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EUGENE, Ore. — More than 150 years after the Cincinnati Red Stockings and others formed the first professional baseball league, the sport continues to deliver surprises.

It remains entirely possible — likely, even — that you’ll see something you’ve never seen before during any given baseball game.

Such was the case Friday night at PK Park, where in the NCAA Tournament’s Eugene Regional in a manner that infuriated the Ducks and their followers, dumbfounded everyone who was watching and created a winners’ bracket matchup no one expected.

How did Saturday night’s meeting between UVU and Arizona come to be? The events that led up to it had to be seen to be believed — and even then, they left longtime chroniclers and observers of the game shaking their heads.

The insanity went down in the bottom of the eighth inning. Oregon’s Drew Smith led off with a solo home run to trim the Ducks’ deficit to 6-4 vs. the upstart Wolverines. Anson Aroz then drew a walk. He advanced to third on Maddox Molony’s single.

Chase Meggers followed with a fly ball to medium left field. UVU’s Jimmy De Anda camped under it. Aroz tagged up. De Anda fired a throw to the plate that short-hopped and skipped past Wolverines catcher Mason Strong.

Strong very much appeared to be blocking the plate, which is an illegal tactic. With no clear path, Aroz plowed into him. At first glance, it looked like Aroz lowered his shoulder or threw a forearm into Strong’s head. Replays revealed otherwise. We’ll get to that.

Aroz missed the plate after rolling over the stumbling Strong. The Oregon junior then dove back and touched it. He was called safe.

UVU pitcher Carston Herman was backing up the play, caught the ball and — if he had realized what was happening quickly enough — could have tagged out Aroz. Who knows what would have happened next if Herman had been slightly more alert.

What did happen was that UVU coach Nate Rasmussen asked the umpires to look at the play. They said they would — and would do so for “a malicious act,� Rasmussen said afterward.

Runners are not allowed to make what’s called “malicious contact� with a fielder at a base. The days of football-like collisions at home plate like one might see next door at Autzen Stadium are long gone.

Upon rewatching many times over, I concluded — as did many others — that Aroz did not run over Strong. Aroz actually slid in front of the catcher and sort of shoved him in the chest. If anything, Aroz appeared to be trying to avoid an excessively violent collision.

The NCAA command center didn’t see it that way. After a review that lasted about 10 minutes but felt like forever, the crew chief announced that there was no obstruction on the play (huh?) and that Aroz had made malicious contact (what???), resulting in a double play and Aroz’s ejection from the game.

Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski just about lost his mind. Could you blame him? Instead of the score being 6-5 with one out and a runner on second (Molony had advanced on the throw), it was 6-4 with a runner on first (Molony had to go back).

The Ducks ended up scoring one run in the ninth inning to lose 6-5. That ruling changed the complexion of their season, which would end Saturday with a 10-8 loss to Cal Poly.

“I feel bad for the umpires,� Wasikowski said Friday night. “They said it came from Pittsburgh� — the aforementioned command center — “and it was out of their hands.�

The NCAA provided some clarification Saturday. It said, basically, that any sort of collision supersedes obstruction. And that almost any collision is considered malicious.

“Rule 8-7 of the Baseball Rules Book refers to ‘flagrant or malicious’ contact,� the statement read. “That does not mean that the contact was intentional or that the runner tried to injure the catcher. Actions listed on page 91 in the note to this rule indicate that if the runner does not make a legal slide (buttocks and legs on the ground before contact is made) or make motions that show effort to avoid a collision trying to reach the plate, the rule should be enforced.�

By the letter of the law, the correct call was made — common sense be damned.

I don’t know how any rational person could look at that play and think the runner was at fault. Was the slide a little high? Yes. A little late? Sure. But what was Aroz supposed to do? Where was he supposed to go? Strong was in the base path and in front of the plate.

“I’m really proud of the way Anson Aroz went into home plate,� Wasikowski said. “I was taught to play hard. I was taught to get after it by my dad and my coaches growing up.

“Unfortunately, playing hard was not rewarded tonight by whatever rule was supposedly violated.�

I happened to run into Arizona’s Adonys Guzman at the team hotel later Friday night. Guzman is a catcher. He was adamant that the play should have been ruled as obstruction on Strong, not malicious contact by Aroz (who also was suspended for Saturday’s game).

ESPN announcers Roxy Bernstein and Wes Clements believed that the ruling would go that way, too. I sent a clip of the play to my older son, who’s a catcher for the Tucson High School baseball team and has worked as an umpire for the past few years.

“CLEAN BASEBALL PLAY!� he replied. “NO MALICIOUS INTENT AT ALL!!!�

The Oregon fans packed into PK Park repeatedly hurled an insult at the umpires that we can’t publish here. Reactions on social media included “Possibly the worst call in college baseball history� and “This might be the worst piece of officiating I’ve seen in any sport, ever.�

Rasmussen had a different take, understandably. He was concerned for Strong’s safety. And if there was any chance the play could be overturned, Rasmussen figured, it was worth it to bring it to the umpires’ attention.

“I just didn’t think he slid,� Rasmussen said. “That was the big thing — it just felt like he didn’t go down for an actual baseball move. That’s at least what I saw in the moment.�

Rasmussen hadn’t seen a replay at that time. If he had, would he have thought differently?

Regardless of what any of us thought we saw, the ruling went UVU’s way and propelled the Wolverines to a massive upset. As a reporter noted, UVU never had played a game on national TV before. Rasmussen didn’t even know he was supposed to make an opening statement to kick off the postgame news conference.

He seemed to be in a bit of disbelief himself. You never know what wonders await at the ballpark.