Oregon fell just short of a College World Series berth Monday afternoon, falling to Kent State 3-2 in walk-off fashion in front of a PK Park record crowd of 4,825.
“We worked so hard for this, but they’re a good ball club,” outfielder Brett Thomas said. “I’m going to be rooting for them in the College World Series, that’s for sure.”
In the past, the Golden Flashes have had opportunities to advance to the CWS with several consecutive regional appearances but had never gotten past the first round until this season. The America East Conference’s Stony Brook University joins Kent State as another school to earn its first ever trip to the CWS.
“I’m very happy for Stony Brook; I’m happy we’re in different brackets,” said Kent State head coach Scott Stricklin. “I’d love to meet them in the national championship.”
The Ducks’ run to a Super Regional was a deeper one than many would have suspected on opening day, with Oregon being in just the fourth season of it’s modern era. It’s progress, but it’s not enough for the Ducks.
@@what? I pulled this sentence because it makes no sense here after the previous sentence by him, whom i am guessing is stricklin: “There’s no moral victories,” he said.@@
Kent State had built an 2-0 lead by the second inning — scoring once in the first on an RBI from T.J. Sutton@@http://www.kentstatesports.com/sports/bsb/2011-12/bios/sutton_t.j._5em1@@ and expanding their lead on a double play an inning later.
Oregon’s bats were kept quiet for most of the game until the Ducks responded in the eighth, turning a leadoff single by J.J. Altobelli and Aaron Payne’s walk into two runs thanks to a clutch single from first baseman Ryon Healy. But the Ducks’ late rally was made an afterthought by a walk-off bloop single from Golden Flashes’ Jimmy Rider.
“There’s some irony to me that we lost the ball in the sun in Eugene,” head coach George Horton said.
Derek Toadvine scored the winning run for Kent State, admittedly running hard the whole way from not tagging up at second; but he said he never once doubted his decision.
“I just trusted my instincts,” Toadvine said.
It was a cruel way to lose a game, but baseball can be a cruel sport, Thomas said. “It was a clean hit, it fell, it wasn’t an error. It’s baseball.”
Jeff Gold started the game on the mound for the Ducks but threw less than two innings before Horton opted to use more of a staff effort, calling the numbers of Brando Tessar, Joey Housey, Tommy Thorpe and eventually Jimmie Sherfy.@@all names checked@@ Horton said he may have had too quick of a hook on his starter, pulling Gold after just 1.2 innings in favor of a better matchup.
“We didn’t want to leave any bullets in the chamber,” Horton said.
He said that as much as the loss stings, he is confident the Ducks will be able to get to Omaha before the end of his tenure in Eugene.
“Some of these guys use that as motivation, and they never want to finish second again,” he said.
He said the loss was difficult to take because of how much respect he had for the Ducks this year. The head coach has spoken at length about the team chemistry and maturity of the 2012 version of the Ducks — qualities some would say were missing a year ago on a team that may have been more talented on paper. He pointed to his team’s punctuality at early morning weight sessions, where he said only one player was five minutes late to their 6:20 a.m. lifting sessions all season.
“There’s champions on the field,” he said, “and there’s champions as far as make-up and the game of life — and we’ve got two out of three.”
The Ducks now return to their final exams, but it’s not like they get to relax even after the their exams.
“Then I’ll hit the weight room and get back at it,” Thomas said.