Charles Fischer

Grinsell Dominant in Ducks Win Over UCLA EUGENE, Ore. — Grayson Grinsell picked a nice time to put together his best career outing. The Ducks’ ace tossed a complete-game two-hitter to lead No. 16 Oregon to a 2-1 Big Ten Conference win over No. 10 UCLA at PK Park on Friday night in game one of the series in front of 3,524 fans. Grinsell’s complete game was the first of his career, besting his previous career high of 7.0 innings pitched. His first seven-inning outing came in a regional tournament win at UC Santa Barbara last season where he held the No. 18 Gauchos scoreless on just three hits. His second came earlier this season in Oregon’s 7-0 win at Ohio State where he gave up just three hits. Grinsell moved to 6-1 on the season and dropped his ERA to 3.02, while striking out seven and walking just one. He remained undefeated (5-0) in Big Ten games with a stellar 1.84 ERA. How It Happened: Oregon (26-10, 13-6 Big Ten) took the lead with a run in the bottom of the third. Ryan Cooney led off the inning with a single, stole second and then scored on a two-out Dominic Hellman single. Hellman made it a two-run game in the sixth when he led off the inning with a solo home run, his 10th of the season. UCLA (28-9, 12-4) threatened to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Shortstop Roch Cholowsky led off the frame with a solo home run and then, with two outs, right fielder Drew Smith robbed the Bruins of a tying home run when he reached above the wall and caught the ball for the final out. The defensive gem was the second of the game by Smith. In the third inning, he turned what could have been a first and third with one out situation into a runner on third with two outs when he threw behind Cashel Dugger for an out when he made a wide turn at first on the Bruins only other hit of the game. Box Score Notes: The announced attendance (3,524) was the 26th largest crown in PK Park history with three of the last four home crowds all ranking in the top 26 … Grinsell’s seven Ks moved his career total to 229, allowing him to pass Tommy Thorpe (2012-14) for fourth all-time at Oregon … Hellman went 2-for-4 with two RBI, giving him 12 multiple-hit games this season and 17 in his career … He now has eight multiple-RBI games this year and 11 in his career … Smith went 2-for-3 giving him four multi-hit games this season and 37 in his career … Cooney reached twice (1-for-2, BB) and swiped a pair of bags, marking the first time he was had multiple stolen bases in a game in his career. On Deck: The teams meet again on Saturday with a 2:05 p.m. first pitch (B1G+). Grayson Grinsell Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On Grayson Grinsell’s performance… “You’re only as good as your starting pitcher, and Grayson was really good today. The last outing, it seems like a month ago, was Ian Umlandt, who was fantastic. Two great games in the last two days. One was a nine-inning one where Grayson was in command. The defense was really good, and I thought Anson Aroz was fantastic out in left field today.” On Ryan Cooney’s performance… “He played tremendous defense. I think he was able to steal a couple of bases. They probably got the better of him in his last at-bat, but the ones before that, he set the table with a good base hit. They pitched out on him three different times before he stole, and he was able to read the pitch out and not get picked off or back-picked on the pitch out. He was able to steal even when they countered with their best plays to try to keep him from stealing. Cooney’s just a very good baseball player and a solid team leader. I can’t say enough good things about Ryan. He’s playing to date, although we might have a guy leading with home runs in the country, Ryan could make an argument for being the MVP of the club right now; he’s played that well.” On Dominic Hellman’s performance… “He’s just a different kind of hitter than some of the other guys. Some of the other guys have bigger swings, but when you face really high-quality pitching, a lot of the time the chart just turns into a base hit, and someone who’s got a line drive type of a swing instead of maybe the bigger swing. Dom ran into a ball today, which was great for a bigger swing. But, he was also really short to a ball, and he got one for his first RBI of the day, on a two-RBI day.” Grayson Grinsell On what this performance meant... “It means everything, you know. I mean, as a starting pitcher, it’s what you want. You want to go out there and throw all nine, that’s what you try to do every time, and today was my lucky day. “ On first game against a top 10 team since Stanford in 2023... “Yeah, obviously (Jace) Stoffal and (Logan) Mercado going back-to-back complete games, that series was fun to watch. But it’s fun to play against top 10 ranked teams, you know. We’re right there with them, we can compete with anyone in the country. It doesn’t matter, we’re going to play against the game and not try to play the opponent. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.” Drew Smith Dominic Hellman On driving in both Oregon runs... “It was cool. It was a fun, competitive Friday night game. We all know that in the world of college baseball, Friday night is going to be the toughest matchup in the whole series. It was nice to have the boys just come together in a way.” On hitting double-digit home runs... “It just means that I got a good support system behind me. Trusting in my work, sticking with my process, and the boys picking me up. I like to kind of give all my personal accolades to my team. Kind of shows how we all get after it during practice.” Drew Smith On momentum at the plate... “Yeah, I feel good. I feel like I’m seeing the ball pretty well, seeing it deep. Marder has a really good plan with us, pregame meetings and stuff like that. So, we have a good idea of what the guy throws, what he likes to do, so just kind of sticking to my approach and just execute.”

Ducks win 2-1 on the most heroic effort of Grayson Grinsell's career! On a day where the UCLA pitchers held Oregon to just two runs...Grinsell went all-nine innings, and even put the Bruin batters out 1-2-3 in the ninth! It is Oregon's first win this season over a ranked opponent, and it is just sweet.

2-1 Ducks after eight innings! Oregon's Grayson Grinsell has been tough on Bruin batters, as he now has 76 pitches, held UCLA to nothing in the eighth, and is out on the mound for the ninth. Can he complete the victory? Wowsa. What great drama!

2-1 Ducks after seven innings, as UCLA got a dinger at the bottom of the inning. Grayson Grinsell is back out there for the eighth inning, and has 76 pitches thus far, and has gone just over 100 pitches before...can he hold the Bruins off?

I can't say enough about the pitching of Grayson Grinsell, as Oregon could be down 5-2, 6-2, etc, but he has held UCLA to nothing, while the Ducks are barely scoring. If he stays locked in like this--he might be able to go eight innings?

2-0 Ducks after six innings, as we get a DOM-BOMB from Oregon's Dominic Hellman against the UCLA reliever. We have the PK Park fence, and then there is 20 yards, and then another fence that borders the parking lot. Hellman it over the parking lot fence! Whew!

1-0 Ducks after five innings, as the pitching duel continues. Great crowd on a beautiful day.

1-0 Ducks after four innings as both opposing pitchers generate ground-outs, and fly-balls. Oregon's Grayson Grinsell has only about 50 pitches, so he might be able to go deep into the game. (Hope so!)

1-0 Ducks after three innings! Grinsell continues to keep UCLA at bay, while Ryan Cooney got a hit, and then stole second as Dominic Hellman got a hit, and put Oregon on the board!

0-0 after two innings. No surprise--the Bruin pitcher is tough, but so is Oregon's Grayson Grinsell!

Molony named to Brooks Wallace Award Watch List EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon shortstop Maddox Molony is one of 100 players named to the 2025 Brooks Wallace Award watch list, which was released Friday by the College Baseball Foundation. The award honors the nation’s top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year. It was named for former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who played for the Red Raiders from 1977 to 1980. Wallace died of leukemia at the age of 27. Molony, a sophomore from Springfield, is batting a team-best .352 with 11 home runs and 31 RBI. He has reached base at a .442 clip while slugging .664. In Big Ten Conference games, the Thurston High School product is slashing .366/.423/.662 with six home runs and 18 RBI. He has a team-best 16 multiple-hit games during the season while posting seven multiple-RBI games. In 2024, Molony became just the second Oregon freshman, and first position player, ever to be named first-team All-Pac-12 Conference. The all-league honor came after Molony etched his name in Oregon’s record books earlier in the season setting a freshman program record with 10 home runs. He finished his freshman campaign batting .315 with 31 RBI and 32 runs scored.

I do not see any glaring open holes in the lineup that are not already filled by transfers, and young-guns getting their turn. Like...A'Mauri Washington

For the first time this season...Oregon is the underdog, and it would be against former Pac-12 foe UCLA, thus I think we will see inspired performances from Our Beloved Ducks. We will need it! While our Friday night starter, Grayson Grinsell, has had a great stretch and moved his ERA from nearly 7 down to 3.38, the Bruin starter Wylan Moss has an incredible ERA of 2.43, the lowest the Ducks have faced this season. Gonna have to manufacture runs! And play great defense.... Not this base!

Hey! I gotta change my attitude...."it is good for the conference."

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He is shaky, mentally. If you don't believe me, ask Texas Tech fans. (I got a Red Raider buddy who has given me an earful..."what did you send us?")

The word is that Oregon does not have room for this receiver.

Look, I know this stuff may almost be routine in the future, but for me--the recruiting competition with four players has me dazzled, and bumping into walls. These four are ALL Rivals 5-Stars, which is the most difficult ranking service to qualify to be a 5-Star. Oregon has an excellent shot at landing two of the four, since they are at two different positions. Jared Curtis, QB, is deciding May 5th, and it is down to Georgia and Oregon. It is tough battle, that looked like distance may knock us out, but now we are back in it and even with the Bulldogs. After he decides....Oregon has a shot to get the verbal from Rivals 5-Star QB Ryder Lyons, and this is truly a good-or-good situation. The finalists for this superbly talented player is Oregon and USC. There is rumor that Curtis may come to the Spring Game? If so--that would be B1G... At Blindside offensive tackle the Ducks are after Rivals 5-Stars Jackson Cantwell and Immanuel Iheanacho, and again--we are right there on both, but the competition is hot. Cantwell is coming to the Spring Game on the 26th, and decides on the 30th which should bode well for the Ducks. But the 'Mo is with Miami right now, because it appears they made him a monster NIL offer. I was ready to count us out until I learned he is coming to Oregon's Spring Game. Iheanacho has been a Maryland lean by many sources, because that is where he resides, and Our Beloved Ducks have to overcome the distance issue...a B1G one. But we are in it! The Ducks have been finalists two years in the row for the best O-Line in the nation, and with that rep comes some swagger for recruiting that not many schools have right now. Oregon will not get all four, at best--one at each position. But you know how this can go--we can get shut out of both positions too. I just can't believe how we are closing in on 5-Star or 5-Star....at two positions! Not something we have witnessed before...routine for Georgia, Alabama, or Ohio State. But Oregon? I'm in Shock at the Recruiting...

And GOOD weather forecasted!

The Bruins needed to do something to attract attention...

Gotta dodge the bad ones... At Oregon...we learn to DUCK

When you have defensive backs as talented and deep as Oregon has...the question is not "if," but "who?" While I am disappointed at Pleasant leaving....it means he was passed up on the depth chart by someone even better, which is cool for the team. Someone like Rivals 5-Star Na'eem Offord?

We also have some superb batting averages, as for the projected starters... Maddox Molony .352 Jacob Walsh .331 Mason Neville .328 Ryan Cooney .324 Dominic Hellman .318 Carter Garate .306 Jeffrey Heard .286 Anson Aroz .268 Chase Meggers .222 Meggers was one of our best hitters last year, and is coming back from injury--and he'll be back over .300 eventually. Ditto for Heard, and Anson Aroz has an incredible OPS of 995, which combines hitting percentage, slugging percentage, and getting on base percentage from walks and hit-by-pitches. Burke-Lee Mabeus is another catcher who fills in for Meggers, and is hitting .308. And the heck of it is...this team has a ton of upside left! The Pride of Springfield, Maddox Molony!

Good stuff, and you beat me to it, as I was going to review this tomorrow. The good news is that the two major leaders above us in the standings, (UCLA and Iowa) are on Oregon's schedule, thus we have the chance to catch them. Playing Beavis helps both our RPI, and theirs, and both teams need it. I think a major element contributing to the team's frustrations are how the Ducks' team mental attitude has been, "we are the hunted." In every telecast you hear how the other team would "have our greatest ranked win in years by beating Oregon," thus we got everyone's best shot. Ohio State pitchers were bad before they played us, and have been bad since...but when they played us--they threw out of their mind to beat us. It reminds me of a few years ago when we had a good pitcher, but not great. Against a highly ranked Stanford team...he pitched the game-of-his-life and went nine innings to shut them down. He never did that before, and never did it again, but going up against the best brought out his best. I now believe that is now going to happen for Oregon, as we are No. 16 in the nation with D1Baseball, while UCLA is No. 10 and Oregon State is No. 6. Now, "we are the hunter," for once this season, and thus I think we will see our best baseball emerge from Our Beloved Ducks. These next two weeks will decide a ton for the entire season.... Grayson Grinsell has his ERA down to 3.37!