With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday night, Vanderbilt's Chris Maldonado belted a two-run home run to cut Oregon's lead to just a run as the tension started to mount for the Ducks.

But closer Josh Mollerus got the next two hitters to fly out to preserve a momentous 8-7 win for the Ducks in their NCAA regionals winners' bracket game against the host Commodores in Nashville.

With that, Oregon (39-20) moves on to the regional finals for the sixth time in program history, looking to reach the super regionals for the first time since 2012. The Ducks play again at 6 p.m. PT Sunday against the winner of an elimination game between Vanderbilt and Xavier and need just one win to clinch the regional, while their opponent would have to win twice in the double-elimination format.

"Just really proud of the way that the team that I represent and get a chance to coach every day responded to a really great college baseball game, in a very good environment," Ducks coach Mark Wasikowski said. "They didn't back down from anything and they came out and they played their hearts out and came out with a win."

Freshman right-hander Turner Spoljaric (7-0) earned the win, allowing 4 earned runs over 6 innings while departing with an 8-4 lead.

Tanner Smith and Bennett Thompson slugged homers for the Ducks, Jacob Walsh went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs, Rikuu Nishida and Drew Cowley each had 2 hits and scored twice and Sabin Ceballos drove in 2 runs.

Smith's homer was the 30th of his career, tying the program record set by Tom Dodd from 1977-79.

Vanderbilt (42-19) tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the second inning, including a two-out solo homer by RJ Schreck. But Spoljaric settled in from there, retiring the next nine batters in a row.

"I was trying to do a little bit too much, I think, in the first inning, and then I backed off and then I was just trying to focus," Spoljaric said. "Once I got my feet under me, just trying to focus on executing pitches and competing, making good pitches — because we've got a great defense and I was letting them work — things have worked out doing that this season."

Oregon retook the lead with a four-run top of the fifth inning as Nishida and Colby Shade led off with back-to-back singles, while Cowley grounded into a fielder's choice to leave runners at first and third with one out. Ceballos followed with an RBI single to right, and Walsh followed three batters later with a two-out, bases loaded double to drive home three runs for the 8-4 lead.

Vanderbilt got one run back in the seventh and the two-run homer in the ninth before Mollerus closed out his 11th save of the season.

Up next is a rematch with either Vanderbilt or Xavier, which Oregon defeated 5-4 in its regionals opener, with the chance to take this special postseason run to the next stage.