Will Sanford delivers career best start sending Oregon to Regional Final

After picking up a Regional opening win over Yale on Friday Night, the Oregon Baseball team entered Saturday to put themselves in total control of the Regional. Much to the disappointment of fans of the in-state rivalry, Oregon matched up against the Washington State Cougars who knocked off Oregon State in the 1st game of the Regional.

On Friday Night, it was the Oregon offense that led the way, especially late as the Ducks blew the game open in the 8th inning. While the offense has been the driving force behind the team's success, on Saturday it was the Will Sanford show.

Will Sanford's dazzling start sends Oregon to Regional Final

When Mark Wasikowski set his lineup for the opening game of regionals, he made the decision to pitch off in the opener against Yale. The decision to save Will Sanford worked out with the Ducks as they won Friday Night, but part of proving it was the right decision was winning the game on Saturday.

Will Sanford made the game easy for the Oregon Ducks as he turned in 6.1 innings of shutout baseball before turning the game over to the bullpen at 114 pitches. Sanford was working a step ahead the entire night, racking up 14 strikeouts while allowing just 1 hit and a pair of walks in the outing.

Sanford's 14 strikeout performance enters him into a tie for the most in a regional in program history. The mark also enters Will Sanford into a tie with Arkansas' Hunter Dietz for the most thus far in Regionals.

Tanner Bradley picked up where Sanford left off, inheriting the runner he walked, but quickly striking out a pair to keep the Cougars off the board.

The reason that Will Sanford's start was so important was the fact that the offense didn't have its best game. It took the Ducks until the 5th inning to finally get on the board when the bottom of the order delivered. Burke-Lee Mabeus delivered a 1-out double followed by a Maddox Molony two-out walk which allowed Oregon to take the lead on a single to right field by Jax Gimenez.

When Luke Meyers left the game, the Ducks' offense didn't have much luck in the 8th inning as a pitchout to catch Gimenez stealing and a strikeout of Ryan Cooney left the Ducks with just a 1-run lead. After Angel Laya led off the 9th inning off with a single, Drew Smith laid down a great bunt to put a runner in scoring position.

Brayden Jaksa worked a walk before Burke-Lee Mabeus reached on a fielders choice giving the Ducks runners on the corners. Just as he did on Friday Night, Junior Lauaki delivered the breathing room the Ducks were looking for with a 3-run blast to stretch the lead to 4.

While the Ducks took a 4-0 lead, Mark Wasikowski wasn't taking any risks, bringing in closer Devin Bell as getting to 2-0 was so important. Bell allowed a single, but Bell was able to quickly slam the door in just 18 pitches, which should allow him to appear on Sunday.

The Oregon pitching staff delivered one of their best games start to finish with the shutout, but also with how much they outclassed the Cougars hitters. The trio of Sanford, Bradley, and Bell combined for 19 strikeouts while allowing just 2 hits and 2 walks, keeping traffic off the bases.

The Ducks now advance to the Eugene Regional final as they're in a great position to advance to Super Regionals and face the winner of the Austin Regional. Oregon will await the winner of the loser's bracket game between Oregon State and Washington State, needing a win over either to move one step closer to Omaha.

Both teams have great pitching staffs, and while they may be taxed once they face the Ducks, it'll be a tough matchup. The offense is going to need to do a much better job reaching base, and then driving in runs as they've left plenty on the bases this regional. Coming into the weekend, everyone would've loved to be 2-0 to start the regional, and now all the team needs to do is deliver one last win.

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