Controversial Call Leads To Oregon Losing By A Run

Friday, May 30

Eugene, Ore.

6:00 p.m.

University of Oregon

42-15

Utah Valley

33-27

Utah Valley

Oregon

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

Controversial Call Leads To Oregon Losing By A Run

05/30/25 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score: Utah Valley 6, #5 Oregon 5 Photo Gallery

EUGENE, Ore. — A late Oregon rally came to an abrupt end when a replay review took a run Oregon scored off the board in the eighth inning leading to an eventual 6-5 Utah Valley win in the first round of the Eugene Regional at PK Park on Friday night.

UVU (33-27) entered the bottom of the eighth with a three-run lead, but Drew Smith sliced the lead to two runs with a solo homer, his second homer of the game, to lead off the inning.

Anson Aroz followed with a walk and moved to third on a Maddox Molony single through the right side. That is when the game took a controversial turn. Chase Meggers lifted a fly ball into left field allowing Aroz to tag from third. The throw from left-fielder Jimmy De Anda got away from Utah Valley catcher Mason Strong before Aroz slid into Strong who was standing in the base line a few steps in front of home plate.

Home plate umpire A.J. Wendel called Aroz safe cutting the Wolverines lead to 6-5, while Molony moved into scoring position at second with one out. Utah Valley coach Nate Rasmussen challenged the play asking for a review based on Aroz making malicious contact with Strong.

After a seven-plus minute review, the ruling came that Aroz was guilty of malicious contact, the run was taken off the scoreboard and Aroz was ruled out and ejected while Molony had to return to first base. Ryan Cooney flew out to right field to end the inning.

Oregon then added what would have been the tying run in the ninth inning on a Jacob Walsh sacrifice fly that right-fielder Luke Iverson caught on the warning track.

"All they said is it came from Pittsburgh," Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said in the postgame press conference. "I feel bad for the umpires. They said it came from Pittsburgh, and it was out of their hands, and I'm really proud of the way Anson Aroz went into home plate the way he did. I was taught to play hard. I was taught to get after it by my dad and my coaches growing up, and unfortunately, playing hard was not rewarded tonight by whatever rule was supposedly violated by a player that was playing hard."

How It Happened: Utah Valley jumped on Oregon with four runs in the top of the third inning, but Oregon answered in their half of the inning with three runs of its own.

After Jacob Walsh reached on a two-out single, Smith belted a 3-2 pitch over the right-field wall to cut the Wolverines lead in half. Anson Aroz followed one pitch later with a line drive over the left-field wall to pull Oregon within a run.

UVU added a pair of runs in the seventh inning to push the lead back to three setting up the dramatic finish.

Box Score Notes: The announced attendance (4,293) is the fifth largest crowd in PK Park history, trailing four Super Regional games … The back-to-back homers by Smith and Aroz marked the second time this season Oregon hitters have slugged back-to-back homers … Walsh and Aroz went back-to-back in the second game of a doubleheader on Feb. 15 vs. Toledo … Reitz's career-high 14 strikeouts are the most by a Ducks' pitcher since Kenyon Yovan fanned 15 vs. USC on April 28, 2018 … The 14 Ks also are tied for the fourth most in the modern era of Oregon baseball and are the most by a Ducks' pitcher in a postseason game … Smith had his first multi-homer game of his career.

Up Next: Oregon faces Cal Poly at 12:06 p.m. Saturday needing a win to advance to Sunday.

Quotes:

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski's opening statement…
"Credit to the Utah Valley team for winning the game tonight. I thought they did a tremendous job being able to capitalize on the opportunities that they had. Very proud of the effort of the team that I coach, and I guess the silver lining is we get a chance to be able to play for the regional championship four more times at PK Park."

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski on what motivates him and the team for tomorrow …
"They showed resiliency all the way through the end. Having the winning run at the plate at the end of the game is what you want. You want to win the game, not just have the winning run out there, but you've got to have the winning run come to home plate to be able to win the game. And we weren't able to do that. We weren't able to finish it off, which was disappointing, but these guys I love. They've got a lot of grit and fight in them. That's what I saw. They thought the fans were outstanding. It's very disappointing to lose that game, and I'm sure that the guys in the locker room would like to start playing right now if they could."

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski on Utah Valley's pitching …
"They threw multiple pitches over the plate for strikes, which is what you got to do. We chased some balls out of the zone. We didn't do enough with our opportunities. We left quite a few guys on base compared to Utah Valley. Utah Valley, I think they only left three guys on base, and we left eight. So we weren't able to cash them in when we needed to. They did a nice job of mixing their pitches when they needed to, and they did enough to win."

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski on going into tomorrow and not thinking too much...
"I think they'll play great tomorrow. Backs against the wall. These guys played with their backs against the wall, they played their best baseball when they've done that. And so, I think we're going to play fantastic. I think we'll play much better and cleaner tomorrow than we did today. Just disappointing. I thought today's effort, you know, we came up on the losing side of the scoreboard today, and it was disappointing. I thought the effort was intense, and I appreciated what the players that I get a chance to be around every single day brought to the table here."

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski on importance for Jason Reitz to get the start today...
"We just kept Grayson on a full seven days rest, and Jason was obviously electric tonight, you know, striking out 14 guys in six innings? Yeah, it's ridiculous."

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski on Tanner Bradley's performance...
"Yeah, he's a young guy that's been coming on for us, and we, you know, maybe at the start of the year, he wasn't quite ready for that at all. And he just has really worked with coach Hawk (Blake Hawksworth) on a daily basis, and really grinded to get himself in a spot where he went out there and he kept us in the game. He could have not done that and he did. He gave us what we needed to be able to stay in the game. Got some critical outs there and just really proud of his development through Coach Hawksworth. I thought that was tremendous."

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski on the message to fans coming back to PK tomorrow...
"Well, the message to the team is we need to be better. And even though there were some parts of us that were really, really good today, it wasn't good enough. And I think with the fans, I thought they brought it, and I'd say even to them, same message to the team, be even better tomorrow, you know, and let's get this done together."

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski on sending Jason Reitz out for the seventh inning...
"He wouldn't let us take him out."

Jason Reitz on the conversation after the sixth inning...
"I said I wanted to go back out, and then I went back out."

Jason Reitz on his career-high strikeout total...
"The fourteen Ks is what it is, but the bottom line is I don't feel like I did my job to the standard that I need to do to help us win the game. We'll come out tomorrow and fight for the next three days, and that's all we can do."

Drew Smith on his performance today going into tomorrow...
"Our coaches have a really good game plan going into it, so just trusting the plan, going for it, and working with (Jack) Marder every day, basically. But today I wasn't good enough."