasn’t so sure.
“Everybody saw the ball game, and I don’t need to say anything else,” he said.
McClure said he approached Street and asked for an explanation or at least for him to confer with third base umpire Lawrence Woodall. However, Street warned McClure he would be ejected if he continued to appeal the call.
Oregon head coach George Horton admitted it was a close play but said he didn’t have a good enough angle to determine anything one way or another. He said the Ducks have been on the other side of their share of close calls.
After the controversial play at the plate, Oregon’s Garlick hit a ball to the left side of the infield that gave Austin Peay’s Greg Bachman trouble, whicj allowed Aaron Payne to score the winning run.  The walk-off win capped a back-and-forth game that made the Ducks glad they were playing at home.
“When the crowd erupted in the ‘OOOOh,’ you should have seen the look in each other’s face,” Horton said. “That singlehandedly brought everybody to their toes.”
Oregon returns to action tomorrow at 6 p.m. against George Horton’s former school, Cal State Fullerton, in a matchup between the two winners from the first day of Regional play.
With two very similar teams, Horton says neither team will be able to do much of anything to catch their opponents off guard.
“There will be no secrets,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s going to be the players that determine win or lose.”