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What is it with formats and OBD when they get the No.1 Seed????

GREAT research, and thank you! I am expecting to see most of the pitchers you mentioned as brief appearances, and yes...I think something is up with Sanford. But I could also see other freshman pitchers, such as Michael Meckna, and Gabe Howard make brief appearances for an inning at a time? Oregon does not have enough proven, quality pitchers for four games in four days...but UCLA has a HUGE break...where they play on Tuesday and Wednesday...thus their Tuesday pitchers (Starting and Relief) could be called on for--the Sunday Championship! We just got hosed...

No doubt. I can't, though I'm trying, to say enough about Coach Lombardi. She was fine at Oklahoma, would have eventually been the head coach. Instead, she leaves that to come to an Oregon program that was just rocked, and it was anything but a smooth transition. Now, the team took a hit, literally, against Stanford. Maybe they pull it off, win 2 and move on. But if they don't, Lombardi and the Ducks will be back next season.

But. What if the Michigan St. Coach does a Lanning...and goes for it, believing that they can get by Nebraska with their No.2, but need No.1 to beat Oregon?

I checked out the schedule and bracket and our Ducks are the last team to play. This gives our guys a couple of days rest while everyone else is battling it out. But this scenario also could be an issue as Oregon would play four games in four days. Will the pitching hold up? I did a deep dive into Oregon's pitching depth. These results are based on the last 15 games, when Oregon won 14 out of 15. I have to admit I didn't know the Ducks have 19 pitchers on their roster! Besides our starting pitchers, Coach Waz relies on only six relievers. Grayson Grinsell, Collin Clarke and Jason Reitz each had four starts. Relievers and appearances Cole Stokes 10 Seth Mattox 8 Santiago Garcia 6 Ian Umlandt 6 Ryan Featherstone 5 Jaxon Jordan 4 Pitchers who have made a brief appearance in the last 15 games. Toby Twist 3 St. Mary's - Washington - Iowa Sam Boyle 2 Tanner Bradley 1 Julien Hernandez 1 Will Sanford 1 Last pitched against Oregon St. on April 29th. Started and pitched two innings. Is he recovering from an injury?) This is going to be a challenge for all teams, not just Oregon. I'm sure we're going to see some pitchers who normally don't play. Keep the bats boomin', Ducks!

It's better to be projected in the Super's rather than not, but by all means OBD, go ahead and win the thing! As for facing Beavis, my thought has always been to deal with difficult as early as possible. Now, after beating the Beavs 4 straight, the law of averages goes against the Ducks...So

Tournament time is all about pitching. Lombardi is (understandably) tight-lipped regarding any issues effecting her staff. We are left to speculate and wonder. She has two remarkable pitchers in Grein and Sokolsky. That said, there still remains a significant difference between recruiting the top national prospects, and attracting talented projects from less competitive programs looking to use their last year or two to their advantage. Irregardless of their accelerated rate of development, that difference often does show up at tourney time when facing the toughest competition. Image wise, Oregon’s softball commitment and stability probably took a big hit among high school coaches and players when it refused to pony-up in order to keep one of the most successful head coaches in the game from moving on. By earning the program’s first regional hosting since then, Lombardi has begun to close that perception gap; and, along with her stellar credentials, will hopefully now start getting commitments from the kind of talent that she will need down the road.

I agree with this!!!

I was thinking the same thing--a HUGE crowd. But I hope we do not face Beavis until the College World Series in Omaha!

BTW...the B1G Baseball Tournament is played at the same stadium of the College World Series, Charles Schwab Field in Omaha!

If that happens (Yikes!) having to have to play them again early in the tournament? Would prefer not to, but if that happens, they better put out more bleacher space for the crowd.

I will begin to gather information about the B1G Baseball Tournament this week. They created "Pool" play, where you win your pool and advance further. The Ducks have Michigan State, who they play on Thursday at 4:00 PM, and Nebraska on Friday at 4:00 PM. The bad news? Michigan State has the only pitcher that I fear...but will they play him against Oregon? I doubt it, as the Spartans play the Cornhuskers on Tuesday first. And...the rules state that if there is a tie, that the higher seed moves forward in the tournament. Thus some media entities report that OBD only has to win one of the two games to advance. I will be adding a ton more to this thread, and everyone is welcome to contribute information and their thoughts as well. We see a breakdown by 247 Duck Territory right here about it...and there is more from the B1G site right here... and this page shows who is in the Pools. If the Ducks win Pool A, then we face the winner of Pool D, which consists of Washington, USC and Penn State. Lovely. The Pools... If all followed chalk...Our Beloved Ducks would meet UCLA in the final on Sunday, May 25th. This means we need four pitchers, without enough rest for Grayson Grinsell to pitch more than once. At the present...we don't really have a starting fourth pitcher, unless you run Ian Umlandt, (Would not be available for relief) or do it by committee as we did by starting Julian Hernandez for three innings against St. Mary's a few weeks ago. For tournaments...nobody has deep pitching, and to give the other pitchers experience in advance of this...you risk losing games you needed to win to get to a No. 7 Seed in the nation...my "cope" with this is that everyone will be short of good, experienced pitchers, and I'd like to think our batting lineup can get to their pitchers better than they can to us?

Oregon OF Mason Neville named Golden Spikes Award semifinalist Mason Neville becomes the first Oregon baseball player to be named to the Golden Spikes Award semifinalist list since 2021. The nation's leader in home runs continues to draw high praise across the nation. Mason Neville, Oregon's junior left-handed hitting center fielder, was among 25 players named to the Golden Spikes Award semifinalist list. The Golden Spikes Award is handed out to the best player in college baseball https://247sports.com/college/oregon/article/mason-neville-oregon-ducks-baseball-golden-spikes-award-semifinalist-250062900/

In 2024, Nebraska ranked 10th nationally in average attendance. There were only 2 in the top 25 attendance that were not in mild climate locations though Virginia might be a third. The other one besides Nebraska was Oregon State which was 21st. But generally, if you draw an east-west line at Lexington, Kentucky, 22 of the 25 were below that line. Nebraska has a vey nice facility they share with a small semi-pro team, and the ballpark is surrounded by parking because it is in a close triangle with Nebraska's football and basketball facilities, close to campus and downtown Lincoln. But, fans do have to show up, and they do in Lincoln. Nebraska had to contend with the Texas schools baseball in the Big12, and have won just two titles in the Big Ten, but the fans are loyal regardless.

I read this morning that the Dawgs are unlikely to use their top arms at the SEC tournament any more that they need to in order to keep them limber. Moreover, they are unlikely to play their starters for any more than a few innings a game to keep them fresh. In other words, they are treating the SEC tournament as somewhat of an inconvenience that matters little in the grand scheme of things. I'd rather that they be fighting hard for a top 8 national seeding and maintain the momentum for a push to the World Series. Once that momentum slackens, for any reason, it is not always easy to regain it with a snap of the fingers.

I have never heard of these guys, but they have Oregon hosting a Super-Regional as a No. 8 Seed, with the Winner of the No. 9 Seed Regional in Corvallis coming to visit if both win their Regionals. Can you imagine THAT drama? Oregon would have to beat Beavis to go to Omaha?

I will shamelessly plug my most recent article here. Should the Ducks Host More Events in Portland? | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM A few years ago the University of Oregon acquired a home for their Portland Campus, the former Concordia... At the UO Portland Campus there are baseball facilities. A few series in Portland, maybe even against the Beavers in the future, could be a fun way to drive the attendance. Granted... I don't think they have much in the way of concessions but I'm sure they could take care of that. But great to see our Ducks have a great fan base and turns out for them!

Two things really stand out...1) how bad baseball attendance is in the B1G, and 2) how incredible Nebraska's following is. PK Park could improve a TON and not catch them. Thanks to sports fan for the time spent on research to learn this!

Our OBD member, sports fan, posted this below in a separate thread and I thought I'd combine them into the same topic thread. This prediction is by Baseball America, while mine above is from On3...and they both have us as a Super-Regional host! (For now...) 2025 College World Series Predictions: Picking Our ‘Eight For Omaha’ (May 16) WWW.BASEBALLAMERICA.COM Baseball America's latest "Eight For Omaha" prediction includes a trio of new teams trending toward 2025 College World Series berths. I find it interesting that...1) Oregon has an RPI with them of No. 18? And 2) three of the teams including the Ducks have RPIs worse than No. 8 among the predicted top-8 seeds and Super-Regional hosts... We gotta win the B1G Tournament...it might be possible to be a finalist in the B1G Tournament, not win, but retain the Super-Regional hosting? Thoughts? I think it is very iffy...

On3 released their NCAA Baseball Tournament Projections, and their predictions of what D1Baseball rankings will be in a day or so. First of all...they predicted the D1Baseball would rank Our Beloved Ducks No. 4 in the nation, and Beavis at No. 5. However--let's wait for the actual poll to come out, and D1Baseball is what the NCAA uses to assist their selections (along with RPI) for the NCAA Baseball Tournament. As HDuck reported last night, Oregon's RPI is the highest it has been all season at No. 12 in both ranking systems. This is crucial, as not long ago--our RPI was in the 50s, so I am grateful for the move. On3 NCAA Baseball Tournament Projections Granted things will change over the week with conference tournaments, but not too drastically. The actual NCAA announcement is on ESPN on May 26th on their usual selection show. But let's get to what On3 predicts... Oregon No. 7 National NCAA Seed: They predict that Our Beloved Ducks will make the final eight, and thus if we win the Regional, we would host the No. 10 tournament seed Clemson Regional winner at PK Park in a Super-Regional...if things continue according to form. UCLA is predicted to be a No. 16 Seed, and will host a Regional. Iowa and Michigan were predicted last week to be in the tournament, and today prediction has them out of the field of 64. USC is predicted to make the field, traveling to the Oxford Regional. Scheduling Works: At the beginning of the season, Coach Waz explained that many of our non-conference series were against teams that were predicted to win their leagues, and On3 predicts that both Rhode Island and Columbia (The 36 runs scored?) will win their conference, and be in the tournament. While On3 notes that the Ducks are "surging," they also remind us that even with winning 14 of the last 15 games, and the B1G... they say that, "Barring an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament, Oregon feels somewhat solid as a top eight." I believe we not only have to not exit early--I think we need to win the damn thing to be on the safe side. Field of 64 Projections: NCAA Tournament picture shaken up entering conference tournament week - On3 WWW.ON3.COM It's time to enter conference tournament week in college baseball, but not before some serious changes in our Field of 64 projections.

Here's a look at our 'Advisory Committee Buddies' portal rankings. Will the Portal King lose 3 games again? SEC Football Transfer Portal Rankings: Ole Miss' early work puts them in superb spot OLEHOTTYTODDY.COM It feels like yesterday when the winter transfer portal was opening, but now the spring transfer portal has also closed. This means that no more players can ent

Here's an update on PO format discussions. Report: Power Conference commissioners meet again to discuss College Football Playoff future - On3 WWW.ON3.COM Power Conference commissioners met again on Saturday to discuss the College Football Playoff's future, Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported. The Power 2 will decide what the final format looks like. The ACC, with eight conference games and its enabling of Notre Dame as an Independent, does not deserve three automatic places in the field. Going 0-2 in the PO last season does not help the ACC's argument. In a conference with ZERO Blue Chip Roster teams, the B12 should be happy to have two participants in the field.

Here are the final attendance results for the Big Ten Conference baseball games. I did not include non-conference games. Hats off to the Cornhusker fans. They really support their team. And what has happened to UCLA. I was shocked to see such low numbers for them. They were in a tight race with our Ducks for first place and nobody bothered to show up to watch them. 1. NEBRASKA 5,458 2. OREGON 2,962 3. IOWA 2.052 4. INDIANA 1,591 5. PURDUE 1,533 6. USC 1,417 7. MICHIGAN 1.394 8. WASHINGTON 1,217 9. MARYLAND 1,156 10. PENN ST. 1,083 11. ILLINOIS 1,029 12. OHIO ST. 981 13. MICHIGAN ST. 857 14. MINNESOTA 681 15. UCLA 660 16. RUTGERS 602 17. NORTHWESTERN 485

I remember way back when all Duck games (and I think most, if not all, PAC games) started at 1:00 pm., which I thought was great. (I know not everyone would be happy about that start time, but I loved it.) Yes, that was before all games were on TV, so there's the hitch. But still, I'd be happy with noon, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm games and getting home before it is dark.

It's High Noon between the O-HI-O legislature and a Fox. You took the money, you spent the money, too bad you didn't read the contract. The Tennessee Legislature has passed a law telling the NCAA that the House settlement terms cannot be enforced in the Volunteer State other than for its share of House damages. According to the legislature, the Vols and Vandy can exceed the $20.5 million year one cap on direct payment to athletes with impunity. And, any and every NIL deal is kosher and cannot be found to be out of line with 'market value.' The above two pieces of legislation evidence the need for college sports to find relief from the federal government. The House settlement does nothing to curtail 'creative' state legislative activity. If I were Greg Sankey, I'd tell the Tennessee legislature it's all good, but Tennessee and Vanderbilt are not included among the SEC defendants settling with the House plaintiffs.