Oregon's Mark Wasikowski defends controversial Anson Aroz slide: 'Playing hard was not rewarded'

Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski defended the controversial Anson Aroz slide at home plate from Friday night. Aroz was ejected for malicious contact in the bottom of the eighth inning against Utah Valley and will not be allowed to play Saturday.

Utah Valley catcher Mason Strong, who attempted to tag out Aroz at home plate, was contacted by the Oregon Duck. Although Strong appeared to be standing in front of home plate, the umpires ruled that he didn’t commit obstruction, thus leading to their decision to eject Aroz.

Wasikowski was asked about the ruling, initially a run scored for Aroz, before the umpires eventually called him out and ejected him from the game. The Ducks’ head coach was baffled by the decision.

“All they said is it came from Pittsburgh,” Wasikowski said postgame. “Feel bad for the umpires … They said it came from Pittsburgh and it was out of their hands. 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.”

He wasn’t the only one who was left scratching his head at the call. After arguing with an umpire about the call, Aroz walked off the field while firing up Ducks fans in the stands. Oregon will undoubtedly miss Aroz on Saturday.

Oregon would’ve cut the lead 6-5 in the eighth inning, but the run was taken off. The Ducks wound up losing 6-5 in the end after putting up one run in the ninth, but Wasikowski and Oregon certainly had a bitter pill to swallow after the controversial call.

The junior standout was an All-Big Ten Third-Team selection this season. He boasts a .281 batting average this season, along with 16 home runs and 52 RBI’s.

Aroz has been just as excellent in the field. He has 149 putouts this season compared to just four errors. In total, Aroz has a jaw-dropping .975 fielding percentage. That won’t be easy to replace for the Ducks

Oregon will now take on Cal Poly Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+. The Big Ten regular season champions will need a win to stay alive moving forward.