The Wolverines knocked off No. 12 overall seed Oregon to earn the program's first-ever NCAA victory
Nate Rasmussen and his suddenly hot Utah Valley baseball team delivered an unforgettable memory for players and fans alike Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Regionals.
Thanks to some clutch pitching and timely hitting, along with a fortuitous challenge that went UVU's way, the Wolverines beat No. 12 overall seed Oregon 6-5 at PK Park in Eugene, Oregon, for Utah Valley's first-ever NCAA Tournament win.
Make no mistake: the Wolverines earned their upset, as they never trailed against the Big Ten's Ducks.
"What a fun night. It would have been the best night anyways, even if we lost that, with the way competed all night," Rasmussen said in an ESPNU interview after the game.
"I thought we did an awesome job to come out with the win."
Jimmy De Anda finished with a team-high three RBI -- "I couldn't be prouder of the kid," Rasmussen said of his left fielder who was 2 of 4 on the night -- and Carston Herman pitched a tough 4⅔ innings in relief to earn the win, striking out six.
Behind those two star efforts, UVU put together a solid, winning performance for Rasmussen, the program's first-year coach who earned a contract extension earlier this week after getting the Wolverines (33-27) back to the NCAAs for just the second time in school history.
The night's most controversial moment came in the eighth inning, when UVU was nursing a 6-4 lead after the Ducks' Drew Smith hit his second home run of the night to start the bottom half of the frame.
Oregon then got two more runners on base with no outs thanks to a walk and a single, leaving runners at the corners, and it felt like the Ducks were due to grab their first lead of the night.
Facing an 0-2 count, Oregon's Chase Meggers hit a shot to left field that was caught by De Anda for an out. Anson Aroz tagged up at third, and De Anda's throw home took a high hop and went off the top of the glove of UVU catcher Mason Strong moments before Aroz ran into Strong and was initially ruled safe at home on the play.
Rasmussen challenged the ruling, asking for malicious contact from Aroz on the play that left trainers coming out to check on Strong after the hard play at the plate.
Following a review of more than seven minutes, umpires overturned the call and Aroz was called out for the second out of the inning due to malicious contact. Aroz was also ejected from the game, meaning he won't be available Saturday.
As such, instead of a 6-5 game with one out, the Wolverines were up 6-4 with two outs in the eighth and Herman was able to get out of the inning without any further damage.
The theatrics weren't done though.
After Utah Valley went down in order in the top of the ninth, Herman stayed in and got into some trouble early with a leadoff walk.
Herman fought, though, and struck out Mason Neville for the first out.
On the next at-bat, a wild pitch moved Carter Garate over to second, and then Dominic Hellman singled to move runners to the corners with one out.
After a meeting at the pitcher's mound, Herman stayed in and faced Jacob Walsh, who got a hold of a Herman pitch and sent it deep, but it was caught on the warning track for the second out.
Though it ended up as a sac fly and made the score 6-5, UVU was one out from the win.
That's when Rasmussen called on his closer, Cooper Littledike.
Smith, who led the Ducks with three RBI, all on home runs, was next at bat, but Littledike got him to ground into an out, ending the game and starting the celebration for UVU.
"Carson Herman, I don't know how many pitches he's thrown in the last 10 days. Don't ask me that question later, please, but he's been a stud," Rasmussen said.
"Cooper Littledike's a walk-on in our program, became the closer and comes in there and gets the final out. It's just awesome."
With the win, Utah Valley advances to face the Arizona Wildcats in the winners bracket on Saturday, with first pitch set for 7 p.m. MDT.
Oregon, meanwhile, takes on the Cal Poly Mustangs in the one-loss bracket Saturday in the double-elimination event.
The Wildcats beat the Mustangs 3-2 in the regional's first game Thursday.
Friday after a slow start offensively, the Wolverines pushed ahead in the top of the third with a four-hit, four-run inning.
Brody Block walked to open the inning, then CJ Colyer singled to left field on a play wherein the left fielder lost the ball in the sun.
De Anda followed that up with a full-count shot down the left field line to score Block.
In the next at-bat, Luke Iverson hit an RBI single to right field early in the count to make it 2-0.
Then after two outs, Strong doubled the lead to 4-0 on a single to left.
It looked like UVU might get out of the third with the 4-0 lead intact after two quick outs for Oregon in the bottom half of the inning, but after a Ducks single, Smith hit a two-run homer. Then on the next pitch, Aroz blasted a home run to left field to make it 4-3.
Over the next several innings, both teams saw their fair share of solid pitching and defense to keep the score a one-run game.
The Wolverines then pounced when an opportunity presented itself.
Oregon starting pitcher Jason Reitz, who had a career-high 14 strikeouts and retired 10 straight UVU batters at one point, finally wore down in the seventh.
A first-batter walk gave the Wolverines their first base runner since the third, and a hit by pitch put two on with no outs and out went Reitz.
Immediately after the pitching change, an Oregon error on a pick-off pushed UVU's base runners to second and third and De Anda capitalized with a two-run single up the middle to make it 6-3.
That was enough of a lead for Herman and Littledike to hang on to, after UVU starting pitcher Corbin Kirk went four-plus innings.
With that elusive first NCAA win in tow, the Wolverines move forward Saturday with the chance to build off what's now a five-game win streak, all in postseason play.
"It's huge," Rasmussen said. "I got here four years ago as a recruiting coordinator. The team had just gone 10-47, and to be here four years later ... our first program postseason win, (it's) just huge and nobody deserves it more than these guys."