Oregon's season ends after close loss to regional-host Louisville

After the greatest offensive season in school history, Oregon’s 2022 campaign has come to a much earlier end than those inside the program would have hoped.

The Ducks fell, 8-5, to Louisville at Jim Patterson Field on Sunday and have been eliminated from the Louisville Regional after going 1-2 in NCAA tournament play.

The past two days have typified Oregon’s campaign on Saturday, the Ducks ambushed Southeast Missouri State with 26 hits and 18 runs in an elimination game, putting up video game-type numbers as they so often have this season. But on Sunday, up against one of the best lineups in the country, the team’s offense couldn’t overcome its pitching struggles.

Oregon’s fate was ultimately sealed in the sixth inning on Sunday. Trailing 3-2, and with two on and nobody out, the Ducks turned to star closer Kolby Somers to try to escape the jam and keep the Louisville lead at one run.

Somers, the Pac-12 leader in saves, got two quick outs by way of a sac-bunt and a flyout. But with two outs and runners on second and third, Somers was called for a balk, which brought Jack Payton home from third to make it 4-2.

Logan Beard followed with a run-scoring double on the next pitch, and Ben Bianco added an RBI single after that to make it 6-2.

The Cardinals tacked on an insurance run in the seventh when Dalton Rushing drilled a solo homer to right field.

Oregon got three runs back the next inning, though. Josh Kasevich singled up the middle to score Colby Shade, and Anthony Hall followed with a two-run, ground-rule double that cut the Cardinal’s lead to 7-5.

But Oregon’s bullpen imploded the next inning. Lefty Rio Britton, one of the Ducks’ top relievers, replaced Somers and walked the first batter he faced on five pitches. His next four pitches were balls, including a wild pitch on the second that allowed the baserunner to advance.

After that, Oregon pitching coach Jake Angier had seen enough.

Angier replaced Britton with two on and nobody out and called on righty R.J. Gordon to get the Ducks out of the jam. Gordon, who was Oregon’s Friday night starter at one point this season, threw 36 pitches during Friday’s loss to Michigan but was the program’s best available option as it attempted to keep the Louisville lead at two runs.

Gordon got the first out when Tanner Usherman laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third, and then he walked No. 8 hitter Logan Beard to load the bases.

From there, Gordon buckled down and struck out Ben Bianco swinging. But the next batter, leadoff man Christian Knapczyk, laced a hard ground ball to the left side. Shortstop Josh Kasevich made an incredible diving stop and quickly threw to second for what would have been an inning-ending force out, but Beard narrowly beat the throw, and a run scored to push the Louisville lead to three.

In the top of the ninth, Gavin Grant, Tanner Smith, and Colby Shade were retired in order to end the game and close the book on Oregon’s season.

Oregon was led by a 2-for-3 performance at the plate by Shade, and a 2-for-4 day from Anthony Hall. Ducks’ starter Jace Stoffal gave the Ducks a sensational outing in just the eighth outing of his Division I college career.

A sophomore from Roseburg, Ore., Stoffal played at Umpqua Community College last season and was only inserted into the Ducks’ starting rotation midway through the season.

On Sunday, he gave the Ducks 4.0 innings of three-run ball and held a loaded Louisville offense to just five hits and one walk.

Oregon finishes the season 36-25 after a fourth-place finish in the Pac-12. Many of the team’s top position players will be draft-eligible, including shortstop Josh Kasevich who is a projected top-100 pick.