Charles Fischer

Not his point, just an observation.

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Hellman Claims Big Ten Weekly Honor EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon’s Big Ten Conference series win over Northwestern led to Ducks’ designated hitter Dominic Hellman being named co-Big Ten Conference Player of the Week, the conference announced today. Hellman dominated in a series win over Northwestern hitting two home runs in two different games. The Ducks' DH slashed .417/.533/1.417 with a 1.920 OPS in the three games. He went 5-for-12 with four home runs, eight RBI and five runs scored in the series while also walking three times. In game one, Hellman homered twice in a 20-6 win while reaching base three times (2-for-3, BB) with two RBI and two runs scored. He homered in consecutive at-bats in the third and fifth innings while also walking in the first. In a 6-4 series-clinching win on Saturday, Hellman walked and scored in Oregon's two-run first inning. In the finale, Hellman was instrumental in helping Oregon rally from a 10-2 deficit to force extra innings. After driving in Oregon's first run in a 2-run first inning, Hellman slugged a two-run home run in the sixth to pull Oregon within six runs. In his next at-bat, Hellman capped Oregon's five-run inning with a three-run bomb to cut the NU lead to one. Hellman finished game reaching base four times (3-for-6, BB) with six RBI and two runs scored. Hellman moved into seventh on the Ducks’ career home run list with 26 passing Shaun Chase (2012-15). All-Time Big Ten Conference Players of the Week Dominic Hellman (3/23/26; 3/3/25) Ryan Cooney (5/5/25; 5/19/25) Mason Neville (4/21/25) 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) He hits DOM-BOMBS

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2026 CROSS COUNTRY & TRACK AND FIELD | @OregonTF Bair Named National Field Athlete of the Year Peyton Bair won the NCAA title in the heptathlon with 6,503 points. EUGENE, Ore. – Peyton Bair has been named the 2026 USTFCCCA National Field Athlete of the Year as announced Monday afternoon by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Bair won a second-consecutive NCAA title in the heptathlon while becoming just the third-ever collegian to score 6,500 points in the event. Bair, in his first season at Oregon, becomes the second man in program history to win Indoor National Field Athlete of the Year, joining Ashton Eaton who won back-to-back honors in 2009 and 2010. In winning the NCAA title, Bair posted a lifetime best of 6,503 points to break Eaton’s 16-year-old UO school record (6,499) and become the No. 6 performer in world history. Bair had lifetime bests in the long jump, shot put, pole vault and 1,000 meters during the NCAA Championships. He won the NCAA title by nearly 400 points. The Kimberly, Idaho, native ran 6.67 in the opening event at the meet, good for a new meet and NCAA record for the heptathlon 60 meters. Earlier in the year, Bair clocked a lifetime best of 6.61 at the Don Kirby Invitational (Feb. 14) which is tied for fourth on the UO all-time list. Bair added another program top-10 effort in the long jump when he got out to 7.70m/25-3.25—No. 8 UO—on his final attempt of the day. Overall, he established new lifetime bests in all seven heptathlon events during his standout indoor season. Bair is now a three-time NCAA champion having won the heptathlon and decathlon at Mississippi State last year. With Bair’s performance and Liisa-Maria Lusti winning the NCAA title in the pentathlon, Oregon is the first school to sweep national indoor titles in the combined events since Georgia did so in 2017. The Men and Women of Oregon were both the national indoor runner-up at the NCAA Championships. Bair was the top overall national qualifier in the heptathlon with his 6,371 points during the Razorback Invitational in late January. He opened his postseason with a fourth-place finish in the long jump at the Big Ten Indoor Championships in Indianapolis. Oregon will host an open practice Tuesday at Hayward Field. The first session featuring the UO sprints, jumps and multis groups is scheduled to start at 9:45 a.m. Fans will be able to enter through Hayward Hall starting at 9:15 a.m. Ticket packages for the Ducks’ outdoor home schedule are currently on sale. The team is set to host the Oregon Team Invitational (April 18) and Oregon Twilight (May 8), along with the NCAA Championships in June. For more news and information about Oregon cross country and track and field, follow @OregonTF on Facebook, Instagram and X.

While that was a tough loss, all teams lose on occasion such as Sunday. The offense came through with 10 runs, but the pitching gave up 11? Whew! Nonetheless, Oregon (19-4) went from No. 21 to No. 20 this week with the D1Baseball rankings. Other teams of interest.... No. 1 UCLA 21-2 No. 12 USC 24-1 No. 16 Beavis 17-5 No. 24 Nebraska 18-6 It has been a long time, if ever, that the Big-10 has had four in the top-25. While that is not exemplary, it is for this cold-weather conference. Good thing the West Coast teams elevated the conference in this sport! And to help our RPI...Our Beloved Ducks play all four with Nebraska and USC at home. Speaking of them, the Trojans are winning with incredible pitching...something to see later! Dominic Hellman got his hitting Mojo back....

That doesn't concern me at all....

Unlike Howard Cosell, this fellow could play the game. He is Neff Giwa, who lives in Ireland, but was born in Nigeria. He is considered an offensive line prospect, and Mario Cristobal has already offered him, as other D1 schools are jumping in. He is physical because he plays Rugby, and because he is 6'7" and 295 pounds with a 37 inch wingspan--longer than most OTs in the NFL. And he runs a 4.88 40 yard dash, which is elite for offensive tackles. He grew up playing soccer, and is very agile. This came from an article in The Athletic, and I can't copy it. But it goes to show you how now that there is NIL....and agents can get a cut--they will be bringing more international prospects to college coaches. Whew!

Yes, I wrote that.

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | SUNDAY, MARCH 22, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Ducks Rally Falls Short in Extra-Inning Loss EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon rallied from an 8-run deficit to send the game into extra innings, but Northwestern scored a run in the top of the 12th inning to salvage a game in the series with a 12-11 win at PK Park on Sunday afternoon. After Oregon fell behind 10-2 after five innings, Dominic Hellman homered twice to pull the Ducks within one run in the seventh inning. Ryan Cooney completed the comeback with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning and send the game into extra innings. The Ducks (19-4, 7-2) had chance to win the game in extra innings. Oregon got two on with one out in the 10th inning but failed to score after a strikeout and flyout. Oregon loaded the bases in the 10th inning after a double and two intentional walks but the Wildcats escaped with a strikeout and a ground out. After Northwestern scored a run in the 12th inning, the Ducks had chances to tie it in their half of the inning. Naulivou Lauaki reached first to lead off the inning after being hit by a pitch, but NU turned a double play to get within an out of the win. Oregon responded with a Cooney single and a Jax Gimenez bunt single to put runners on first and second, but Wildcat pitcher Justin Fryer fanned Hellman to end the game. How It Happened: For the third straight day, Oregon put runs on the board in the first inning. Northwestern issued a couple free passes to Cooney and Gimenez to lead off the inning and Hellman made them pay. The Ducks’ designated hitter singled through the right side, scoring Cooney and moving Gimenez to third. Drew Smith followed with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. The Wildcats (8-11-1, 2-4) took their first lead of the series, scoring three runs in the top of the second, before sending nine batters to the plate in the fourth to push the lead to 6-2. A pair of homers, a solo shot and a three-run home run, in the fifth pushed the lead to 10-2. Oregon got a pair back in the bottom of the sixth inning. After Cooney doubled to lead off the inning, Hellman lined a two-run home run over the left-field wall to cut the lead to 10-4. The Ducks cut the lead to one in the seventh, scoring five times. Burke-Lee Mabeus and Gabe Miranda drew back-to-back walks to open the inning before Josh Schleichardt delivered an RBI single to score Mabeus. Gimenez followed suit with an RBI base hit of his own to cut the lead to four. Hellman stepped to the plate with runners and first and second and lined a homer over the right-center field wall for his second home run of the game. Cooney then tied it in the ninth with a leadoff home run. Hellman finished 3-for-6 with six RBI and two runs scored. Cooney went 4-for-6 with a home run, double and three runs scored. Blake Crawford (1.1 IP, H, 2 BB), Luke Morgan (3.1 IP, 2 H, 5 K) and Tanner Bradley (1.1 IP, 1 H, 3 K) combined to toss six innings of scoreless allow the Ducks to send the game into extra innings. Box Score Notes: Oregon scored 14 runs in the first inning in the series against Northwestern … Smith (2-for-5, RBI) extended his streak of reaching base to 23 games this season and 25 games dating back to last season … The top four – Cooney, Gimenez, Hellman and Smith -- in Oregon’s order combined to go 12-for-22 with three home runs, nine RBI and seven runs scored … Hellman homered twice in a game for the fourth time in his career with two of those coming this weekend … Hellman moved into seventh on the Ducks’ career home run list with 26 passing Shaun Chase (2012-15) … Oregon had its winning streak snapped at eight. On Deck: The Ducks hit the road for a five-game road trip in San Diego and Santa Barbara, Calif. The Ducks face UC San Diego in a pair of midweek games on Tuesday and Wednesday before opening a three-game series at UC Santa Barbara on Friday. Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On today’s performance... “I thought the guys really did a great job battling back. I thought the pitching was shaky early, and then things settled in. There were some really good relief outings. Luke Morgan was tremendous today, just flat out tremendous. And there were some other guys that threw the ball very well. We got mileage out of Blake Crawford, which was really handy, and then we just didn't have enough to be able to get it done. We had the table set a couple of different times, and we had a chance to win that ball game a couple of different times with the bats, and we just weren't able to do it. I was really impressed those guys were so resilient to grind their way back into that game after being down by so much, and then, you know, by the end of it, having opportunities to win the game. It didn't work out, and we're disappointed about that big time, but very proud of the fact that those guys were able to really fight and scratch and claw their way back into it. You know, I appreciate that effort.” On Luke Morgan... “We've had a lot of faith and belief in Luke. He's thrown the ball very, very well in scrimmages, and we have a lot of confidence in the guy. I mean, the guy throws 95 miles per hour with a really good breaking ball and good off-speed pitches. I mean, he's tough to hit. And so, for him to get out there and go three and two-thirds and only give up two hits and not walk anybody and strike guys out like he did. I mean, he kept us in that game, right? He gave us a chance.”

Northwestern wins 11-10 as Devin Bell gave up two hits, but a wild pitch set up a runner on third. Oregon stranded two on base to end the game.

10-10 after 11 innings. The Ducks' Tanner Bradley gave up a hit, but struck out three! Good-gosh the action on his pitches are something to see... And the Ducks strand bases-loaded!

10-10 after ten innings. Oregon's Luke Morgan got two outs, but gave up a hit and plinked a batter. With two on base, Tanner Bradley was brought in to get the third out...and did. Ducks strand two on base... On to the 11th!

10-10 after nine innings...we're going for more baseball! Oregon's Luke Morgan got it done again in the ninth, as his meltdown vs. Irvine is long in the past. Ryan Cooney hits the homer over the CF wall that ties it up! Unfortunately, the Ducks could not get any more to end the game.

10-9 Northwestern after eight innings. Luke Morgan got them 1-2-3, and looked good doing it. But Oregon had a man on, but struck out and hit into a double play--AAARRRG! Still have an inning.

10-9 Wildcats after seven innings. Oregon's Blake Crawford got in a jam, but Luke Morgan came in to pitch and generated a double-play to end the inning. I cannot believe what happened in this inning; Burke-Lee Mabeus walks, and Gabe Miranda is walked, and then Josh Schleichardt hits a zinger off the 3rd baseman mitt to score Mabeus. Then Jax Gimenez hits a short blooper into LF, and scores Miranda. Then Dominic Hellman comes up and blasts a dinger over the CF wall for a three-run homer! Two innings to go...Ducks can do it!

10-4 Wildcats after six innings. Well, Blake Crawford did something no Oregon pitcher has done in a while--kept them scoreless! Ryan Cooney hits to the LF wall on a sub/reliever Northwestern brought in, and Dominic Hellman blasted another out into the parking lot for two runs. Nope...no comeback predictions today!

10-2 Northwestern after five innings. Good Grief! Michael Meckna comes in and give up two homers, one a three-run shot. The entire Oregon pitching staff today is off, and they appeared to get progressively worse while the Wildcats are seeing the ball superbly. I do not sense a lack of effort, just some days--you get your butt-kicked. Coach Waz is waving the white flag early; he is already subbing the outfield, and true freshman pitcher Blake Crawford is coming in. (This could get even uglier)

6-2 Northwestern after four innings. EGADS! Our pitching staff is having a bad day, as Toby Twist comes in and gives up even more than Scolari. Whew! Michael Meckna replaced Twist to get the final out. And we can't hit-a-lick on offense. Lovely.

3-2 Northwestern after three innings. Cal Scolari got it done this inning, but he has a high pitch count with 70 pitches in just three innings. Nothing on offense...

3-2 Wildcats after two innings. Whoa! Cal Scolari lost control as he gave up a homer, a walk and two hits. Might not be very strong after his bout with the flu? Ducks strand Maddox Molony at second base...

2-0 Ducks after one inning. Cal Scolari was throwing 95 mph and even 96 mph, but adds a tough cutter, and a nasty curve-drop pitch to generate three strikeouts in just the first inning already! The opposing pitcher for the Wildcats has an issue with walks, and must have been nervous as he walked both Ryan Cooney and Jax Gimenez to start the game. Oregon makes them pay as Dominic Hellman nails a grounder through the right-infield to score Cooney. Drew Smith sacrifice-flies to score Gimenez!

Northwestern lined up their best pitcher today for their best chance to win. They will start Matt Kouser with an ERA of 2.57 vs. Oregon's Cal Scolari with an ERA of 2.37 who was absent last week because of the flu. This figures to be a tight, low-scoring game that either team could win. I give Oregon the edge with home field, and better batting averages. Oregon now has seven of their nine starters hitting over .300 and the Wildcats only have one. Cal Scolari Information I pulled from D1Baseball taken from their scouting of Cal Scolari at Oregon fall practices.... Cal Scolari showed as the top prospect for the Ducks. He’s a redshirt sophomore and 2026 draft-eligible who transferred from San Diego and was named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year last season (over then-teammate Logan Reddemann, who is now the ace for UCLA). The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Scolari is a good athlete with a loose arm. His other starter-type traits include two above-average pitches for strikes, a repeatable delivery with a loose, high leg lift and above average extension out front (6-foot-6 for Scolari with 6-foot-2 the MLB fastball average). His fastball touched 97 and sat 94-95 for much of his five-inning, eight-strikeout start on 84 pitches on a hitter’s day. And it’s just not a garden variety heater. It showed riding life and some swing-throughs at the top of the zone and had good carry, holding its plane down in the zone which resulted in some called third strikes. His 78-81 mph downer curveball is an even better pitch with up to -15” IVB depth and spin rates into the 2600s rpm. It’s a pitch he threw to both sides of the plate with success. He also flashed a promising 86-87 mph cutter/slider. Scolari looks to be building into another Friday option for a spot that’s already a strength for Oregon with Sanford as the current Ducks’ ace. At this point the industry has Scolari evaluated around the fifth round, but I saw a higher round prospect on my look. Time will tell what he turns out to be, but Scolari impressed during week four.

I understand the legality of your summary, and fully understand the major merits of the OSU-WSU argument: "You ten schools...you broke up the conference." Then those two schools go about destroying another conference to fit their objectives. (Mountain West) "You left only because of money--it is all you care about." And the two schools then sued to received over 300 million from the departing schools...of which very little was earned by OSU-WSU. The real-life contradictions?

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Ducks Go Deep Four Times to Clinch Series Win EUGENE, Ore. — For the second consecutive day, Oregon hit four home runs on its way to a win. The Ducks clinched the series against Northwestern with a 6-4 victory on Saturday in Big Ten Conference action at PK Park. Drew Smith, Gabe Miranda, Brayden Jaksa and Ryan Cooney all homered to lead the Ducks to the win. Collin Clarke (4-1) got the win matching a career-high 10 strikeouts in seven innings of work while allowing four runs on five hits with a pair of walks. Tanner Bradley and Devin Bell both tossed a scoreless inning with Bradly fanning two and Bell picking up his fifth save. How It Happened: A day after putting 10 runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning, Oregon (19-3, 7-1 B1G) took another first-inning lead. Smith slugged a two-out, two-run homer over the left-field wall for a 2-0 lead. Northwestern (7-11-1, 1-4 B1G) answered with a pair of runs in the top of the second, but Oregon got them right back plus one more in the bottom of the inning. Miranda and Jaksa hit back-to-back homers to center field that traveled a combined 875 feet. After Maddox Molony reached on a hit by pitch, Miranda hit a two-run homer that traveled just over 408 feet. Three pitches later, Jaksa one upped Miranda crushing a ball 467 feet over the center-field wall for a 5-2 lead. Ryan Cooney Ryan Cooney pushed the lead to 6-2 with a solo homer in the fourth over the center-field wall. Box Score Notes: The series win is the 12th in a row for the Ducks dating back to April 4-6, 2025 … Oregon has won 18 of 19 series since the beginning of last season … With his first inning home run, Smith extended his reached base streak to 22 games this season and 24 dating back to last season … Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBI, giving him 55 multiple-hit and 28 multiple-RBI games during his career … He moved into a tie with Anthony Hall (2020-22) for the ninth most multiple-RBI games and sits in eighth in multiple-hits games, one behind J.J. Altobelli (2010-13) and Mitchell Tolman (2013-15) for sixth all-time … Miranda went 2-for-3 with two RBI. On Deck: The Ducks will look for the series sweep against the Wildcats when they wrap up the series on Sunday at 12:05 p.m. (B1G+). Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On what he saw in the teams approach today… “I thought they did a nice job breaking down their starter for the second day in a row. The complaint I have is that I didn’t feel like we did a really good job of adjusting to the lefty they brought in. I thought he was a really competitive young guy. He pitched with a ton of emotion and spirit. I thought he threw really well, and we could have adjusted a little bit better to him. Nevertheless, it seemed like a complete game. The pitching was good, the defense was good, so was the hitting, and the bullpen work was good.” On if bringing the offensive energy into today after scoring 20 runs yesterday was difficult… “I don’t know. Every day is different; every day is a new day. It’s hard to score 20 runs two days in a row. I don’t know how many times that has ever happened. It’s hard to score 20 runs to begin with. Every day is a little unique. That was the pregame message: ‘What challenges is the game going to bring us today?’ Yesterday is dead, and now today is dead. We’re onto tomorrow.” On Collin Clarke’s start… “He had a really good start. He made a couple of mistakes, and the only mistakes he made today were in two-strike counts where he left a fastball in a place that he wasn’t trying to put it. They capitalized on those, but he made some big pitches. He is a tremendous competitor, and that’s obvious.” On Gabe Miranda reaching every time he came to the plate… “I thought he was the offensive player of the day. There were some other really good offensive performances. There were several guys who got into balls and hit them out of the park, but we need Gabe moving forward. He’s a tremendous leader and a clubhouse guy. I thought he swung the bat really well today.” Drew Smith Drew Smith On his thoughts on the game… “It was a good, competitive game. I thought Collin pitched his butt off, and the hitters did a really good job pounding baseballs that were in the zone. I think we could have done a better job against that lefty and adjusting to what he was doing, but all around, I think it was a solid game.” On the message after yesterday’s game… “Each day is a new day, so we can’t let something like that soften us up and think it’s going to be easy. We wanted to attack and do the same thing that we do day in and day out.” On how important it was for him to hit that home run in the first inning… “I think every situation like that is clutch and critical to get the guys going, especially in the first inning. It’s great to get the ball rolling and give Collin some cushion.” On having Angel Laya hitting behind him… “It really takes me back to my freshman year because I was hitting behind Tanner Smith. Getting to see him work at-bats and do that kind of thing gives you an extra layer of confidence going into your at-bat. I think I definitely rub off on Angel in the right way. He’s just a great kid, and I love talking to him every day. Any nuggets of knowledge I can give him, I’m all in.” Gabe Miranda On what's been working for him at the plate... “Having some good conversations with Coach (Jack) Marder, taking some of the pressure off, and realizing that we’re just playing a game. Trying to have as much fun as possible and enjoy the ride.” On having impressive at-bats but a lower batting average... “Just by taking it one pitch at a time. Baseball is one of the hardest games in my opinion because you can go 0-4 for four lineouts and have nothing to show for it, and your average is going to drop, but you can go home as happy as can be because you know that you won that battle between you vs. the pitcher and that you scored four balls today; you can't do much about it.” Gabe Miranda On if he felt that he earned his home run... “Definitely, I saw two change-ups early, and I saw them both well. All day we were talking about if you're ahead in the count to look for your pitch, and he threw my pitch, and I put a good swing on it. Everything was just so simple about it; it was awesome.” Devin Bell On how he is settling into the role of closer with five saves now… “It’s good so far, and having the defense behind me is great. Those saves don’t mean much to me. It’s more of a team stat, I think. Today is a good example. Two pop flies to Brooks in centerfield and one groundball to Drew. They got the outs, and I just had to throw it down the middle.” On having Will, Collin, and Cal as the starting rotation… “Having Clarke, Will, and Cal on the mound is just insane. That is probably one of the best rotations in the country. Having them ahead of you, knowing that they are going to keep the lead most of the time, is a great feeling. All I have to do is go in and do my job.” On if the UC Irvine game helped him acclimate to the Division 1 level… “I still think about that game to this day. I think it was good for me to experience that, and now it’s in the past, and I keep looking forward. I grew from it, and that’s all I can do.” On pitching behind Tanner Bradley… “I love it. Tanner and I offset each other really well. He is a big change-up guy, and I go out there and pound fastballs and sliders. We work well back-to-back, I think.”