Charles Fischer

Northwestern wins 11-10 as Devin Bell gave up two hits, but a wild pitch set up a runner on third. Oregon stranded two on base to end the game.

10-10 after 11 innings. The Ducks' Tanner Bradley gave up a hit, but struck out three! Good-gosh the action on his pitches are something to see... And the Ducks strand bases-loaded!

10-10 after ten innings. Oregon's Luke Morgan got two outs, but gave up a hit and plinked a batter. With two on base, Tanner Bradley was brought in to get the third out...and did. Ducks strand two on base... On to the 11th!

10-10 after nine innings...we're going for more baseball! Oregon's Luke Morgan got it done again in the ninth, as his meltdown vs. Irvine is long in the past. Ryan Cooney hits the homer over the CF wall that ties it up! Unfortunately, the Ducks could not get any more to end the game.

10-9 Northwestern after eight innings. Luke Morgan got them 1-2-3, and looked good doing it. But Oregon had a man on, but struck out and hit into a double play--AAARRRG! Still have an inning.

10-9 Wildcats after seven innings. Oregon's Blake Crawford got in a jam, but Luke Morgan came in to pitch and generated a double-play to end the inning. I cannot believe what happened in this inning; Burke-Lee Mabeus walks, and Gabe Miranda is walked, and then Josh Schleichardt hits a zinger off the 3rd baseman mitt to score Mabeus. Then Jax Gimenez hits a short blooper into LF, and scores Miranda. Then Dominic Hellman comes up and blasts a dinger over the CF wall for a three-run homer! Two innings to go...Ducks can do it!

10-4 Wildcats after six innings. Well, Blake Crawford did something no Oregon pitcher has done in a while--kept them scoreless! Ryan Cooney hits to the LF wall on a sub/reliever Northwestern brought in, and Dominic Hellman blasted another out into the parking lot for two runs. Nope...no comeback predictions today!

10-2 Northwestern after five innings. Good Grief! Michael Meckna comes in and give up two homers, one a three-run shot. The entire Oregon pitching staff today is off, and they appeared to get progressively worse while the Wildcats are seeing the ball superbly. I do not sense a lack of effort, just some days--you get your butt-kicked. Coach Waz is waving the white flag early; he is already subbing the outfield, and true freshman pitcher Blake Crawford is coming in. (This could get even uglier)

6-2 Northwestern after four innings. EGADS! Our pitching staff is having a bad day, as Toby Twist comes in and gives up even more than Scolari. Whew! Michael Meckna replaced Twist to get the final out. And we can't hit-a-lick on offense. Lovely.

3-2 Northwestern after three innings. Cal Scolari got it done this inning, but he has a high pitch count with 70 pitches in just three innings. Nothing on offense...

3-2 Wildcats after two innings. Whoa! Cal Scolari lost control as he gave up a homer, a walk and two hits. Might not be very strong after his bout with the flu? Ducks strand Maddox Molony at second base...

2-0 Ducks after one inning. Cal Scolari was throwing 95 mph and even 96 mph, but adds a tough cutter, and a nasty curve-drop pitch to generate three strikeouts in just the first inning already! The opposing pitcher for the Wildcats has an issue with walks, and must have been nervous as he walked both Ryan Cooney and Jax Gimenez to start the game. Oregon makes them pay as Dominic Hellman nails a grounder through the right-infield to score Cooney. Drew Smith sacrifice-flies to score Gimenez!

Northwestern lined up their best pitcher today for their best chance to win. They will start Matt Kouser with an ERA of 2.57 vs. Oregon's Cal Scolari with an ERA of 2.37 who was absent last week because of the flu. This figures to be a tight, low-scoring game that either team could win. I give Oregon the edge with home field, and better batting averages. Oregon now has seven of their nine starters hitting over .300 and the Wildcats only have one. Cal Scolari Information I pulled from D1Baseball taken from their scouting of Cal Scolari at Oregon fall practices.... Cal Scolari showed as the top prospect for the Ducks. He’s a redshirt sophomore and 2026 draft-eligible who transferred from San Diego and was named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year last season (over then-teammate Logan Reddemann, who is now the ace for UCLA). The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Scolari is a good athlete with a loose arm. His other starter-type traits include two above-average pitches for strikes, a repeatable delivery with a loose, high leg lift and above average extension out front (6-foot-6 for Scolari with 6-foot-2 the MLB fastball average). His fastball touched 97 and sat 94-95 for much of his five-inning, eight-strikeout start on 84 pitches on a hitter’s day. And it’s just not a garden variety heater. It showed riding life and some swing-throughs at the top of the zone and had good carry, holding its plane down in the zone which resulted in some called third strikes. His 78-81 mph downer curveball is an even better pitch with up to -15” IVB depth and spin rates into the 2600s rpm. It’s a pitch he threw to both sides of the plate with success. He also flashed a promising 86-87 mph cutter/slider. Scolari looks to be building into another Friday option for a spot that’s already a strength for Oregon with Sanford as the current Ducks’ ace. At this point the industry has Scolari evaluated around the fifth round, but I saw a higher round prospect on my look. Time will tell what he turns out to be, but Scolari impressed during week four.

I understand the legality of your summary, and fully understand the major merits of the OSU-WSU argument: "You ten schools...you broke up the conference." Then those two schools go about destroying another conference to fit their objectives. (Mountain West) "You left only because of money--it is all you care about." And the two schools then sued to received over 300 million from the departing schools...of which very little was earned by OSU-WSU. The real-life contradictions?

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Ducks Go Deep Four Times to Clinch Series Win EUGENE, Ore. — For the second consecutive day, Oregon hit four home runs on its way to a win. The Ducks clinched the series against Northwestern with a 6-4 victory on Saturday in Big Ten Conference action at PK Park. Drew Smith, Gabe Miranda, Brayden Jaksa and Ryan Cooney all homered to lead the Ducks to the win. Collin Clarke (4-1) got the win matching a career-high 10 strikeouts in seven innings of work while allowing four runs on five hits with a pair of walks. Tanner Bradley and Devin Bell both tossed a scoreless inning with Bradly fanning two and Bell picking up his fifth save. How It Happened: A day after putting 10 runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning, Oregon (19-3, 7-1 B1G) took another first-inning lead. Smith slugged a two-out, two-run homer over the left-field wall for a 2-0 lead. Northwestern (7-11-1, 1-4 B1G) answered with a pair of runs in the top of the second, but Oregon got them right back plus one more in the bottom of the inning. Miranda and Jaksa hit back-to-back homers to center field that traveled a combined 875 feet. After Maddox Molony reached on a hit by pitch, Miranda hit a two-run homer that traveled just over 408 feet. Three pitches later, Jaksa one upped Miranda crushing a ball 467 feet over the center-field wall for a 5-2 lead. Ryan Cooney Ryan Cooney pushed the lead to 6-2 with a solo homer in the fourth over the center-field wall. Box Score Notes: The series win is the 12th in a row for the Ducks dating back to April 4-6, 2025 … Oregon has won 18 of 19 series since the beginning of last season … With his first inning home run, Smith extended his reached base streak to 22 games this season and 24 dating back to last season … Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBI, giving him 55 multiple-hit and 28 multiple-RBI games during his career … He moved into a tie with Anthony Hall (2020-22) for the ninth most multiple-RBI games and sits in eighth in multiple-hits games, one behind J.J. Altobelli (2010-13) and Mitchell Tolman (2013-15) for sixth all-time … Miranda went 2-for-3 with two RBI. On Deck: The Ducks will look for the series sweep against the Wildcats when they wrap up the series on Sunday at 12:05 p.m. (B1G+). Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On what he saw in the teams approach today… “I thought they did a nice job breaking down their starter for the second day in a row. The complaint I have is that I didn’t feel like we did a really good job of adjusting to the lefty they brought in. I thought he was a really competitive young guy. He pitched with a ton of emotion and spirit. I thought he threw really well, and we could have adjusted a little bit better to him. Nevertheless, it seemed like a complete game. The pitching was good, the defense was good, so was the hitting, and the bullpen work was good.” On if bringing the offensive energy into today after scoring 20 runs yesterday was difficult… “I don’t know. Every day is different; every day is a new day. It’s hard to score 20 runs two days in a row. I don’t know how many times that has ever happened. It’s hard to score 20 runs to begin with. Every day is a little unique. That was the pregame message: ‘What challenges is the game going to bring us today?’ Yesterday is dead, and now today is dead. We’re onto tomorrow.” On Collin Clarke’s start… “He had a really good start. He made a couple of mistakes, and the only mistakes he made today were in two-strike counts where he left a fastball in a place that he wasn’t trying to put it. They capitalized on those, but he made some big pitches. He is a tremendous competitor, and that’s obvious.” On Gabe Miranda reaching every time he came to the plate… “I thought he was the offensive player of the day. There were some other really good offensive performances. There were several guys who got into balls and hit them out of the park, but we need Gabe moving forward. He’s a tremendous leader and a clubhouse guy. I thought he swung the bat really well today.” Drew Smith Drew Smith On his thoughts on the game… “It was a good, competitive game. I thought Collin pitched his butt off, and the hitters did a really good job pounding baseballs that were in the zone. I think we could have done a better job against that lefty and adjusting to what he was doing, but all around, I think it was a solid game.” On the message after yesterday’s game… “Each day is a new day, so we can’t let something like that soften us up and think it’s going to be easy. We wanted to attack and do the same thing that we do day in and day out.” On how important it was for him to hit that home run in the first inning… “I think every situation like that is clutch and critical to get the guys going, especially in the first inning. It’s great to get the ball rolling and give Collin some cushion.” On having Angel Laya hitting behind him… “It really takes me back to my freshman year because I was hitting behind Tanner Smith. Getting to see him work at-bats and do that kind of thing gives you an extra layer of confidence going into your at-bat. I think I definitely rub off on Angel in the right way. He’s just a great kid, and I love talking to him every day. Any nuggets of knowledge I can give him, I’m all in.” Gabe Miranda On what's been working for him at the plate... “Having some good conversations with Coach (Jack) Marder, taking some of the pressure off, and realizing that we’re just playing a game. Trying to have as much fun as possible and enjoy the ride.” On having impressive at-bats but a lower batting average... “Just by taking it one pitch at a time. Baseball is one of the hardest games in my opinion because you can go 0-4 for four lineouts and have nothing to show for it, and your average is going to drop, but you can go home as happy as can be because you know that you won that battle between you vs. the pitcher and that you scored four balls today; you can't do much about it.” Gabe Miranda On if he felt that he earned his home run... “Definitely, I saw two change-ups early, and I saw them both well. All day we were talking about if you're ahead in the count to look for your pitch, and he threw my pitch, and I put a good swing on it. Everything was just so simple about it; it was awesome.” Devin Bell On how he is settling into the role of closer with five saves now… “It’s good so far, and having the defense behind me is great. Those saves don’t mean much to me. It’s more of a team stat, I think. Today is a good example. Two pop flies to Brooks in centerfield and one groundball to Drew. They got the outs, and I just had to throw it down the middle.” On having Will, Collin, and Cal as the starting rotation… “Having Clarke, Will, and Cal on the mound is just insane. That is probably one of the best rotations in the country. Having them ahead of you, knowing that they are going to keep the lead most of the time, is a great feeling. All I have to do is go in and do my job.” On if the UC Irvine game helped him acclimate to the Division 1 level… “I still think about that game to this day. I think it was good for me to experience that, and now it’s in the past, and I keep looking forward. I grew from it, and that’s all I can do.” On pitching behind Tanner Bradley… “I love it. Tanner and I offset each other really well. He is a big change-up guy, and I go out there and pound fastballs and sliders. We work well back-to-back, I think.”