Magic. There’s no other way to describe it at this point.
Oregon baseball got off to a tremendously terrible start Saturday night. The Ducks played sloppy defense, and Logan Mercado had a brutal start on the mound. They faced an early deficit that would have caused most fans to call it a night.
But oh, the night was so far from over.
Down 10-0, the Ducks’ lethal offense just kept chipping away, storming back to take the lead in the ninth inning and beat Arizona 13-11 at Hi Corbett Field. It extended Oregon’s winning streak to eight, scoring an unfathomably absurd 101 runs in that span. They surpassed 20 hits for the second consecutive game, with all of the Ducks’ starters recording at least one hit.
It started with an ugly first inning, where Oregon got knocked around for four runs. On a fly ball to deep center by Nik McClaughry, Colby Shade misplayed it, allowing the ball to get down and roll around. Two runners scored on the play, including McClaughry himself — it was ruled a triple and an error on Shade.
Oregon’s sloppy defense continued. The Wildcats got a free base on a misplay by Tanner Smith, and Sabin Ceballos bobbled a soft nubber in the infield. Mercado surrendered a walk and a two-run single, and Arizona took a 4-0 lead.
The second inning was even uglier, as the Ducks gave up five more runs. On a bloop hit, Smith fielded the ball and then threw it away, allowing one to come in. With still no outs in the inning, Kiko Romero poked one through the right side to drive in a pair, and a two-out double from Tyler Casagrande drove in another.
Mercado nearly ended things there, but shortstop Drew Cowley flubbed a routine ground ball, knocking in Arizona’s ninth run of the game. That brought an end to Mercado’s evening. He threw 69 pitches (38 strikes) and recorded just four outs, although the defense did him absolutely no favors.
Matthew Grabmann came in and immediately surrendered a run-scoring single, extending Arizona’s lead to 10-0. He issued a four-pitch walk to load the bases, but was able to escape without any more damage. It brought a merciful end to a disastrous inning.
The Wildcats made an error of their own in the third inning, helping the Ducks scratch out their first run. They chipped away some more in the fourth, aided by Arizona’s second error. Rikuu Nishida and Shade came through with two-out RBI singles to cut the deficit to 10-3.
Grabmann kept things under control, at least as much as he could with 10 runs already on the board. He set down the side in order in the third inning with a couple strikeouts, then struck out two more in a scoreless fourth.
Grabmann got into a little more of a pickle in the fifth, as Arizona loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of singles. But he induced a clutch double play, as catcher Bennett Thompson fielded a soft roller, stepped on home and fired to first to end the inning.
All told, Grabmann went 3 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run. It was a key relief performance to keep Oregon within relative striking distance.
The Ducks tacked on two more in the sixth as they continued their daunting comeback effort. After singles from Dominic Hellman and Gavin Grant, Nishida hit an RBI double. Shade hit a fly ball that was only barely deep enough to score the run, but it got the job done, making it 10-5.
The Wildcats scored a run against Grayson Grinsell in the bottom of the sixth, even with Oregon getting an out on a pickoff and a rundown. They hit a triple and a double back-to-back with two outs.
Down 11-5, the Ducks’ offense made things interesting in the seventh. They scored five runs on five hits to storm within a run. Owen Diodati pinch hit and recorded a clutch RBI double to get things started, and singles from Hellman and Nishida drove in runs. It was Nishida’s fourth hit of the night.
Shade’s second sacrifice fly of the game was the first out of the inning, cutting the deficit to 11-10. With Nishida representing the tying run on third, Ceballos lined out as he just missed knotting the game up. Still, in a contest that the Ducks once trailed 10-0, the fact that they made it a one-run game was miraculous in itself.
But it wasn’t miraculous enough for them. Not yet, at least. In the ninth, Nishida hit a one-out double for his fifth hit, and Shade followed with another double, tying it at 11 apiece. Cowley kept the line moving with a hit, and Ceballos lined a triumphant single into left field, driving in two runs to put Oregon on top 13-11 — its first lead of the game.
Josh Mollerus, Oregon’s lockdown closer, manned the bottom of the ninth. He was a strike away from finishing the game on two occasions before he finally dropped the hammer, working around a walk and a hit batter to complete the victory.
Nearly four hours since first pitch, the wave of relief was apparent over this Oregon team as it celebrated an astonishing comeback. Backup catcher Chase Meggers lifted a smiling Nishida in the handshake line, representing the sheer joy this team must have been feeling after such an impressive victory.
Oregon (17-7, 5-3 Pac-12) will look to complete the sweep of Arizona (14-11, 3-8 Pac-12) Sunday at 1 p.m.
