Charles Fischer

We have people keeping you updated on baseball...how about giving us a softball score?

Yep. Normally when Hawkeye relief pitchers come in with ERAs below three and four...I am concerned. But I knew those stats were built on a weaker schedule, although on a given day... The four former Pac-12 teams will be all in the top five of the conference, but we all had to play each other....which makes our schedule harder! Add to that in how Our Beloved Ducks had to play conference leader Iowa on their home field before a full house? It is all the more remarkable for Oregon.

Below is a video of the award ceremony. In case you do not have Twitter...below is a screenshot!

Ducks win 13-4 as Iowa cannot stop the Oregon onslaught of runs. The Pride of Springfield Oregon, Maddox Molony, line-drives to left field for a single while Chase Meggers zings one on the ground to right field as Molony gets to third. Ryan Cooney bunts down the first-baseline to sacrifice, (GOOD!) and Iowa throws to home late to try to stop Molony from scoring. Carter Garate goes to bunt several times to advance the runners, and then cranks back and says..."what-the-heck," and blasts a three-run homer over center field! With no drama, Santiago Garcia shows some flair with a breaking ball, to finish the Hawkeyes 1-2-3!

9-4 Ducks after eight innings. Dominic Hellman homers over right field, but the Hawkeyes take advantage of the mental weakness of Cole Stokes who came in for relief. I've watched him meltdown TWICE to lose games this season, and we just watched another meltdown--although we can survive this one. Jason Reitz gives up ONE run in his 6 and 2/3rds innings, while Stokes plinks a batter, (as usual) and walks in two runs! Santiago Garcia comes in to end the inning, and save my sanity.

8-2 Ducks after seven innings, as Iowa got a homer off Featherston, and Toby Twist came in for Oregon to finish off the inning as another lefty.

8-1 Oregon after six innings, and my Duck-Tail is wiggling! The Pride of Portland, Ryan Cooney, nails a homer over right field, and yet Oregon is not finished. Iowa keeps substituting pitchers...to no avail, as Carter Garate walks, and then a strange play occurs. Dominic Hellman blasts a pitch that hit the second base umpire, and then bounces off the helmet of the second baseman to slow-roll into center field while Garate jets from first to score! Jacob Walsh steps up and sends another blast into orbit, for a three-run homer! Jason Reitz got the first two outs on the Hawkeyes, and was replaced by Ryan Featherston who got the third out.

4-1 Ducks after five innings, as Iowa throws more relief pitchers at Oregon to try to stop the tide. Dominic Hellman walked, and Jacob Walsh nailed a screamer just inside the third baseline and into the left field corner for a double. At this point...we have runners at second and third and no outs. Later we had bases-loaded and no outs, and my philosophy is to ALWAYS sacrifice two outs for two runs. You have 27 outs to work with...get the damn runs! Anson Aroz grounds out to first base to score Hellman, and then Maddox Molony walks to load the bases again...and we squander it! P.S. Jason Reitz has a manageable pitch count, and could go further...

3-1 Ducks after four innings! Iowa is having a hard time dealing with Oregon's pitcher, Jason Reitz, and the Ducks got the bats going! Maddox Molony shows good discipline batting as he gets a walk, as does Chase Meggers. Then, Ryan Cooney gets a hit that splits the left and centerfield to score Molony. Next we see a PERFECT bunt by Carter Garate, that goes right in between the pitcher and first baseman for a hit while Meggers scores. Even with as good as that was...Our Beloved Ducks stranded two!

1-1 after three innings, as Carter Garate timed the changeup pitch perfectly and blasted it out of the park...despite the temperature. Oregon's Jason Reitz is improving, and put them down easily 1-2-3 this inning.

1-0 Hawkeyes after two innings. Oregon has not found the batting stride yet, and while the Duck's Jason Reitz got into some trouble, but he got a clutch strikeout, and a fantastic pickoff throw by Chase Meggers helped to seal the inning.

1-0 Iowa after one inning. Oregon's Jason Reitz did not have his usual control to start, and between a plinking of a batter, he steals second, a wild pitch to advance him to third...and a sacrifice grounder to score him...some adjustments to the weather needs to be made. Oregon batters blasted fly balls deep, as the wind is at 20 mph, but as Coach Waz stated in the pregame interview..."it's a cold day." Thus, like the Michigan State game...when it is cold--the ball won't travel, and we need to focus on base hits, IMHO.

Agreed. There is no substitute for experience, as a freshman will effectively be overpaid for two years before his actual value is realized on the field. (Especially at quarterback!)

While the press release states that Oregon has won nine straight...another tidbit is how this baseball team has won 13 of the last 14 games...with the only loss to the incredible pitcher at Michigan State. C'mon Ducks...You Can Do It!

Gritty Win, Ducks Rally To Set Up Big Ten Title Showdown IOWA CITY, Iowa — No. 5 Oregon rallied from a four-run deficit for a 9-6 win at Iowa on Friday setting up a battle for a Big Ten Conference championship on Saturday in Iowa City. Oregon (40-13) scored eight of its nine runs in the final five innings after falling behind 6-2 after five innings. Jacob Walsh led Oregon, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored, while four Ducks' relievers combined to throw 4.2 scoreless innings. With the win, Oregon pulled into a first-place tie with Iowa at 21-8 in the Big Ten Conference. UCLA also picked up a win on Friday against Northwestern to move to 21-8. An Oregon win on Saturday would secure the top seed in next week's Big Ten Tournament, while a loss would leave the Ducks as the No. 2 or No. 3 seed depending on the result of the UCLA-Northwestern game on Saturday. How It Happened: For the second consecutive game Drew Smith got the Ducks on the board in the top of the first inning. After Jacob Walsh doubled with two outs, Smith singled to right field, scoring Walsh for a 1-0 lead. Iowa (32-19-1) scored three runs in the third and another in the fourth to take lead, before Walsh cut into the lead with a solo home run in the top of the fifth. The Hawkeyes built on the lead with a pair of solo home runs in their half of the fifth, then Anson Aroz answered with a solo shot of his own to make it a 6-3 game. Oregon rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh inning to take the lead. Mason Neville led off the frame with a double into the left-field corner before Dominic Hellman reached on a hit-by-pitch, setting up a Walsh RBI double into right-center field. Smith picked up his second RBI of the game with an infield hit off the diving third baseman's glove. Chase Meggers walked to load the bases setting the table for Ryan Cooney who laced a two-out, two-run double down into the left-field corner to give the lead. The Ducks tacked on two insurance runs in the ninth. Aroz reached on a bunt single and came around to score on a Meggers bunt single. Maddox Moloney, who walked before Meggers' RBI, scored on a wild pitch later in the inning. Ian Umlandt (6-1) picked up the win, tossing two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He gave way to Cole Stokes who fanned three in 1.1 innings of work. Santiago Garcia got the final out in the eighth and the first in the ninth, before Seth Mattox came on to retire the only two batters he faced for his seventh save. Box Score Notes: Oregon's two home runs gave the Ducks 102 for the season, setting a new program record … Walsh's two doubles were the 58th and 59th of his career, moving him into second all-time at Oregon passing Gabe Matthews (2017-21) … Neville scored one run to move into a tie for first in single-season runs scored … The win was Oregon's ninth consecutive victory. On Deck: The Ducks will look to finish off a series sweep and clinch the No. 1 seed in next week's Big Ten Tournament on Saturday (10:02 a.m. PT / Big Ten Network).

Oh, he’s got his GAME-FACE on!

The game summary is at the bottom of thread! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both Oregon and Iowa are now tied in the B1G, and even if UCLA wins their remaining games....they will be tied with Oregon, who have the series win over the Bruins-- thus the Ducks will be B1G Champions of the regular season IF they win tomorrow morning. (On the B1G Network) Dan Lanning says that "pressure is a privilege," ...to get to be in that position! I noticed that Washington won their first two against Iowa, but got killed in the third game. Beavis did the same thing, and had to stop at 6-6 in the third game to catch a plane. So the Hawkeye pitcher for their third game each week is good. It is RIGHT THERE!

Ducks win 9-6 with an impressive comeback over Iowa. Anson Aroz does a perfect bunt to get to first, and then he steals second. A passed ball by the catcher puts him on third. Maddox Molony walks, and then Chase Meggers does a first-baseline sacrifice bunt, but beats the throw to be safe while Aroz scores! A Duck flies out to move the runner to third, and a wild pitch scores Molony! This is a powerful team that can also play great small-ball with bunts, steals and heads-up base-running! Garcia gets an out, and the Seth Mattox has some drama, but gets the last two outs!

7-6 Ducks after eight innings! Cole Stokes got two outs, and between the four batters in two innings...struck out three of them. He was replaced by Santiago Garcia who got the third out! THREE MORE OUTS! You can do it Oregon!

7-6 Ducks after seven innings, as Oregon exploded for four runs on very-good Iowa relievers. Mason Neville doubled with hit deep into left field that went into the corner. Dominic Hellman then gets plinked, and with an 0-2 count...Jacob Walsh nails a line drive to deep center field to score Neville. Drew Smith then hits a line-drive to the 3rd baseman, who has it bounce off his glove to allow Hellman to score. Anson Aroz then sacrifice-bunts to advance the runners to 2nd and 3rd base. Chase Meggers walks to set up Ducks-on-the-Pond, and Ryan Cooney hits deep to left field to score Walsh and Smith. Still we stranded two runners again! Cole Stokes replaced Umlandt, and my earnest hope is that he can overcome his demons--to stay mentally strong. He got the last two outs of the inning!

6-3 Iowa after six innings, as Oregon's Ian Umlandt was helped by an incredible catch from Jacob Walsh leaning over the fence in the Hawkeye camera area. Anson Aroz officially breaks the Ducks' season home-run record with a shot over center field for the 102nd dinger of the season. My Duck-Buddies...WE CAN DO IT!

6-2 Iowa after five innings, as Jacob Walsh hit a dinger that needed no wind, but Oregon's Collin Clarke was blasted for two homers before being replaced by Ian Umlandt. (About two innings, too late, IMHO!) With that homer, Oregon ties the season home run record set in 2023... This game is not yet out of reach, but...

4-1 Iowa after four innings, as Clarke continues to be hit, but Oregon's defense in the field has not been it's usual stellar play either. We have seen three dove-for flies that got by the Duck fielders, and yes--the wind is a confusing factor to it--but...

3-1 Hawkeyes after three innings. The Iowa batters have figured out Oregon's Collin Clarke and are beating him up...gotta make a change!