This time around, the Ducks needed no help from the umpires.
After a controversial win over Austin Peay to open regional play on Friday night, Oregon (45-17) took down the Governors 8-1 on Sunday to punch its ticket to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Division I Championships, but the fifth-seeded Ducks won’t need to travel far, or at all, after earning the right to host the Super Regional round as well. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=11401&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205435989@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205436046@@
“We’re very proud and excited to bring the University of Oregon its first regional championship,” said head coach George Horton.
The Duck offense awoke on Sunday, scoring eight runs in the regional-clinching victory. Oregon was a perfect 3-0 in regional play, beating the Governors (40-24) on Friday and Sunday and defeating head coach George Horton’s alma mater, Cal State Fullerton, on Saturday. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=94834&SPID=11401&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1205425&Q_SEASON=2011@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=11401&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205435934@@
Oregon was the visiting team Sunday and thus found itself in the strange position of being the first team to hit at PK Park, but jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout from Brett Thomas just four batters into the game. It was a shaky start for Austin Peay pitcher Kacy Kemmer, who threw eight straight balls to start the night, walking Aaron Payne, hitting Aaron Jones and falling behind 1-0 to Ryon Healy before finally earning a strike.
“They jumped out on us,” said Governors third baseman Greg Bachman. “It was demoralizing.”
Thomas knocked a single to right field in the third inning to score Jones from second base for his second RBI of the game, giving the Ducks a 2-0 lead before a sacrifice fly from Kyle Garlick gave Oregon a 3-0 lead.
Connor Hofmann dominated the basepaths in the fourth inning, stealing second and third in the same at-bat before coming home to score on a bunt from Payne. The Ducks responded to the center fielder’s hustle, and added another pair of runs to take a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth.
The Ducks added an exclamation point in the seventh inning when Brett Hambright teed off on pitch from Ryan Quick, sending it over the wall just to the right of the 375 sign in left center field for a two-run homer to give Oregon an 8-0 lead. Hambright’s shot scored his brother, Ryan, who led-off the inning with a walk.
“In that situation, we were up a couple runs so I knew I’d get to swing the bats instead of having to (sacrifice) my little brother over,” Hambright said.
It was one of few times in the series that Brett Hambright got to swing the bat with Ryan Hambright, hitting above his brother in the batting order. The younger Hambright went 7 for 10 in the regional for a .700 average.
Oregon tallied just seven hits on the afternoon but capitalized on five hit batters and several walks issued by Austin Peay’s pitching staff. In its second game of the afternoon, Austin Peay used seven pitchers, none of them lasting more than two innings. Duck pitching was a mirror image with freshman starter Jake Reed giving Oregon seven innings of shutout baseball while surrendering just two hits to earn the win in his first career postseason start.
“Everything he had today was on,” Bachman said. “Hat’s off to him.”
The freshman’s two-hit performance was good in any circumstance, but in a regional-clinching victory it was even better.
“It’s on a short list of most spectacular efforts ever,” Horton said when asked to compare Reed’s outing to the best pitching performances in Horton’s storied career.