Oregon baseball opens Big Ten tournament with win over Michigan State
Oregon baseball opens Big Ten tournament with win over Michigan State
Oregon and Omaha seem like a pretty good fit.
The Oregon baseball team opened the Big Ten tournament with a 4-2 win over Michigan State on Thursday night. The Ducks are hoping this is just the first of many wins in Charles Schwab Stadium, the same place that the College World Series in held.
Where the conference tournament is concerned, this game didn't mean anything as the Ducks have to defeat Nebraska Friday night in order to advance to the semifinals, whether they defeated Michigan State or not. But Oregon is determined to end this tournament 4-0 and improve their rankings, computer or otherwise, in order to host a regional next week and possibly be a national seed to host a Super Regional in two weeks.
After finding themselves down 1-0 in the first inning, Oregon managed to take the lead in the bottom half of the inning on Anson Aroz's two-run double down the left field line.
That was all starter Ian Umlandt needed as he shut down the Spartans for 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and striking out five. But when he left, the Ducks were knotted up at 2-2. That tie didn't last for long as Oregon scored two in the seventh to take a 4-2 lead. Drew Smith lined one to left that scored pinch runner Jax Gimenez and Aroz drove in his third run of the day on a single to right.
From there, it was Santiago Garcia pitching a scoreless eighth and closer Seth Maddox pitching a perfect ninth inning to secure the victory.
Oregon will now face the Cornhuskers in a must-win game for the right to play Penn State in the semi-finals on Saturday. Nebraska is the No. 8 seed in the tournament. The Ducks and Huskers did not play in the regular season. First pitch is scheduled for 4 pm PST.
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