Oregon Ducks News: Golf grabs NCAA regional, Baseball zeroes in on host spot, Pritchard, Celts collapse at home

Oregon Women's Golf Captures Regional Championship

At the NCAA's Gold Canyon Regional at Superstition Mountain Golf Club in Apache Junction, Arizona, the Ducks shot -12 over the three-day event to win the tournament by nine shots.

Individual medalist Kiara Romero led the way with a torrid 16-under-par 200. The team advances to the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California May 16-21.

The final three days of the final will be televised live on the Golf Channel. According to the NCAA:

1, The championship format in Carlsbad will include 30 teams and six individuals completing 54 holes of stroke play,

2. Then the top 15 teams along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team competing for one additional day of stroke play to determine the top eight teams for match play competition and the 72-hole stroke play individual champion.

3. The top eight teams then compete in match play for the team national championship to be decided May 21.

Suvichaya Vinijchaitham fired a 3-under 69 Wednesday, her best round of the week. Sophomore Ting-Hsuan Huang shot a 2-under 70. Freshman Tong An chipped in a 2-over 74.

The women are coached by Derek Radley, the Big Ten Coach of the Year after the Ducks won the Big Ten Championship, the sixth captured by Oregon sports teams in their first season in the league.

Baseball sweeps Gaels, zeroes in on hosting a Regional

Oregon completed a sweep of St. Mary's Wednesday night at PK Park, using a 6-run sixth inning to win 8-1.

That brought their season record to 35-13, good enough for a No. 5 ranking in the D-1 baseball Top 25.

Both Baseball America and D1Baseball.com have the Ducks hosting in the first round of the tournament, with two three-game weekend series remaining in Big Ten play, home against Washington this weekend, then a road set at first-place Iowa., 21-6.

The Big Ten Conference Tournament is scheduled for May 20-25 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, site of the College World Series in June.

Wednesday night the Ducks got three innings of scoreless pitching from starter Julien Hernandez, who struck out five and earned the win, his first of the year, 1-1.

Ryan Featherston, Jaxson Jordan and Tanner Bradley combined to finish the final six innings. Featherston allowed one run in 3.1 innings of work and struck out three, while Jordan and Bradley closed it out without allowing a hit or a walk.

Jordan came on with one out, one on in the 7th and got Jare Mettam to ground into a double play. In the 9th, Bradley set them down with a popout, then struck out two.

Oregon's bullpen appears to have settled down since rough outings at the end of April, just in time for the stretch drive and postseason. They didn't allow a single walk on Wednesday.

At the plate, the Ducks got an RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly to score two runs in the third for a 2-0 lead. Chase Meggars drove in two in the 6th with a single to first base, then shortstop Maddox Molony sent two more home with a single to left.

Pritchard, Celts fall to Knicks on the parquet floor

Payton Pritchard and the Boston Celtics fell behind New York 2-0 as the Knicks outscored them 30-17 in the fourth quarter to win 91-90 at TD Garden.

The Celtics led 84-68 when Pritchard hit a three-pointer with 8:40 to play, then collapsed. In the first two games of the series the defending NBA champions are 25-100 from three-point range, now in a deep hole after losing two at home.

Teams that lose the first two teams of a series at home in the NBA playoffs go on to win less than 15% of the time. The Celtics swept the Knicks in their regular season series 4-0.

Read More: