Charles Fischer

Oh Yeah!

Amen: Decision-making is what separates QBs in my opinion. They all have talent, but when to throw and where....

That Michigan was in the 'Natty championship games as recent as 2019...points to cold weather teams as "possible" as Oregon State has done three times.

Those are the throwbacks to 1954, the last time we made the College World Series and I love them too. Jacob Walsh

I agree with you, as I am often stunned at the superb coverage on B1G+ of Wrestling, Hockey....and Lacrosse! The former Pac-12 teams are going to complement the B1G, by bringing our power to sports they have been traditionally weak at. Besides Baseball, the four former Pac-12 schools will DOMINATE in softball, and I am OK with this as we can schedule non-conference to build our RPI, and have enough credibility before joining the B1G to host our own regional if we win as much as before. We are cold-weather teams, and always have been, thus Oregon fits in fine. Mason Neville hit a stunning home run this last weekend in the driving rain. That's a Duck!

His first week playing, and gets conference freshman of the week already? "Greatness and Weakness Emerge Early" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EUGENE, Ore. – Coming off a series win over Rhode Island, Oregon catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus has been named the Big Ten Conference Co-Freshman of the Week. Mabeus (Henderson, Nev.) started a pair of games behind the plate for the Ducks leading Oregon to wins in both games while slashing .444/.500/.778 with a 1.278 OPS. He slugged his first career home run, a grand slam, while driving in a team-high eight runs with two runs scored and a stolen base. In a 19-12 win in game two of a doubleheader on Saturday, the Ducks’ freshman went 1-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Mabeus tied the game at eight in the bottom of the fourth when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, before adding an RBI single in the Ducks four-run fifth inning. On Sunday in Oregon’s 15-2 series clinching win, Mabeus went 3-for-4 with a home run, six RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. He gave Oregon the lead in the bottom of the first with a two-run single before swiping second base. After adding a leadoff single in the third inning, the Ducks’ catcher broke the game open belting a two-out grand slam to push Oregon’s lead to 8-4. Mabeus is Oregon’s first baseball player to earn a conference weekly honor from the Big Ten Conference in its inaugural season in the league. He is also Oregon’s first ever freshman of the week award winner. The Pac-12 Conference did not recognize a freshman of the week, but Mitchell Tolman did win Pac-12 Player of the Week honors on May 6, 2013 as a true freshman. Mabeus’ six RBI were the most RBI by a Ducks’ freshman since Tolman did it vs. Seattle in Everett, Wash., on April 30, 2013, which eventually led to the player of the week honor. All-Time Big Ten Conference Freshmen of the Week Burke-Lee Mabeus (2/24/25) All-Time Pac-12 Conference Players of the Week Jacob Walsh (3/11/24; 4/3/23) Drew Cowley (5/1/23) Gabe Matthews (4/13/21) Kenyon Yovan (3/9/21) Spencer Steer (4/15/19) Scott Heineman (5/25/15; 4/15/13) Shaun Chase (5/5/14) Mitchell Tolman (4/14/14; 5/6/13) Ryon Healy (4/29/13; 2/19/13) Aaron Payne (5/7/12; 4/29/12) Brett Thomas (4/9/12) Danny Pulfer (5/16/11) Aaron Jones (3/21/11) Eddie Rodriguez (5/17/10; 3/8/10) Damn good recruiting by Coach Waz, as this is a great freshman class. Four freshman pitchers who have done well already besides this catcher!

The B1G has 14 Baseball teams among the 18 in the conference. Think of it...only Oregon is ranked from a Super-Conference? Just goes to show how Oregon will bring more glory to the conference, and hence our rightful share of the revenue.

Yes, this No. 11 is on the D1Baseball rankings, the one I follow the most over the years. Although Baseball America has us at No. 19, and that might be closer to reality for us at the moment. This team has a TON of upside with the pitchers, and hitting with this veteran group. I never thought I'd see it, but Jacob Walsh is making better choices at the plate, and doing better with his weakness, the low curve ball. Coming back for his senior year and learning this might really change his draft status and MLB trajectory.

EUGENE, Ore. — An extended weather delay couldn’t dampen the power of Oregon’s bats Sunday. Wrapping up a four-game series against Rhode Island at PK Park, the No. 11 UO baseball team had two grand slams on the way to a 15-2 victory in seven innings. The two teams mutually agreed to implement a 10-run rule for Saturday’s second game of a doubleheader and Sunday’s series finale, and Oregon’s Anson Aroz brought it into play with a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh Sunday. Following a weather delay with one out in the top of the third inning, the Ducks got shutout pitching from two relievers and scored 11 runs over the next five innings, with grand slams from freshman Burke-Lee Mabeus and Aroz. “I thought we played a complete game,” UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. The Ducks improved to 6-2 on the season with their second straight 3-1 series win to open the spring campaign. They remain at home this next week, hosting Columbia in a four-game series beginning Friday. How It Happened: Oregon pitcher Will Sanford got off to a shaky start but was able to battle through it in the first inning. A leadoff walk, a double and two more walks gave Rhode Island a 1-0 lead with the bases still loaded. After the bases-loaded walk, Sanford was able to find the strike zone and fanned the next three hitters to get out of the inning. “It was tough conditions when he was out there — he fought through it,” Wasikowski said. “For him to give up only a one in the first and then a zero in the second, I thought was critical.” Oregon answered the first-inning run in the bottom of the frame, taking the lead with three runs in the bottom of the first. Mason Neville continued to swing a hot bat, doubling to lead off the inning after homering twice in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader. A Dominic Hellman hit-by-pitch and a Jacob Walsh walk loaded the bases, setting the table for the middle of the Ducks’ lineup. After a strikeout, Mabeus gave the Ducks the lead with a two-run single that scored Neville and Hellman. Fellow freshman Jax Gimenez pushed the lead to two with an RBI groundout. Oregon tacked on another run in the bottom of the second when Hellman drove in Carter Garate with a base hit through the right side of the infield. Jacob Walsh steals third base! URI cut the lead to 4-2 with a run in the top of the third, which was interrupted by the weather delay. Mabeus stepped to the plate in the fourth inning with the bases loaded and launched his first career home run over the right-field wall for an 8-2 lead. “I thought that was a tremendous at-bat with the 1-2 count, to be able to shorten up and just really put his best swing on a ball in that spot,” Wasikowski said. “I thought was a really old, veteran swing.” The Ducks added to the lead in the fifth inning with three more runs. Jack Brooks walked before coming around to score on a balk. Then, after back-to-back walks to Neville and Hellman, Walsh doubled to score two, giving UO an 11-2 lead. Michael Meckna (1-0), who relieved Sanford after the weather delay, pitched around a one-out walk in the top of the sixth to wrap up his outing. “Michael Mechna was just tremendous,” Wasikowski said. “He did really well. Jaxon Jordan did really well (throwing a scoreless seventh). The pitchers came in and they did a good job. It was a complete game.” With the Ducks up 11-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, a single run would have ended the game. Garate led off with an infield single, Neville doubled to put two in scoring position and Hellman walked before Aroz lofted a one-out homer to left-center, for a walk-off grand slam. “It’s a run-rule scenario there with just a sac fly,” Wasikowski said. “That's the same kind of feel of a 3-3 game type situation, where you get a chance to be able to walk somebody off. That's exactly what that was, and he did a nice job.” Box Score Notes: Rain delayed the game in the top of the third inning for two hours and 54 minutes … Walsh’s two-RBI double in the fifth gave him 38 career multi-RBI games breaking Spencer Steer’s program record of 37 … Mabeus’ six RBIs were the most in a game by UO true freshman since Mitchell Tolman drove in seven on April 30, 2013. On Deck: Oregon resumes its 13-game homestand on Friday when the Ducks open a four-game series against Columbia. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.

Boy you are so right, as B1G Mens Basketball is crazy. Let's just say that it is not "Top-Heavy!"

You probably missed the post where I reported last week that Coach Waz disclosed for the first time since the Super-Regionals, that his pitchers got sick after the first game. It would explain the meltdown, and do recall that Texas A&M finished as the national runner-up, and was a preseason No. 1 this year. We lost to a good team... We do have to look at more than a couple of games, as the ERA for Grinsell was 4.08 for the entire 2024 campaign. That is good, not great. For Ryan Featherston, his 2024 ERA was 3.76 and my limited baseball knowledge says that an ERA between 3 and 4 is good, below three is excellent and below that is rare for college pitchers. I am not pleased with all that has occurred, but we do not yet have MLB-type pitchers that Horton had in his early years. Right now it appears that we recruit smaller college transfers and use a see-who-can-play approach, and we recruit freshmen who have upside. Finishing No. 12 in the nation two years in a row got us a great freshman class, and I love the development that has occured with many of the pitchers. For example Collin Clarke had a 6.41 ERA last year...and I was not real enthusiastic about him. But the coaches worked with him, and I was stunned to see him as the Saturday night starter this year, and his ERA in two games with 12 innings pitched already is 0.00 so if we are going to draw conclusions from only two games...(and I do not think we should in both directions) Cole Stokes is another one who I was not impressed with last year as a freshman with a 11.42 ERA, but in three innings of relief in two weekends in 2025...he is 0.00 ERA. Not a great sample, but he passed the eyeball test with his improvement and development. Collin Clarke The pride of Sherwood, Ian Umlandt, had a 3.94 ERA last year, and in nine innings pitched already in two weekends of 2025 he has a 0.96 ERA and is looking even better than last year. My point is that I see some real improvement with pitchers I wrote off from last year. Coach Waz stated in a recent interview that some of the new pitchers played extremely well in summer-ball, and fall baseball scrimmages, but had a bad first outing. He is confident in them, and I will trust that. Another element that can distort ERA is how long a pitcher is in there. Up to this year, pitchers were given a long rope when they got into trouble, in order to allow them the opportunity to gain confidence getting out of them. Problem was...that did work about half the time and the extra innings flattened out what would have been a terrible ERA had the pitcher been pulled right away. But this year, the pitching coach is quick to pull them if he doesn't like the control issues to begin. Thus some short innings for some pitchers and HUGE ERAs. Besides the development of last year's freshmen, I like what I see of this year's freshman class of pitchers thus far. Gabe Howard, the pride of West Linn, has a 1.80 ERA in five innings of relief in two weekends, highly heralded Will Sanford is 2.25 ERA as the Sunday starter, and Kellan Knox showed some real promise with a 4.15 ERA thus far with 4.1 innings of relief in two weekends. Freshman Michael Mekna was the top RHP in Nebraska, he looked good in his 3.2 innings today with a 2025 ERA of 0.00 as well. So, I think there is a lot of upside for this team, but they have a higher hill to climb than I hoped. But Waz stated going into the season that he has more pitching depth than last year, and I believe it. The unexpected development of many pitchers, and the pleasant freshman surprises promises a ton of games won this year. Will Sanford (My stats taken from GoDucks.com after the last Rhode Island game)

Oregon wins 15-2 on the ten-run rule with a Anson Aroz GRAND SLAM. Two in one game? Sheesh! Jaxon Jordan came in and pitched a scoreless seventh inning before the fireworks from Aroz. Nice ending, but our depth at pitching was deeper than theirs. Can't draw too much from that yet, but nice nonetheless.

11-2 Oregon after five innings! We got a walk, then bunted twice to advance the runner...and then got a balk to score the runner from third! Not power-ball, but it works. Then Jacob Walsh came to the plate and hit a double that scored two more runs...love it! Oregon's freshman pitcher Michael Mekna has gone two and two-thirds innings and kept them scoreless!

8-2 Oregon after four innings! Heralded freshman Burke-Lee Mabeus hit a GRAND SLAM and is responsible for six runs today already! Will Sanford got into some trouble just before the rain delay, and has two earned runs against him. After the three hour delay--both teams brought in new pitchers. For Oregon...it is another freshman, Michael Mekna, the top RHP in Nebraska and a top 500 recruit for over 300 D1 Baseball teams that would contend for recruits, although most of the best ones go straight to MLB.

The Bad News? USC is recruiting fantastic The Good News? It is Lincoln Riley…

Yep, the other day both USC and Oregon had 10 verbals for 2026, but with the flip of Williams and a recent 4-Star defensive lineman to USC...the Ducks drop all-the-way in rankings to... No. 2 (Long way to go!) USC fans are always classy... "We might be taking Oregon's lunch money this year with a couple of kids." "This guy is the 13th best QB in the nation according to 247??? I would be willing to bet money that he ends up much higher when he puts pen to paper." "It was clear then that he wasn't going to Oregon." - Tom Loy (This has the makings of a book title) "USC gets a flip from an Oregon recruit? Hmm.. did Uncle Phil's check not clear?" "Like shooting Ducks in a barrel." 2026 all-teams football recruiting team rankings N.RIVALS.COM 2026 all-teams football recruiting team rankings by Rivals.com

Yawn. This is one position where I am NOT in favor of developing them through trial-and-losses. Sure, build depth in case of injury, but if a great portal QB who is experienced is available....grab him. As talented as Dante Moore is, (or purported at this time, since we have no proof) would we have gone 13-0 until the Playoff? No, as there were plays that only an experienced QB makes and knows. As far as I'm concerned, we have a pretty deep QB room right now, and I'm fine with this loss. Now if it was an offensive lineman...that would be different. Is that a beautiful photo or what? Geez I love our photographers...

Check our schedule in the article versus the other B1G members....thoughts?

It is POURING in Eugene, with big drops, thus a RAIN DELAY.

After two innings it is 4-1 Oregon, as Sanford gave the Ducks another shaky start loading the bases, but got out of it. Boy he has a nasty curve/drop pitch to go along with his low 90s fastball.

See end of thread later... --------------------------------------------------------------------- A noon start, and it is 3-1 Oregon after one inning. Freshman sensation Will Sanford started out very shaky, but recovered and shut down bases loaded giving up only one run. The Ram pitcher gave the Ducks a bases loaded gift in two walks and a hit batter, and Ducks got three runs off of it. Boy, the Freshman catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus had a great hit scoring two, and he looks impressive already.

My Duck-Buddies, I hope you will read and learn so much from this article as I did. A TON of surprises in the B1G scheduling, and nobody does the research like Jon. I personally will be saving the link to the article, so that I have it as a reference source between now and the end of next football season. Surprises in there about Indiana, Michigan, Rutgers and MORE. And GREAT pictures...

19-12 is the final, Oregon!