Charles Fischer

Media Question to McKay when he was in the early years at Tampa Bay...."How do you feel about the execution of the offense?" McKay: "I'm all favor of it."

Yep, not a great “underrated” call, but that is how OregonReigns writes!

The D1Baseball poll came out for this week, and Oregon remains ranked and poised to move higher with more wins. No. 1 UCLA 36-3 No. 6 Beavis 30-8 (Who we play in Corvallis on Wednesday night at 5:35) No. 19 Oregon 28-11 No. 20 Nebraska 31-9 No. 23 USC 30-11 The Big-10 rankings are in great flux, although UCLA has run away with it, and everyone else is playing for second, or simply good NCAA seeding later. Gotta win games! Oregon averages 7.8 runs per game, and give us good relief pitching....?

Incredible post, Jon. You make a powerful case, and I agree with you in that it would increase the interest in regular season games, because more teams have a shot at making the field. Teams that stumble, and have one bad game still have a chance to make the Playoffs. More money, more opportunities for teams to make the Playoffs, more exposure for all, and more great, compelling games. Greg Sankey?

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Ducks Homer Four Times in Series Win Champaign, Ill. — Ryan Cooney hit two of No. 19 Oregon’s four home runs to lead the Ducks to a series win at Illinois on Sunday with a 11-5 Big Ten Conference win at Illinois Field. Cooney went 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored leading Oregon to their 21st series win in the last two seasons covering a span of 23 weeks. How It Happened: Oregon (28-11, 12-6 Big Ten) jumped on top early scoring a run in the top of the first. Jax Gimenez led off the inning with a double over the third-base bag before scoring on a Brayden Jaksa base hit to center field. Illinois (20-18, 8-10 Big Ten) answered with a pair of runs in the second inning to take the lead, but Oregon took the lead back with three solo home runs in the top of the fifth. Ryan Cooney led off the frame with a line drive over the left-field wall, before Naulivou Lauaki Jr. and Maddox Molony went back-to-back with both homers off the TV tower just to the left of the batter’s eye. The Fighting Illini hit a solo home run of their own in the bottom of the inning to chase Oregon starter Miles Gosztola after he followed the homer with a four-pitch walk. RS Freshman Naulivou Lauaki after his Dinger... Oregon tacked on two runs in the sixth inning. After Jaksa reached for the third time in the game on a walk, Cooney went yard in the second consecutive inning for a 6-3 lead. Illinois cut it to two in the sixth, but Oregon answered with four runs in the top of the seventh. Gimenez came through with the bases loaded, ripping a one-out triple that scored all three runners. The Ducks’ right-fielder then scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-4. The Ducks tacked on an insurance run in the eighth. After hits by Drew Smith and Lauaki put runners at the corners, Molony drove in a run on a fielder’s choice for an 11-4 lead. Box Score Notes: Molony homered in all three games of the series to run his career total to 33 home runs … The back-to-back homers by Lauaki and Molony were the first back-to-back homers since Jaksa and Cooney did it against Nebraska on April 10 … The three home runs in an inning were the first since Chase Meggers, Anson Aroz and did it in the first inning at Texas A&M on June 9, 2024 … Cooney’s two home runs were his first multi-homer game of his career … Dominic Hellman made his 100th career start … Gimenez extended his reached base streak to 29 games with a leadoff double … On Deck: The Ducks travel to Oregon State for a nonconference game on Wednesday (5:35 p.m.)

Ducks win 11-5, as Tanner Bradley came in got two strikeouts, and then a walk. The next batter hit the pitch deep, and Jack Brooks caught it, but when he hit the wall--the ball came out to score an Illini run. Oh well... Official game recap will be on this thread much later...

11-4 Ducks after eight innings. Drew Smith beat out the throw from 3rd for an infield single, and Naulivou Lauaki nails a grounder to CF as Smith races to third. Maddox Molony grounds out, but scores Smith to add a run this inning. Cooper Markham gave up a walk, but finished off the rest of the batters. If Illinois was going to make a comeback--the eight inning was crucial in scoring a few runs...but didn't. It increase our odds much better with three outs left.

10-4 Ducks after seven innings. Burke-Lee Mabeus starts it out with a walk, followed up by a Dominic Hellman line-drive hit to CF that moves Mabeus to third base. Jack Brooks walked, so now we have bases loaded with one out. A new Illini pitcher comes in with an impressive 2.16 ERA, and he's pitched a ton at 25 innings this season thus far. Jax Gimenez shows no respect, as he gets under a curve/drop-ball pitch and nails it to center field, where it is bobbled. The speedy Gimenez makes it to third and scores three runs! Finally...an important timely hit with the Ducks-on-a-Pond! A wild pitch scores Gimenez, but remember---with this wind and relief pitching--no lead is safe! Holy Crap! Waz put in true freshman Cooper Markham to pitch? He is a highly heralded recruit from Washington, but he has seen little action this year. To put him in during such a crucial time...in this ball-park? Then he goes out to create the only 1-2-3 inning of either team today!

6-4 Ducks after six innings. Things are getting lively with relief pitchers in as Brayden Jaksa walks to start, and then the Pride of Portland, Ryan Cooney blasts a 2-run dinger over the corner LF wall to put Our Beloved Ducks up three. Leo Uelmen gave up a solo homer, and that was it for the inning.

4-3 Ducks after five innings. Ryan Cooney blasted a solo home run, and not much later--Naulivou Lauaki just tore into the pitch and sent it hitting the camera deck past the CF wall. This RS freshman has quite a swing to back up his 6'5" 265 pound frame that just shouts power. Then, the Pride of Springfield, Maddox Molony made it back-to-back homers that his the camera deck as well! Oregon was facing a relief pitcher who had an ERA below 3.00 but today was not his day. Now a new Illini pitcher is in with an ERA below 3.00 as well. Miles Gosztola gave up a solo dinger, and a walk to yield the hill to Leo Uelmen, who redshirted last year due to injury, but was an important part of the staff as a freshman in 2024. He is rounding into form, and got the last two outs of the inning.

2-1 Illinois after four innings. The Ducks strand one, and Miles Gosztola gave us another scoreless inning.

2-1 Illinois after three innings. Oregon strands another base runner, but Miles Gosztola kept the Illini scoreless this inning.

2-1 Illinois after two innings. Oregon stranded two on base this inning for a total of five in just two innings. In Friday's win, we stranded five the entire game, and in yesterday's loss we stranded a ridiculous 15. Miles Gosztola gave up hits and two runs...