The opening night of college baseball’s NCAA tournament was filled with upsets and comeback wins, but one call during the Oregon versus Utah Valley game sent fans into a frenzy on social media.
In one of the more entertaining games of the first day, Utah Valley upset the No.12 seed Oregon Ducks in Eugene on Friday night, sending the host team into the loser’s bracket. But it was the bottom of the eighth inning that caught the attention of baseball fans across the country, thanks to a collision at the plate.
The Ducks trailed 6-4 in the bottom eighth, when all hell broke loose on the field after Oregon’s Anson Aroz was heading for home with Utah Valley catcher Mason Strong standing in his way, ready to make a play.
Thanks to a bounce right before reaching the catcher, the play at the plate created a wild moment when Anson Aroz collided with Mason Strong, which then saw Aroz go back and touch home plate. At first, the umpire called the runner safe, which led to the crowd losing their minds in the stands.
Unfortunately for the Ducks, the stadium was about to erupt for a different reason, thanks to Utah Valley asking for a review of what they thought was ‘malicious contact’ on the play.
As you can tell from the video below, both players obviously made contact. But the question was whether there was malicious intent by the runner, and was it obstruction by the catcher by blocking the plate.
As the crowd stood there wondering what was going on, the umpire crew walked over to grab the headset to speak with the review booth back at tournament headquarters.
After a seven-minute plus review, the head umpire made his way back onto the playing field to announce the decision.
“The catch in the outfield results in out number one,” the umpire started. “The play at the plate, there’s no obstruction, but the contact was malicious, resulting in an out, and an ejection of number 77 (Anson Aroz). The runner at first base, returns to first base.”
Checkout this view from Rian Winter, who was in attendance on Friday night.
Following the announcement, Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski came storming out of the dugout, straight towards the crew looking for answers on how they could make that call.
College Baseball Fans Are Torn Over The Oregon-Utah Valley Call
Ok, so I completely understand why baseball fans would be questioning the call that came from the review. To me, it looked as though Utah Valley catcher Mason Strong was blocking the plate, and Anson Aroz had nowhere to go with the bang-bang play.
I can see the other side of the argument though, given that Aroz came flying in with his knee up, striking Mason Strong in the lower region. Look, I was an umpire for little league games growing up, so I would like to think I have a little bit of experience. Ok, I’m kidding here, please don’t take it out on me, Oregon fans.
But one thing was certain after the umpire had to announce that decision from headquarters: it was about to get testy inside the stadium. And, social media was going to react.
If you’d like to read how everyone who has seen the play feels about the call, go checkout the replies to the original post. This was clearly a decision that was going to garner a lot of feedback, with plenty of discussion about what ‘should’ve’ been the call.
The worst part is that Anson Aroz will now miss Saturday’s game for Oregon. As for Utah Valley, they won their first ever NCAA Tournament game on Friday night, so I’d say that’s one happy team heading into the weekend.
Maybe we get to see these two teams play again during the Eugene Regional. But Oregon is going to have to fight its way out of the loser’s bracket if that’s the case.
The Road to Omaha has officially started, and I couldn’t be more excited. From the reactions on Friday night, I’d say some of you are as well.
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