The Eugene Regional for the NCAA baseball championship opens on Friday with second-seeded Cal State Fullerton taking on third-seeded Indiana State at 2 p.m., while the hosting Ducks entertain fourth-seeded Austin Peay in the late game, which starts at 6 p.m.
Oregon (42-17, 19-11 Pac-12)@@checked@@ enters on a three-game losing streak after finishing third in Pac-12 and losing the league title on the last day. The Ducks have lost three games in a row on two other occasions this season — but responded each time with a sweep in the next series.
“It’s not good that we got swept or lost the series, and it hurt us a lot,” freshman pitcher Jake Reed@@checked@@ said. “But, I think in some ways it lit a fire under our team. It got us prepared for the playoffs.”@@winning does that, too, i hear@@
Reed has been the Ducks’ Saturday starter throughout the season, second in the rotation behind Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Alex Keudell.@@checked@@ Oregon head coach George Horton said some coaches elect to go with their secondary starter in the opening game of a Regional, saving their ace for a theoretically tougher opponent on the second day.
“We’ve done almost everything in the past,” Horton said. “You evaluate the entire field, and you make the decision based on what it takes to win the whole tournament. It doesn’t do you any good to come in second from here on in.”
The decision was finally announced late Thursday afternoon, as Horton elected to start sophomore Jeff Gold (8-4, 3.33 ERA) — normally the team’s Sunday starter. Though the move may at first glance look like playing down to the level of a less-than-stellar fourth seed, Horton cautioned that Austin Peay doesn’t fit that bill.
“The last thing we’re going to do is disrespect our opponent,” he said. “There’s three conference champions in this field, and we’re the only one that didn’t win a conference championship.”@@smart@@
The Ducks’ pitching rotation has had some experience pitching on irregular days this year, as they did in the series against UCLA and USC, which started on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Reed, for his part, said he’ll be ready to go whichever night Horton gives him the ball, and that he trusts the coaching staff will do the research on the Ducks’ opponents and make the right call.
“He wants to put us in a situation where we can win it in three,” Reed said.
Austin Peay (38-22, 19-7 Ohio Valley) enters as the regular season champions from the Ohio Valley Conference, and while their conference may not be as strong as the Pac-12, the Ducks know they can’t afford to take any team lightly at this point in the year.
“Everyone’s 0-0, and it doesn’t matter what seed you are,” Keudell said. “You have to win the same amount of games to reach the Super Regional.”@@i love the obvious@@
The Ducks say it’s important to get off to a 2-0 start in the Regionals@@argh! no comma before because@@ because it would prevent them from having to play any doubleheaders later in the championship run.
On Saturday, the losers from the first two games on Friday will play in the 2 p.m. game, and the winners will play at 6 p.m., setting up a potential matchup between Oregon and Horton’s former school Cal State Fullerton — and that’s just one of the ties the Oregon program has to the Titans.
Current Fullerton assistant Mike Kirby@@http://www.fullertontitans.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/kirby_mike00.html@@ was an assistant with the Ducks last season, and one current Duck grew up around the Fullerton program.
“I was actually the bat boy for Coach Horton when they won it in ’04,” second baseman Aaron Payne said.
While it’s easy to look ahead to such an intriguing matchup, Horton still stresses that Oregon’s sole focus through Friday is Austin Peay.
“We’re talking a lot about that relationship, but there’s no guarantee that we even play each other,” he said. “It’s a four-team tournament, and I assure you it isn’t us thinking about Cal State Fullerton only.”