Michigan
33-26
Oregon
35-24
Deep Freyed: Late-Inning Blast Leads Michigan Past Oregon in NCAA Regional Win
6/3/2022 10:54:00 PM | Baseball
» Matt Frey broke a 6-6 tie in the eighth with a mammoth two-run homer.
» Jimmy Obertop hit two-run home runs in the second and fifth innings.
» Connor O'Halloran struck out six batters in 5.2 innings.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Third baseman Matt Frey launched a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to lift the University of Michigan baseball team past Oregon 8-6 on Friday night (June 3) at Jim Patterson Stadium in its NCAA Tournament opener.
Michigan earned a winners-bracket matchup against host Louisville on Saturday (June 4) at 4 p.m. The Cardinals defeated Southeast Missouri State on Friday to advance to take on the Wolverines.
Michigan got on the scoreboard in the second inning when Joey Velazquez beat out a fielder's choice with the bases loaded, barely beating a potential double-play throw to first base as Tito Flores, who walked and took third on a Riley Bertram single, scored on the play.
Jimmy Obertop gave U-M a 3-0 lead in the third inning, ripping the first pitch he saw, a low outside fastball, over the right-field wall to score Frey.
Michigan starter Connor O'Halloran was tough on Oregon but ran into trouble in a bizarre fourth inning that saw him yield two runs on just one hit while striking out three batters. With one out, he hit a Duck and then allowed a bloop double. On that play, the U-M defense threw the ball away after the play had stopped, allowing a run to score and another run came home on a wild pitch. Obertop got those runs back in the top of the fifth.
With one out, Frey sent a hard double off the wall in left field and Obertop, on the next pitch, pulverized a fastball toward a playground well beyond the left-center-field fence for a 5-3 lead. Two batters later, Joey Velazquez sent a single back up the box, scoring Bertram from third base for a 6-2 lead.
Oregon chipped away in the bottom of the fifth. A leadoff walk came back to hurt when Brennan Milone sent a double to the gap in right-center with two outs. In the sixth inning, the Ducks repeated that effort and chased O'Halloran from the game following an RBI double from Josiah Cromwick. Chase Allen came into the game and walked a batter before Bertram ended the frame with a web gem, a diving catch to his backhand on a blooping liner that would have scored two runs if it got past him.
Oregon tied the game at 6 in the seventh inning when Milone sent a solo homer to left field and Antony Hall blooped an RBI double down the line in right before Cameron Weston ended the inning with a three-pitch strikeout.
Frey then responded loudly. Clark Elliott led off the eighth inning by legging out a check-swing single. Two batters later, Frey jumped on a first-pitch fastball and drove a mammoth home run high over the right-field wall and Michigan reclaimed the lead 8-6.
That was enough for Weston, who earned the win, allowing just one hit in 2.1 innings of shutdown relief. Bertram led all players with three hits while Frey, Obertop and Velazquez all had two hits.
O'Halloran tossed 5.2 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) with a game-high six strikeouts while walking two.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Weston, Cameron (5-3)
L: Britton, Rio (4-1)
Batting:
2B: Frey, Matt 1
HR: Frey, Matt 1 ; Obertop, Jimmy 2
RBI: Frey, Matt 2 ; Obertop, Jimmy 4 ; Velazquez, Joey 2
SH: Burton, Ted 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Elliott, Clark 1 ; Frey, Matt 3 ; Obertop, Jimmy 2 ; Flores, Tito 1 ; Bertram, Riley 1
SB: Velazquez, Joey 1
HBP: Frey, Matt 2 ; Flores, Tito 1 ; Marti, Jake 1
Batting:
2B: Shade, Colby 1 ; Milone, Brennan 2 ; Kasevich, Josh 1 ; Hall, Anthony 2 ; Cromwick, Josiah 1
HR: Milone, Brennan 1
RBI: Milone, Brennan 2 ; Hall, Anthony 1 ; Cromwick, Josiah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Milone, Brennan 1 ; Kasevich, Josh 3 ; Hall, Anthony 1 ; Grant, Gavin 1
HBP: Kasevich, Josh 2
