Charles Fischer

This is going to become a BIG DEAL, and made for TV...

Whoa! That is a loaded calendar, an Oregon Sports FEAST!

I do not deny what is happening, and I am not putting my head in a hole...but nothing is going to change dramatically for Oregon in the next three years, maybe even four years as Jon Joseph and I have concluded. Thus.... Not me! We have a three year window to enjoy Oregon football before major changes occur; why not soak it up while we can and savor what we know is so sweet while we can? The change will be there forever, and we can check out of college football then!

You have to scroll down and look to the right margin, but Oregon State is No. 3, Arizona is No. 15, Oregon is No. 21, and Gonzaga is No. 24. Playing Oregon State five times later this season gives us a chance to increase that ranking! How The Top 25 Fared: Week Six • D1Baseball D1BASEBALL.COM Chase Burns and Tennessee had an outstanding weekend, as we take an in-depth look at how the Top 25 fared over the past week. And Oregon has climbed to No. 4 in the RPI! Nitty Gritty • D1Baseball D1BASEBALL.COM Follow along with the most accurate college baseball RPI updated daily as the Road to Omaha continues.

Look...holding onto first place in Baseball is going to be hard, but it is a thrill to see it for the moment! For Softball...the upside is still there!

You made me LOL! Agreed, as I don't think he believes in a Sacrifice Fly. (We have good hitters...he is thinking) Yep, the play-by-play can call the game well, but I don't learn much from them. Or when they make a strategy call--they don't explain why.

Some amazing performances...and this team are truly Fighting Ducks!

(From Oregon Athletics Press Release) EUGENE, Ore. — USC celebrated first Sunday afternoon, but the Oregon baseball team celebrated last after the Ducks rallied for four runs in the eighth inning to complete a 7-6 comeback before 1,277 fans at PK Park. The Trojans homered once during a five-run first inning then added a solo shot in the second, prompting celebrations that didn’t go unnoticed by the home team. Down 6-1 at the seventh-inning stretch, the Ducks got within two on a Colby Shade homer in the bottom of that inning, then blasted two more home runs in the eighth to take the lead. Logan Mercado kept Oregon in the game when it was 6-1, facing one over the minimum across 3.2 innings of relief. Dylan Sabia (1-0) pitched two more scoreless innings to get the win after taking over from Mercado, who was in Oregon’s dugout when the Trojans were celebrating their early success Sunday, and also during USC’s win to even the series Saturday. “I was just angry; I was really angry,” Mercado said of his mentality once he took the mound. “Those guys had been hammering us all weekend. The antics the past two games just kind of fueled me to go out there and just pitch angry.” Logan Mercado is not a big guy, but has a big heart. (And arm!) Sunday’s victory gave the Ducks their third straight series win to open Pac-12 play. At 7-2 in the conference, Oregon is a game ahead of defending champion Arizona and Oregon State for first place. How It Happened: UO starter Caleb Sloan was touched for five runs in the first, all with two outs. With two on and two out, USC stroked back-to-back singles for a 3-0 lead, followed by a two-run homer to break it open. Brennan Milone doubled home Shade in the bottom of the first to make it 5-1, but USC got the run back with a solo homer in the second. Mercado entered the game with two on and one out in the third, and retired the next two hitters to end the threat. The Ducks stranded a runner in scoring position all four innings he was on the mound, but Mercado kept them in the game to set the stage for a late rally. “He came in and threw the ball over the plate, had multiple pitches for strikes and he brought a mentality that was infectious in the dugout,” UO coach Mark Wasikowski said. “As he continued to pound the strike zone, you could just feel a little bit more energy, a little bit more momentum. It was all Logan Mercado today.” Sabia took over and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. In the bottom of the inning, Gavin Grant worked a leadoff walk and two batters later Shade made it 6-3 with his third hit of the game, and third home run of the season. Josh Kasevich led off Oregon’s half of the eighth with his third hit of the day, and Anthony Hall followed with a walk. Two batters later, Josiah Cromwick crushed the first pitch he saw for a mammoth home run to deep left field, tying the game. “I just wanted to get on-time to something,” said Cromwick, who entered the game in the fourth when the UO staff assessed that right-handed hitters were putting better swings on USC’s starting pitcher. “I was looking for something over the middle of the plate, and I was just trying to put a barrel on it.” With two out, UO leadoff hitter Tanner Smith hit Oregon’s third home run in two innings, giving the Ducks a 7-6 lead. Kolby Somers retired USC in order in the ninth for his fourth save of the season. The home runs by Cromwick and Smith came off USC reliever Carson Lambert, who was 3-0 with one save and an ERA of 1.85 entering the day, having allowed only one home run across 11 appearances. “We didn't want to lose,” Wasikowski said. “Simple as that. We didn't wanna lose.” On The Mound: Mercado allowed only a single in the fourth inning, lowering his ERA this season to 1.12 across eight appearances. Sabia needed just 21 pitches to record six outs and earn his first victory with the Ducks. Mercado, Sabia and Somers got the last 20 outs of the game while allowing one base runner combined. At The Plate: Smith’s home run was his team-leading seventh of the season, coming a day after he saw his 12-game hitting streak end in Saturday’s loss. Shade’s three hits got his average up to .451 for the season, and he now leads the Ducks with 23 RBIs. On Deck: The Ducks open a two-game series with San Francisco in PK Park on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

From Coach Was: (Courtesy of 247) “That's one of the learning lessons of the day is you play nine a game for the reason that it's nine innings,” said head coach Mark Wasikowski after the game. “If the game ended after two then I guess we lose and we can go home and feel bad about ourselves. Because we had some perseverance and they stuck with it and I credit coach (Jack) Marder for that. I think he brought a lot of energy, especially when we needed it and he did a great job preparing those guys we got some very good swings are obviously late in the game and broke down a bullpen guy that that's very, very good for USC.” “Player of the day,” said Wasikowski regarding Logan Mercado’s efforts. “We had a bad start. We had a bad first guy up and boy just it could have really gotten away from us, had Logan not done what he did. He came in he threw the ball over the plate. He had multiple pitches for strikes and he brought a mentality that the became infectious in the dugout. And as he continued to pound the strike zone. You could just feel a little bit more energy, a little bit more energy, a little bit more momentum. And it was all Logan Mercado today.”

Your team was also incredibly young last year, thus I believe you are set for a great year. With all we've had to swallow of the USC hype--it would sure be great to see you take the South. Thanks for your feedback as always.

Jon, the thought you put into this is amazing. I have always been a fan of the 12 team format, as at least it gives our conference a chance...

I would agree with all I've heard about him, and his interview with the other coaches during signing day.

The discussion below among Duck fans is superb and I will post the official press release later when it comes out, as it is bound to be TASTY. Some highlights... Never in Oregon Baseball History: The EIGHTH GAME in a row with multiple homers as Colby Shade, Josiah Cromwick and Tanner Smith hit bombs to help bring the Our Beloved Ducks back! The Win went to: Dylan Sabia The Save went to: Kolby Somers Oregon was down 6-1 going into the bottom of the 7th inning, and then added two runs, and then exploded for four runs in the eight as Somers held off the Trojans in the 9th inning. Caleb Sloan was blasted for five runs in the first inning with only one given up by relievers after that. The Ducks got 6 and 2/3rds innings of scoreless hitting against our relievers, and of that Logan Mercado did 3.2 innings of it. His growth is SO SURPRISING considering he was not a very good pitcher last year. Great coaching! My Friends, these Ducks are fun to watch! Never give up!

Great to read about the freshmen who should be still be high school--are joining the team. That and some key transfers... 5 storylines we’re watching as Oregon Ducks spring practice resumes DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Oregon’s spring practices are set to resume on Tuesday, bringing back some fun storylines to watch.

That is all I know at the moment!

Once Manziel began his misbehaving....it would have made it easy on the coaches to sit him. Then he would have transferred out....

One year later Wayne Tinkle watches Saint Peter's play Cinderella... Wayne Tinkle is facing a rebuild at Oregon State. I caught up with Wayne Tinkle on Saturday. It was just 12 months ago that Oregon State men’s basketball team danced into the Elite Eight as a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It was a wonderful story. Now, Tinkle is busy gutting his program. “It’s not as fun when you’re sitting at home and watching from your couch,” he said. On Friday Tinkle informed long-time assistant Kerry Rupp that his contract wouldn’t be renewed. Another assistant, Stephen Thompson, was told he’d be re-assigned to another role in the OSU athletic department. “It was brutal,” Tinkle said. “They’re members of your family. You love each other, you know their spouses and children. We’ve been through so much. It’s a terrible part of the job but it’s the nature of our profession.” After Oregon State was eliminated from the Pac-12 Conference Tournament in Las Vegas a few weeks ago Tinkle’s team checked out of the Delano hotel and headed back to Corvallis. The coach packed up but decided to stay behind. “I changed hotels,” he said. “I got away from all the team hotels. I needed some alone time. I needed some time with the family out by the pool. We had some in-laws there and friends there from college. “I needed that time to decompress.” Oregon State’s 3-28 season was historically disappointing. No Elite Eight participant had ever followed with so few victories in the ensuing season. How did it get so bad at OSU? Ask Tinkle and he’ll tell you that he misfired in recruiting last offseason. Also, that some of the returning players wilted under increased demands and expectations. “We’ve been able to identify what some of the issues were and we’re addressing them,” he said. “Some people may be surprised that some of the guys won’t be back but what we’ve got to do is protect the program. When you’re on the outside looking in, it’s hard to see." “Our culture took a hit — a big hit.” Tinkle would have been a casualty himself had he not been given a long-term contract extension after last season. That deal runs through the 2026-27 season will pay the coach as much as $3 million per season. OSU simply couldn’t afford to make a coaching change and now Tinkle is starting over. He told me on Saturday that he’d like to hire an experienced Division I assistant who can help be a voice in the room during practices and games. Also, he’d like to hire a recruiter who might open some new connections to talent. “I do think we somehow didn’t get the right mix of personalities on the roster this last season,” he said. “It was a grinder of a year. When you add the ride we went on last year — to be totally blindsided is just disappointing and disheartening. Not being able to get the group to come together, it was a disappointment.” I think part of what makes the season so alarming is that it came when we all expected Oregon State might surge. The Beavers played deep in last season’s tournament and we all expected them to parlay that into more success and stability. Instead, the Beavers face planted. “We felt like we weren’t able to coach them,” Tinkle said. Tinkle said he’s watching Saint Peter’s University make their magical NCAA Tournament run. The No. 15 seed Peacocks advanced to the Elite Eight on and will play North Carolina on Sunday with a trip to the Final Four at stake. “It sucks when you’re not involved,” Tinkle said. “It’s cool to see those stories that evolve like Saint Peter’s. Seeing the run they’re going has sparked some memories from our group from a year ago. “That’s what makes it madness.” Saint Peter’s advanced to the Elite Eight. CINDERELLA WATCH: Someone please send Saint Peter’s University a ‘thank you’ card for the work it has done in elevating the men’s NCAA Tournament in the last couple of weeks. My family was circled up in the living room on “National Peacock Day” watching the Peacocks knock out Purdue. I’ll bet yours was, too. The No. 15 seed has now defeated No. 2 Kentucky, No. 7 Murray State and No. 3 Purdue in succession. Up next, No. 9-seed North Carolina on Sunday. This tournament needed Saint Peter’s, didn’t it? A couple of things: The Saint Peter’s players didn’t blink in beating any of those more heralded programs. Not once. The Peacocks may play in a tiny gym in an unheralded conference, but they look and act like they belong. They play unfazed and I don’t expect that to change vs. UNC. Saint Peter's men's basketball coach Shaheen Holloway made a salary of $266,344 in 2019 per university tax filings. Matt Painter at Purdue made more than $3 million in base salary. Seton Hall (Holloway’s alma mater) is currently looking to hire a men’s basketball coach. That’s not tricky math. Just before his post-game interview with CBS’s Jamie Erdahl, Holloway was mobbed by his team. Erdahl asked the coach what he’d said to his players. He told her: “What they gonna say now? Anybody got something to say? We can’t do this, we can’t do that, Cinderella, underdogs. Listen, I got guys that just play basketball. I got a bunch of guys that just play basketball and have fun, that’s all we do.” A No. 15-seed had never made the Elite Eight before the Peacocks did it. Saint Peter’s now has that distinction. No team lower than No. 11 has ever reached the Final Four, in case you’re wondering.

Our pitchers gave up two runs with bases loaded and two hit batters...AARRGH!

That is beyond cool....and yet it is SO HOT...whew!

Yikes. 11-2 Cal, the last time I had the courage to check.

Oregon leads 1-0 after three innings!

The superb hitting of Oregon averaging nearly nine runs a game continues!

EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon head softball coach Melyssa Lombardi announced she has tested positive for COVID-19. In accordance with state and local COVID-19 protocols, and out of an abundance of caution, Lombardi will not coach the Ducks this weekend in their series versus California. Associate head coach Sam Marder (below) will serve as interim head coach.

After five innings...Ducks lead 9-5! Another homer by Brennan Milone makes it SIX games in row of multiple homers in a game. Never been done at Oregon...EVER!

Thanks to everyone for your kind words, as it helps with the time put-in. The Duck-Buddy who provided the information was warmed by the nice thoughts written here as well.