Four Oregon Ducks named to Nashville All-Regional team
Oregon swept its way through the Nashville Regional this weekend by notching three wins in as many days to punch its ticket to the NCAA super regionals.
The Ducks opened regional play with a 5-4 win over Xavier on Friday, defeated host Vanderbilt 8-7 on Saturday, and trounced Xavier 11-2 in Sunday’s final.
As a result, four Oregon players were selected to the Nashville All-Regional Team.
Right-fielder Rikuu Nishida, shortstop Drew Cowley, third baseman Sabin Ceballos, and left-handed pitcher Grayson Grinsell all made the cut.
Nishida was also named the Nashville Regional MVP. In three games, he went 6-for-12 with three RBI, one double, and two stolen bases. During Sunday’s win, he smashed a bases-clearing double to give Oregon a 7-1 lead when the game was still in the balance.
Ceballos went just 2-for-14 in three games, but his two hits were both pivotal for the Ducks. He smashed an RBI single during Oregon’s win over Vanderbilt on Saturday that served as the go-ahead run. He also made a jaw-dropping, bare-handed play on a slow roller to third base to get the Ducks out of a bases-loaded jam.
On Sunday, he broke up Xavier’s no-hitter in the bottom of the fourth with Ceballos a towering, 442-foot solo homer to give Oregon a 1-0 lead.
“I think ‘Saba’s’ first hit was huge,” Nishida said following Sunday’s win. “We struggled with Xavier’s pitchers. … He did a good job.”
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Cowley, who was named a third-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball last week, went 6-for-14 with two doubles, a homer, and six RBI.
Grinsell, a freshman left-hander threw 6.0 innings over the course of two games and struck out 10 batters while allowing just four hits and two earned runs. He got the starting nod for the Ducks on Sunday and held the Musketeers scoreless during a career-high 4.0 innings.
Although he has made 28 appearances this spring, Sunday was just Grinsell’s second career start.
“(Pitching coach Jake) Angier was pitching 10 freshmen (this spring), and we’re going to a Super Regional,” Wasikowski said. “No, it wasn’t perfect throughout the course of the year. And he knew it wasn’t perfect, and we knew it wasn’t perfect. And all we asked for was improvement. … And you saw development, real development, throughout the course of the year with those young arms.”
Oregon will face Oral Roberts in the super regional. The start times and locations for the series have not been officially announced at this time.
