Oregon’s Club baseball team has clearly earned its trip to the 2004 National Club Baseball Association World Series in Bradenton, Fla.
The Ducks (21-10 overall, 16-6 Pacific Mountain Conference) — along with UC Santa Cruz, Weber State and Western Washington — traveled to Kaysville, Utah, to compete in the NCBA’s Northern Pacific Regional Tournament.
The tournament was held at Davis High School, and teams competed for a chance to secure a World Series berth.
Oregon began its trek to the World Series Saturday against Weber State (16-7 overall, 11-1 Western Mountain Conference), the 2003 NCBA National Champions.
After seven innings, the Ducks found themselves tied at six. Matt Mensik’s 140-pitch performance kept Oregon in the game and forced extra innings.
The Ducks scored a run in the ninth inning, but they failed to keep their 7-6 lead as the Wildcats hit a solo home run off Oregon relief pitcher Gavin Wahl-Stephens to tie the game again at seven. In the 12th inning, Wahl-Stephens hit a home run to give the Ducks a one-run lead and the win against one of the most high-profile teams in the country.
“It was one of the craziest games I have ever played in,” catcher Jon Loomis said.
Only hours later, Oregon faced UC Santa Cruz (10-11 overall, 6-6 California Baseball Conference) and came away with a 19-1 win. The win gave Oregon a place in the championship game and pitted it against a team the Ducks battled in regular season play, Western Washington (22-9 overall, 15-3 Pacific Mountain Conference).
Thanks to the double elimination format of the tournament, Western Washington had to beat Oregon twice on Sunday to capture the tournament crown.
In Oregon’s first game against Western Washington, the Ducks fell 7-6 in a close matchup. The Vikings’ win set up a winner-take-all situation in the tournament’s final game.
“We kept saying we were never out of games even when we were behind,” pitcher Jay Tlougan said. “We kept picking each other up and you could tell we really wanted to win.”
With solid pitching and an offense consistently productive in nearly every inning, the Ducks finally took home the championship trophy after a 21-14 win against their conference rival.
“I think we wanted it more,” third baseman Travis Chock said. “We had guys playing a lot better than they normally do and this time we had something to really play for.”
Oregon will now join seven other teams — Central Michigan, Colorado State, James Madison, North Carolina State, Penn State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin — in Bradenton to compete in the 2004 NCBA World Series at McKechnie Field from May 26-31. Eighth-ranked Oregon will play No. 1 Colorado State (23-0 overall, 15-0 Rocky Mountain Conference) on May 26 at 6:30 a.m. (9:30 EST).
“If I were to look back when we started in October, I would have never guessed we would be where we are right now,” Loomis said. “Going to the World Series was almost an unattainable goal for us, and now we have earned a chance to compete.”
Chock said Oregon will focus on getting healthy in the weeks ahead to prepare for their World Series debut.
“We have a lot of guys with sore arms,” Chock said. “We played five games in two days and so sore arms are to be expected.”