Three takeaways from Oregon’s 8-7 win over Vanderbilt at the Nashville Regional
The Oregon Ducks are one win away from advancing to a super regional.
The Ducks (39-20) delivered an 8-7 upset win over Vanderbilt (42-19) in the winner’s bracket for the Nashville Regional Saturday at Hawkins Fields. The host Commodores entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 6 team in the nation and the No. 1 seed in the region, but the No. 2 Ducks raced out to an early lead and hung on.
With the win, Oregon is now slated to play at 6 p.m. Sunday, where it will face the winner of Sunday afternoon’s elimination game between Vanderbilt and Stanford. If the Ducks win that game, they will advance to a super regional. If they lose, they will play a winner-take-all game on Monday against the same opponent.
Until then, here are three takeaways from Oregon’s gritty win over the regional hosts.
Oregon’s lineup continues to produce in the early innings
With Vanderbilt ace Hunter Owen on the bump, Oregon could not afford to fall behind early on Saturday.
The Ducks’ veteran-heavy lineup took it upon themselves to ensure that didn’t happen.
Oregon ambushed Owen for three runs in the top of the first thanks to an aggressive approach. Rikuu Nishida was hit by a pitch to lead off the game and created a run from nothing when he attempted to go first to third on Drew Cowley’s single and forced a throwing error, allowing him to score.
After that, Cowley scored on Sabin Ceballos’ groundout to make it 2-0.
Senior outfielder Tanner Smith then put an exclamation point on the inning with a towering solo homer to make it 3-0.
The three-run buffer that Oregon’s offense gifted its pitchers proved to be substantial on a night when the Ducks’ hurlers were far from their best. As has been the case all season, Oregon’s offense led the way against the Commodores.
Turner Spoljaric’s gutsy outing
It was clear from the get-go that Oregon starter Turner Spoljaric’s command was missing.
The Ducks’ freshman right-hander has been up and down throughout the month of May; he delivered an outstanding outing to lead Oregon to a Pac-12 title win over Arizona last weekend. But just two days earlier, he was shelled by Stanford and didn’t make it out of the second inning.
On Saturday, Vanderbilt was all over Spoljaric early. He struggled to spot his fastball. When he did locate it, the Commodores hammered it.
Oregon’s early lead evaporated as Spoljaric surrendered four runs over the first two innings. But once the third inning rolled around, he settled down and found his footing.
Spoljaric produced eight consecutive outs from the third inning to the fifth inning. In the fifth, he worked around a Parker Noland two-out double to produce a third consecutive scoreless frame.
Spoljaric finished with a final line of 6 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 hits, and 2 walks on 94 pitches over 6.0 innings.
Oregon’s bullpen is in relatively good shape for Sunday
Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski and pitching coach Jake Angier flirted with disaster on Saturday when they allowed Spoljaric to work through his early struggles. The move nearly backfired as Spoljaric rode his luck in the first and the second innings.
Ultimately, though, the decision to stick with Spoljaric paid major dividends and now sets the Ducks up for success on Sunday.
Because Spoljaric was able to eat six innings on Saturday, the Ducks only needed to use three relievers — albeit, arguably their best three relievers:
Austin Anderson — 0.2 innings, 25 pitchesMatt Dallas — 1.1 innings, 13 pitchesJosh Mollerus — 1.0 innings, 28 pitches
All three of those pitchers also threw during the Ducks’ Friday win over Xavier. Throughout the first two games of the regional Anderson threw 40 total pitches, Dallas threw 25, and Mollerus threw 46.
Oregon’s pitching staff has been conservative with its relievers all season in order to avoid overworking them. So, it’s unlikely that Anderson or Mollerus will be available on Sunday.
But Dallas could potentially throw an inning.
Right-hander Matthew Grabmann will likely get the starting nod. Additionally, the Ducks will have lefty Grayson Grinsell, righty Dylan McShane, and lefty Ian Umlandt rested and available.
The x-factor for Oregon could be junior righty Logan Mercado. He threw 55 pitches over 2.0 innings against Xavier on Friday and wasn’t particularly sharp. But he’s one of the more talented pitchers on Oregon’s staff and was outstanding against two of the Pac-12’s top teams — Stanford and Oregon State — earlier this season.
While the Ducks are obviously at a disadvantage with Anderson and Mollerus unavailable, whichever team they face will also have a depleted pitching staff; Xaver and Vanderbilt have each already thrown their respective two best starters.
The Ducks have enough pitching talent available to contend on Sunday as long as their offense stays hot.
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