Oregon drops regional opener following controversial malicious contact review and ejection

Oregon is up against elimination on Saturday as the host of the Eugene Regional and the No. 12 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, the path the Ducks took to get to Saturday’s elimination game is noteworthy.

Facing Utah Valley on Friday night in the regional opener for both squads, the Ducks fell behind by a score of 6-3 in the 7th inning. Oregon would make it 6-4 in the 8th with a home run and was threatening for more runs when the controversy began.

It began with Chase Meggers lifting a fly ball into left field, an innocent drive that was caught cleanly by Utah Valley. However, Oregon’s Anson Aroz attempted to tag up and score from 3rd base on the play.

The throw was mishandled by the UVU catcher, who was certainly in the basepath, and there was a hard collision as Aroz arrived. Aroz made sure to return to tag the plate, and the play was initially ruled as safe.

However, UVU coaches challenged the play in search of a malicious contact call on Aroz, something that was not called on the field. The umpires also looked at a potential obstruction call with every facet of the play open to review once a challenge is instituted.

The umpires eventually came back with an overturned ruling, announcing that Aroz was being charged with malicious contact on the play. That play carries with it an automatic out for the runner and an ejection. The ejection also means Aroz is suspended for Oregon’s potential elimination game on Saturday.

Any play of this nature is bound to ruffle some feathers, but the decision to overturn the call on the field with the malicious contact ruling has been shredded on social media. Aroz appeared to be in a defensive position when he made contact with the catcher, and the catcher did not appear to offer any running lane or sliding path for Aroz.

Here is the original play and the aftermath from the incident:

Oregon has since started its elimination game vs. Cal Poly, while Utah Valley will face Arizona Saturday night in the winner’s bracket. The Ducks must now win 4 straight games in order to get out of the regionals and into the Super Regionals.

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.