Charles Fischer

Great information Jon…my bad.

So if I understand it, and that’s not certain… Regardless of our game with Michigan State, the game with Nebraska decides who goes to the semifinals? Because even if we lost to Michigan State, but beat Nebraska, we would be tied with the cornhuskers, and the Spartans, but would advance as the higher seed. Although… If if we beat the Spartans, and lose to Nebraska and we are tied again with the cornhuskers and would advance automatically? I have not got the rules of all this down yet!

The star pitcher for Michigan State, and the B1G Pitcher of the Year, Joseph Dzierwa, started against Nebraska and went deep into the game. He left after 105 pitches, so he won't be pitching against Oregon on Thursday. MSU was up 4-3 a few minutes ago...

Ducks lost to Northwestern 3-2... Northwestern and Golf? Congrats to them, and good for the B1G...

Oregon is leading in three matches to two...but five holes to play yet. Anyone's match...

Since the entire topic of the thread was about Conference championships, I’m not certain why the capital cup was brought into the discussion…

We play fellow B1G member Northwestern to advance to the final.

An Sends Oregon To NCAA Semifinals CARLSBAD, Calif. – Oregon advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Women's Golf Championships for the second year in a row Tuesday as freshman Tong An won on a second playoff hole to secure a 3-2 victory over Texas and keep the Ducks' national-title hopes alive at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa. No. 2 seed Oregon will face No. 3 seed Northwestern in the semifinals beginning at 2:05 p.m., with the winner advancing to Wednesday's national championship match. Golf Channel will have live coverage of the semifinals beginning at 3 p.m. After sophomores Kiara Romero and Ting-Hsuan Huang won their matches to put two points on the board for the Ducks, the Longhorns earned two points of their own to bring the match down to An and Texas' Lauren Kim. An was 4 up through 10 holes before Kim won four of the next five to pull the match even. The match remained tied going to the 18th and An stuck her approach shot to set up a birdie putt to win the match, but rolled it just left of the cup to send the match back to the par-3 16th for a playoff hole. An and Kim both hit the green on 16 and An had another putt for the win, but again just missed. The pair went to the 17th for a second playoff hole, and both players found the fairway off the tee. Kim's approach was just off the back of the green while An landed hers in the middle before lagging her birdie putt up to just a few feet. Kim's putt from the fringe raced past the hole, and she missed the comebacker to give An a third shot at winning the match for the Ducks. She buried the putt in the middle of the cup as her teammates erupted in excitement. The Ducks were moving on. Romero was the first point on the board for Oregon, recovering from a slow start after being 2 down through three holes to win, 3&1 over Bohyun Park. The Big Ten Golfer of the Year battled back to 1 down through eight holes before winning the next four to take a commanding 3 up lead, and she was 2 up through 16 before winning the 17th to secure the point. Huang was 1 down through eight holes before draining a long birdie putt on No. 9 to pull all square. The sophomore caught fire from there, making another long putt on No. 10 to fuel a run of five straight holes won to take a 4 up lead. Texas' Angela Heo won at No. 14 to get a hole back, but Huang matched her shot-for-shot over the next three holes to win, 3&2, and set the stage for An's dramatics. NCAA Quarterfinal – No. 2 Oregon def. No. 7 Texas, 3-2 Kiara Romero (Oregon) def. Bohyun Park (Texas), 3&1 Tong An (Oregon) def. Lauren Kim (Texas), 1 up (20 holes) Cindy Hsu (Texas) def. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (Oregon), 1 up Farah O'Keefe (Texas) def. Karen Tsuru (Oregon), 1 up Ting-Hsuan Huang (Oregon) def. Angela Heo (Texas), 3&2

A link right here updates you on the match-play progress, of which begins soon!

The Women of the Greens are now in the National Semi-Finals this afternoon against Northwestern, and if they win--they will be in finals tomorrow!

As HDuck pointed out...those standings reward teams with the most programs, in addition to their finish. Are they looking at the real regular season winner, or the silly tournament champion? And the nationals for the spring sports have not occured yet, where Oregon will prevail with Softball, Baseball, Track, and the Womens Gold Championship is happening today and tomorrow. So that is not accurate yet... Oregon does not even participate in Hockey, Lacrosse, Swimming, Diving, Wrestling, etc. For the number of programs we have....the bang-for-the-buck is the best.

Wasikowski named top B1G Coach; 10 Ducks earn All-B1G honors including league-high five first-teamers Omaha, Neb. – Heading into the Big Ten Tournament, Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski has been named the conference’s coach of the year, while a Big-Ten high 10 Duck players have garnered all-league recognition including a league-best five first-team selections. Starting pitcher Grayson Grinsell, relief pitcher Seth Mattox, first baseman Jacob Walsh, second baseman Ryan Cooney (at-large) and outfielder Mason Neville claimed first-team honors. The five first-team selections tied the 2021 team for the most in the modern era of Ducks’ baseball and the 10 all-league members are the most ever in Oregon baseball history. The Ducks placed four players on the conference’s third team and one player on the all-freshman team. Starting pitcher Jason Reitz, shortstop Maddox Molony, outfielder Anson Aroz and designated hitter Dominic Hellman all are on the third team, while catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus earned a spot on the all-freshman team. Cooney was also honored with the Ducks’ sportsmanship award, with one member of each team having a representative. Wasikowski earned the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year award after leading Oregon to a tie for the league regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament. Oregon finished the regular season with a 41-13 record and a 22-8 Big Ten record, tying for the most conference wins in Oregon baseball history. Under Wasikowski’s leadership, the Ducks have already set school records for home runs and RBI this season, while also sitting just eight runs scored, four walks and seven stolen bases shy of setting school records in each of those categories. Oregon’s 41 wins are already tied for the fourth most in program history. Heading into the conference tournament, Wasikowski has Oregon ranked as high as second in the major college baseball polls and no lower than sixth. Grinsell, Oregon’s Friday night starter, claimed his first first-team all-league honor after earning spots on the all-regional tournament teams each of the last two seasons. Grinsell boasts a 9-2 record and a 2.33 ERA with 93 strikeouts in 88.2 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .185 batting average. In Big Ten games, Grinsell has been even better. The Ducks’ lefty leads the league in wins (7), ERA (1.36), batting average against (.167), WHIP (0.86) while ranking second in strikeouts 70. Mattox, who has emerged as Oregon’s closer over the last month, finished the regular season with a 2-1 record with a 2.60 ERA and seven saves in 19 appearances. He has held opposing hitters to a .169 batting average. In 10 appearances in Big Ten games Mattox has been even better, going 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA with four saves and a .100 batting average against. Named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy honoring college baseball’s top player, Walsh has had a monster senior season for the Ducks. The first baseball leads the team in batting average (.344) while belting a career-high 19 home runs (tied for 4th in the B1G) and driving in a career-best 59. He has 34 extra-base (17 2B) hits on the season and is slugging .688 while reaching base at a .451 clip with eight stolen bases. In league games, Walsh is slashing .352/.432/.680 with 10 homers and 10 doubles. Neville, a semifinalist for both the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award, finished the regular season leading the nation in both home runs (26) and home runs per game (0.49). The Ducks’ centerfielder is slashing .302/.446/.774 with a 1.220 OPS. Neville shattered Oregon’s single-season home run record with eight more than the old record heading to the tournament. Cooney, a sophomore from Portland, closed the season on a tear, improving his batting average by 64 points from March 29 to the end of the regular season. The Ducks’ second baseman earned Big Ten Conference Player of the Week two of the last three weeks of the regular season. He finished his sophomore campaign second on the team in batting with a .341 average while homering five times with 47 RBI and 42 runs scored out of the eight-hole in the lineup. In conference games, Cooney slashed .333/.452/500 with a .952 OPS. Another homer for Mason Neville! Reitz, who permanently became a weekend starter midway through the season, finished the regular season unbeaten (5-0) with the Ducks winning all 10 games he started. In addition to the 5-0 record, he has a 3.09 ERA in 15 appearances with a save, 59 strikeouts in 58.1 innings of work while holding opposing hitters to a .221 batting average. In conference games, he has been even better, going 4-0 with a 2.60 ERA. He fanned a batter per inning in 45.0 innings and held opponents to a .220 average. His ERA is the second best amongst starting pitchers in the Big Ten, trailing only Grinsell. Molony, a two-time all-league selection in his two seasons at Oregon, slashed .309/.407/.581 with a .988 OPS during the regular season. He belted 15 home runs, good for 10th all-time in a single season at Oregon, while driving in 44 runs, scoring 41 times and swiping 10 bags in 10 attempts. He ran his career total in home runs to 25, which is already tied for sixth in program history. During league games, Molony hit eight of his homers while batting .297 with 24 RBI and 19 runs scored. He reached base at a .378 clip while slugging .550. Aroz, who graduated following the winter term at Oregon, batted .261 with 16 home runs, 49 RBI and 52 runs scored. His 16 long balls rank in a tie for eighth all-time in a season at Oregon and his 23 career homers is ninth all-time at UO. Aroz slugged nine of his home runs in Big Ten play while batting .264 with 22 RBI and s7 runs scored. Hellman, who led the Ducks with a program record three grand slams, batted .304 with 12 home runs, 41 RBI and 40 runs scored while reaching base at a .407 clip and slugging .550. The Ducks’ DH had nine extra-base hits (5 HR, 4 2B) in 23 Big Ten Conference starts while slashing .295/.382/.495 with an .877 OPS. Mabeus, who served as Oregon’s primary catcher starting 24 games behind the plate, was the only backstop named to the Big Ten Conference All-Freshman Team. He batted .260 with eight extra-base hits (5 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR) with 23 RBI and 26 runs scored. He claimed Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week honors once during the season while also hitting a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of game three against UCLA which helped Oregon clinch the series and eventual top seed in the Big Ten Tournament.

The schedule is right here, and we play Michigan State on Thursday at 4:00 PM PST. That was a GREAT article explaining it, and I thank 30Duck for posting it. From the article... "If a team goes 2-0 in their pool, they’d obviously win the pool, but if every team goes 1-1 in pool play, the top-seeded team in the pool would automatically advance. That means the Ducks really only need one win to advance to the semifinals, and they’ll have the knowledge of which game they have to win before it’s played. Nebraska and Michigan State will face off on Tuesday. The loser will not have a path to the semifinal so, Oregon could lose to that team, and have it not impact its tournament. The Ducks will only have to beat the winner of the Nebraska/Michigan State game to advance, but they have to win that game. Otherwise, that other team would be 2-0 and claim the Pool A spot in the semifinals. This gives Oregon a massive pitching advantage. The Ducks will be able to save their ace, Grayson Grinsell, for the game against the winner of the MSU/Nebraska game and treat the other game as a bullpen game." Grayson Grinsell

Truly, the old B1G members have no idea what they are in for. The truth is--West Coast teams will take a disproportionate number of B1G titles, and have done so right from the beginning. In Baseball, no other B1G team was even in the last rankings...other than Oregon and UCLA. In Softball, it is better with Ohio State at No. 22, and Nebraska at No. 19, but the real representation nationally for the conference was from UCLA at No. 9, and of course....Our Beloved Ducks at No. 6 in the most recent poll. This last weekend saw Oregon softball win their Regional, Duck Baseball win as co-champions....with fellow West Coast member UCLA, Mens Track take the B1G title, and Womens Track come from one injured runner away from winning it away from another West Coast team in USC. Heck, even Washington won the Rowing B1G Championship this last weekend! Last summer--I was reading what the B1G pundits were writing about Oregon and the West Coast teams joining the conference and I was ASTOUNDED at how little they knew about us. They went with stereotypes, and erroneous assumptions--I was shocked at the massive lack of knowledge. It was at that moment I knew that the time-zone thing was REAL. People outside the west did not know us, did not watch us, and did not care until now. Only now are they beginning to realize that the old Pac-12 was not what was portrayed in the media, or certainly was not weak as they thought. Not only was it truly the "Conference of Champions," the receipts are beginning to pile up in the Indianapolis B1G offices already. Many will categorize it as the "West Coast Teams are helping the B1G, and being a part of this conference is helping those teams as well." And that is true, but what is also true is how West Coast teams are going to be taking over many sports beyond what they already dominate. Our recruiting window, exposure and funding has been expanded, and now everyone is going to see what will happen when those elements are helping these great, if underappreciated athletic programs in the west. You can make a very strong case that Oregon has the best overall athletic program in the B1G, and some would say it is not even close.

See updates further down the thread... ----------------------------------------------------------- Ducks Advance To NCAA Match Play As No. 2 Seed CARLSBAD, Calif. – For the second year in a row and third time since 2022, Oregon has advanced through stroke play and will compete in match play at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships. Behind a stellar 7-under 65 from Big Ten Golfer of the Year Kiara Romero, the No. 5 Ducks tied for the best score of Monday’s final round of stroke play with a 4-under 284 to earn the No. 2 seed in Tuesday’s match-play quarterfinals at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa. Oregon will face No. 7 seed Texas beginning at 7:40 a.m. PT, with the winner moving on to play either No. 3 seed Northwestern or No. 6 seed Arkansas in the semifinals later in the day. Oregon finished four rounds of stroke play at 6-under par, second only to top-ranked Stanford (-27) and eight strokes better than Northwestern for third. The Ducks will aim to reach the NCAA semifinals once again after winning their quarterfinal match against LSU a year ago at Omni La Costa. “Very thankful for the opportunity to return to match play,” head coach Derek Radley said. “Just extremely proud to finish with that second seed after stroke play in a really talented field. I saw some really great things from our team and I thought we really did a good job of sticking to our game plan." “We were able to make a run to that final four last year and we’re just really excited to be back and see what we’re able to do tomorrow.” Romero caught fire for the Ducks after shooting 2-over par through the first three rounds, making five birdies and an eagle to tie for the lowest individual round of the week. The national player of the year candidate flew 20 spots up the leaderboard to finish as the top Duck in a tie for eighth overall at 5-under par, breaking her own UO 72-hole scoring record from last year (-4). “Kiara is really special,” Radley said. “I saw that look in her eye today. Excited to get that momentum for her going into match play and be able to use that to set the tone for the rest of our lineup.” Kiara Romero How it Happened: The Ducks entered the final round of stroke play in third place and six shots back of Northwestern for second. Oregon matched the first-place Cardinal with the best round of the day at 4 under, while the Wildcats carded a 10-over 298 as UO quickly separated to secure the No. 2 seed. Romero got off to a hot start and never looked back, making par on the opening hole before carding a birdie at No. 2. A 3-wood up to the fringe on the par-5 sixth hole set up an easy up-and-down for her second birdie, and she stuck her approach shot on No. 9 before draining the birdie putt to make the turn at 3 under. Fireworks ensued from there, as the sophomore chipped in for eagle at No. 10 before her approach shot on No. 11 lipped out for a potential eagle. A tap-in birdie brought her to 6 under overall and 4 under in that three-hole stretch, and she made a lengthy birdie putt at No. 14 before finishing with four consecutive pars. It was the team-leading 16th sub-70 performance of the season for Romero, who shot par-or-better in three of four rounds of stroke play and has done so 26 times in 32 total rounds this season. She has now placed in the individual top 10 at the NCAA Championships in each of her first two collegiate seasons, after tying for sixth as a freshman last spring. Romero was joined in the top 10 by freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, who tied for 10th overall at 4-under par after closing with a 1-under 71. Vinijchaitham was Oregon’s most consistent performer throughout stroke play, shooting par-or-better in all four rounds and making 14 total birdies against just 10 bogeys. Vinijchaitham was even through 15 holes before a terrific tee shot on the par-3 16th set up a birdie to get to 1 under, and she finished out with a pair of pars to officially seal Oregon’s spot in match play. Freshman Tong An got off to a quick start with two birdies in her first five holes before finishing with a 1-over 71, and sophomore Ting-Hsuan Huang rounded out the counting scores with a 3-over 75. Huang gave Oregon three players in the individual top 20, tying for 20th overall at 1 over with three rounds of par-or-better. Sophomore Karen Tsuru was back in the lineup for the Ducks, carding a 4-over 76 after sitting out Sunday’s round due. Tsuru and An have both dealt with back soreness this week, with junior Anika Varma subbing in once for each and shooting even par on both Saturday and Sunday. That depth could prove critical for the Ducks as they hope to battle through 36 holes on Tuesday and advance to the national championship match on Wednesday. “We’ve battled some adversity this week and it’s really been a team effort with all six of our players stepping up,” Radley said. “I’m really proud of the way Karen and AT have hung in there and Anika has done a tremendous job staying prepared. All three will be ready to go tomorrow and I know whoever is in there is going to give it their best shot.” Ducks on the Leaderboard: 3. #5 Oregon – 288-289-285-284 – 1,146 (-6) T8. Kiara Romero – 72-74-72-65 – 283 (-5) T10. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham – 71-72-70-71 – 284 (-4) T20. Ting-Hsuan Huang – 71-72-71-75 – 289 (+1) NA. Tong An – 74-Sub-73-73 – 210 (+4) NA. Karen Tsuru – 74-73-Sub-76 – 213 (+7) NA. Anika Varma – Sub-72-72-Sub – 144 (E) What it Means: The Ducks will need to win twice on Tuesday to advance to the NCAA national championship match for the second time in four seasons, after finishing as the runner-up to Stanford in 2022. Oregon’s trip to the semifinals last spring earned them opportunities to get valuable match-play experience in the fall, when the Ducks played in championship settings at the East Lake Cup and the Jackson T. Stephens Cup. UO has three players – Romero, Huang and Tsuru – back from that team that reached the semifinals last year. Up Next: The Ducks and Longhorns will square off beginning on hole No. 1 at 7:40 a.m. Golf Channel will have live coverage of the quarterfinals from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with coverage of the semifinals from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. NCAA Quarterfinals - #2 Oregon vs. #7 Texas Kiara Romero (Oregon) vs. Bohyun Park (Texas) – 7:40 a.m. Tong An (Oregon) vs. Lauren Kim (Texas) – 7:50 a.m. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (Oregon) vs. Cindy Hsu (Texas) – 8:00 a.m. Karen Tsuru (Oregon) vs. Farah O’Keefe (Texas) – 8:10 a.m. Ting-Hsuan Huang (Oregon) vs. Angela Heo (Texas) – 8:20 a.m.

My Duck-Buddies...I was WRONG about what I wrote above concerning UCLA getting an advantage with pitching. I called and talked with the Sports Information Director for Baseball in the Athletic department, and I've talked with him often over the years, and he writes up the press releases that I insert into posts after the games. When I voiced my concerns...he told me that I was misunderstanding a couple of items, and it starts with the Pool format itself. He explained that all the conference coaches help design it, and vote on it of which Waz was a part of. The second point is pitchers being used on Tuesday and Wednesday by the Bruins will NOT be used on the weekend. Why? Because at the end of a season--they give their starting pitchers a full week to rest...not four or five days, as I thought. The third point was how everyone will not mess up their pitching for the NCAA Regionals the next week. UCLA, nor Oregon will run a starter on Sunday, and pitch him again on the following Friday or Saturday. The focus is on the Playoffs, and winning the B1G Tournament is a bonus. He said that ALL teams will be short of experienced pitchers, that we are all in the same boat. I feel a TON better now, and he emphasized that we want to win the B1G Tournament, but not at the expense of a Regional game. But we are certainly going-for-it in Omaha this week... We'll see Jason Reitz...

It's fun watching the early days of the B1G Baseball Tournament...

The New B1G...

Here only nine months, and the Ducks captured EIGHT B1G Championships? Oregon has eight championships, USC and UCLA have three each, and Washington has one, for a total of 15 championships for the four West Coast teams. The rest of the Old B1G have 18 championships among the remaining 14 teams, with Ohio State leading them with four.

So...(above) we are new, and you give us less revenue, so we will fight for more! Fourteen teams that KNEW last August that they will keep Oregon in its place...

Football, then Basketball, and now Softball?