What a weekend for Ryan Hambright.@@checked@@
As I soaked in Oregon’s postseason debut from the left field bleachers at PK Park this past Friday, I looked at the Ducks’ starting lineup as they took to the field at the start of the second inning.
The usual suspects roamed the outfield — with the somewhat surprising addition of Vernell Warren@@checked@@ in center — and the infield looked to be pretty much intact. When I got to third base, I found myself wondering: Who could No. 21 could possibly be?
It wasn’t freshman Thomas Walker,@@checked@@ who started the handful of games I covered this spring. Nor redshirt senior Kevin Shepherd,@@checked@@ who started 20 games on the year, mostly in reserve for the injured J.J. Altobelli.@@checked@@ It was an extremely rare instance when I didn’t know an Oregon athlete by number (as creepy as that probably sounds).
A couple days later, Oregon won its first-ever Eugene Regional and had six players chosen for the all-region team, headlined by junior third baseman Ryan Hambright. The guy I hadn’t even recognized two days earlier led the No. 5 Ducks to a 3-0 record in the Regional with the biggest weekend of his career — the team clenching a Super Regional hosting berth.
The junior from Corona, Calif., and younger brother of redshirt senior catcher, Brett, made just his 20th start of the season Friday evening, which somewhat explains my unfamiliarity with him.
No longer will that be the case.
In three games over the weekend, Hambright was 7-for-11 at the dish — a staggering .636 average — with at least one hit in every game; he also scored three times and drove in another run. In Friday’s come-from-behind victory over Austin Peay, he had a career-best day, going 4-for-4 and scoring two of Oregon’s six runs.
It was more of the same against Cal State Fullerton the next night, going 2-for-3, with an RBI and a walk — one of three Ducks to record multiple hits against the Titans. In Sunday’s Regional final, Hambright reached base two more times and finished 1-for-4 with a run scored and another walk.
Going into the Regional weekend, he wasn’t expected to be much of a factor, at least not on paper. He’d missed most of the 59-game regular season due to injuries, taking well under 100 at-bats during his 32 appearances. In comparison, eight Oregon players have stepped into the batter’s box more than 130 times in 2012.
Yet, he raised his batting average 50 points, from .228 to .278 in just three games. And though he entered the weekend with only 18 hits, his solid defensive play —he hasn’t committed a single error in 25 chances this spring — figured to be his main contribution.
But baseball is a funny game like that, isn’t it?
You never know who will get hot at the right time.@@sounds like manu (Spurs fan’s make these comments@@ There’s no predicting which day-three starter will go out and throw eight innings on one-run baseball, or who will have a breakout weekend when it truly matters most.
For Oregon, Ryan Hambright was this weekend’s hero. I’m sure that’s much less surprising to the Ducks than it was to me, a casual observer at best, but it’s downright impressive nonetheless.
Most coaches will tell you a team has to be both good and lucky to win championships. No matter how talented the team, a little bit of luck at the right time can make the difference in a season.@@i believe that@@ I believe this team has both of those qualities: good with its overall depth and a confident pitching staff — and surely a little bit lucky Altobelli wasn’t called out Friday night.
Maybe it won’t be Ryan Hambright with another career weekend that paves the way to Omaha — but then again, maybe it will.