EUGENE, Ore. – The magical postseason run for the Utah Valley baseball team continues.

Last week the Wolverines, the No. 3 seed, won the WAC Tournament and Friday, UVU shocked No. 12 Oregon 6-5 in front of a partisan Ducks crowd at PK Park in the NCAA Eugene Regional.

UVU (33-27) earned its first win over a ranked team since Apr. 30, 2022, against then-No. 25 Grand Canyon. The Wolverines picked up their first NCAA Tournament victory behind a 2-for-4 night from Jimmy De Anda, who knocked in three runs, and clutch pitching from Corbin Kirk, Carsten Herman and Cooper Littledike.

Is it the biggest win in Utah Valley baseball history?

“It’s hard to rank them at this point,” Wolverines coach Nate Rasmussen said during his post-game interview on ESPN The Fan. “We’ve played in a lot of cool games. Obviously, this feels like No. 1 right now. It’s our first postseason win. I’m just proud of the guys. The environment was crazy and hostile and awesome and we got the ‘W’.

“This is what makes it fun. This is why you play the game is to win enough baseball games so you can get to the postseason and play in an environment like this.”

Trailing 6-4 entering the bottom of the ninth, Oregon brought the winning run to the plate in Jacob Walsh after the leadoff hitter, Carter Garate, worked a walk and Dominic Hellman singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Walsh plated a run on a flyball to the warning track to cut the lead to 6-5 with two outs. Littledike entered the game to face Smith and forced him to ground out to clinch the win to earn his sixth save of the season.

The Wolverines scored four runs in the third inning after Brody Block led off with a walk before CJ Colyer singled to left field and De Anda gave UVU a 1-0 lead with a double down the left field line. The inning continued with a single by Luke Iverson to make it 2-0 before Oregon recorded the first out two outs of the inning before the WAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player made it 4-0 with a single to the field, and he advanced all the way to third on a fielding error.

The Ducks answered in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back home runs by Drew Smith and Anson Aroz to make it 4-3. Corbin Kirk finished with four innings, allowing six hits and striking out three, but ended with a no-decision. He worked through a couple of jams with the Ducks having runners on base in the first, second, and fourth innings.

The Wolverines chased UO starter Jackson Reitz, who had a career day with six innings and 14 strikeouts. Utah Valley answered with Nate Bach working a leadoff walk and Brody Block being hit by a pitch. They moved up 90 feet on a failed pickoff attempt that went into centerfield. De Anda recorded his third RBI of the game with a single up the middle to put UVU up 6-3.

The Ducks got one back when Drew Smith homered for the second time in the game on a ball that just got out over left field. Oregon made it 6-5 on a sacrifice fly that was caught in left field. Aroz came crashing into Strong at home plate and was called out for malicious contact, resulting in the run being taken off the board.

The Wolverines earned their first win over a ranked opponent on the road since 2019, when they defeated No. 21 Mississippi State 2-1 in 11 innings in Starkville.