NCAA Baseball Tournament: Utah Valley upsets Oregon after controversial 'malicious contact' call

Yahoo

2 days ago

Utah Valley upset Oregon in the opening round of the NCAA men's baseball Eugene Regional on Friday, but the 6-5 win occurred under major controversy.
The Wolverines took a 4-0 lead in the third inning with the first four batters reaching base against Ducks pitcher Jason Reitz. Reitz struck out the next two batters, but gave up a 2-run single to Mason Strong. Oregon closed the margin to 4-2 in the bottom of the frame on back-to-back home runs from Drew Smith and Anson Aroz.
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Utah Valley added to its lead on a 2-run single by Jimmy De Anda in the seventh. But Ducks closed the gap to 6-4 in the eighth on Smith's second homer of the game. However, the game became hectic from there.
Aroz drew a walk following Smith's home run and advanced to third on a Maddox Molony single. Chase Meggers then lofted a sacrifice fly to left field that brought Aroz in to score — or so it appeared. De Anda's throw bounced in front of Strong at the plate and the catcher couldn't snare the carom. Aroz ran hard into Strong to get to home plate, which Utah Valley coach Nate Rasmussen disputed.
Rasmussen asked umpires to review the call, contending that Aroz committed "malicious contact" in running over Strong to score. After reviewing the play with the NCAA's replay command center in Pittsburgh, the umpiring crew agreed with Rasmussen. Aroz was ruled out and ejected from the game.
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Not only did the call cost Oregon a run and get Aroz ejected from the game, but the outfielder is also suspended for Saturday's game against Cal Poly because of it.
In the ninth, the Ducks added a run with Carter Garate drawing a walk and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Walsh. But they couldn't get the tying run across against Utah Valley's Carston Herman, who struck out Smith to end the game.
Following the game, Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski was understandably upset over the call against Aroz. Umpires told him that the ruling "came from Pittsburgh" and was out of their hands. He then defended Aroz for going hard into the catcher the way he did.
'I was taught to play hard. I was taught to get after it by my dad and my coaches growing up," Wasikowski said, via The Oregonian. "And, unfortunately, playing hard was not rewarded tonight by whatever rule was supposedly violated by a player that was playing hard.'
Rasmussen said he asked for the review because Aroz didn't attempt to slide.
"That was the big thing. It just felt like he didn't go down for an actual baseball move," he told reporters. "That's what I saw in the moment... All I know was that our catcher got hit hard and I was right there for his safety. And I'm glad that it obviously went in our direction.'
Oregon has to avoid elimination against Cal Poly on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. Utah Valley will face Arizona in the winners bracket at 9 p.m. ET.