Utah Valley stuns No. 12 Oregon in NCAA regional opener for 1st Division I tournament win

OREM — PK Park, the home of Oregon baseball, is usually painted the iconic shade of green made famous by Nike co-founder Phil Knight's alma mater at the University of Oregon.

Utah Valley painted it a different shade of green in Friday night's NCAA regional opener.

Jimmy De Anda went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI, and Carston Herman scattered four hits with six strikeouts and two earned runs in 4 ⅔ innings of relief as Utah Valley stunned No. 12 Oregon 6-5 in Eugene, Oregon.

Mason Strong went 1-for-2 with a pair of RBI for the Wolverines (33-27), who won their first regional game since joining NCAA Division I in 2003.

"It's easy to show up at a place like this, and just be like, 'oh shoot,'" De Anda said during the Wolverines' post-game press conference. "I wasn't trying to be too big, just see the ball — and it just so happens that I got my pitch, and it worked out for me."

Drew Smith went 2-for-4 with a pair of home runs and four RBI to lead Oregon (42-15), but grounded into the game-ending play by closer Cooper Littledike to send the Ducks to an elimination game Saturday against Cal Poly.

"What a fun night," said Utah Valley coach Nate Rasmussen on the ESPN broadcast, one day after signing a contract extension through 2029. "It would've been the best night anyways, even if we lost that. But it's cool to come out with a win."

Strong cleared the bases with a two-run single to left field during a four-run third inning as the Wolverines punched first against the heavily favored Ducks.

Anson Aroz and Smith brought Oregon back, smacking back-to-back homers for three runs in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit to 4-3.

De Anda singled up the middle to stretch Utah Valley's lead to 6-3 in the top of the seventh, though, to give the Wolverines the lead they would ultimately need — though not without controversy.

Smith led off the eighth inning with his second home run on a solo shot over the left-field fence in the bottom of the eighth, and Aroz appeared to score from third on a fly ball by Chase Meggers three batters later.

But Rasmussen approached the umpire, asking about a hit Strong took on the play. After a seven-minute review, the run was overturned, Aroz was ejected after running into Strong at the plate, and Luke Iverson caught the final out to send the Wolverines to the ninth inning with a 6-4 advantage.

"It felt like he didn't go down for an actual baseball move. That's at least what I saw in the moment," said Rasmussen, who explained after the game that the crew told him they would look at the play for a possible malicious conduct instead of him challenging. "Obviously, it went our way. I haven't looked at a replay yet, but all I know is that our catcher got hit hard and I was there for his safety. I'm glad that it obviously went our direction.

"I thought they got it right; I thought he didn't make a sliding move, personally."

Herman fanned one of his six strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth, but Carter Garate scored on a deep fly ball to the warning track in right-center field to pull the Ducks within one.

That brought up Littledike, and the junior who prepped at Maple Mountain induced Smith into a grounder to shortstop Dominic Longo for the final out that gave the Wolverines a fifth straight win — and the biggest in program history.

"I wouldn't say anything changed," De Anda said of the current five-game run since the start of the WAC Tournament in Mesa. "We all understood that baseball just wasn't going our way, and something our skipper preaches is that if you do things right, the game rewards you. I think we all took that to heart, and understood that it's part of the game.

"I think the whole team took a deep breathe," he added, "and whether we're up or down, we're rolling with it."

Utah Valley will play the Eugene regional's No. 2 seed Arizona — the reigning Big 12 Tournament champions — at 7 p.m. MDT Saturday on ESPN+.

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