Charles Fischer

A friend who is a Yale graduate gently explained that our fight song sounds precisely like theirs...and theirs has been around much longer. Oh well!

Elite Pitching, Defense Fuel Friday Night Victory EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon baseball team got its best start of the season on the mound Friday, helped by spectacular defense, and backed it up with a professional approach at the plate to open a three-game series against USC with a 4-1 victory before 2,401 fans at PK Park. RJ Gordon (5-2) continues to blossom as the Ducks' Friday night starter, coming within two outs of a complete game before Logan Mercado came out to earn his sixth save by recording the final two outs. Oregon's defense was outstanding, including a catch by center fielder Bryce Boettcher that saved a three-run home run, and the Ducks pushed across single runs in four different innings to win a series opener for the fourth straight weekend. "RJ obviously was the story of the day," UO coach Mark Wasikowski said of Gordon, who allowed one run on five hits and three walks, with three strikeouts — his fourth straight start allowing two earned runs or fewer. "I thought RJ was tremendous." Boettcher scored two runs on the night, and also brought back a potential three-run home run in the fifth inning. That play came after Jeffery Heard laid out for a diving catch in right-center to open the inning, and the Ducks also turned two double plays that helped limit Gordon's pitch count and allow him to start the ninth. "It could easily be a different game if some of those plays aren't made," Gordon said. "And I think that's what's great about Oregon baseball, is when we all play the way we should, every position, no one's gonna beat us. It's great having those guys behind me for sure." RJ Gordon How It Happened: After Gordon struck out the game's first hitter, the next three batters reached and a sacrifice fly gave USC a 1-0 lead. That was all the Trojans would end up getting off the Ducks and Gordon. "He's pitching like a Friday night guy — as good as there is in the conference right now," Wasikowski said. "That was one of his goals, and he's doing that at this point in time." Gordon would face the minimum over the next three innings, helped by a double play turned by Maddox Molony, Drew Smith and Jacob Walsh that negated a one-out single in the fourth inning. And by the time Gordon took the mound for the fifth, Oregon had a 3-1 lead. The Ducks got started in the second, when Heard hit a leadoff single, took second on an error, was sacrificed to third by Anson Aroz and scored on a passed ball. Boettcher singled with two out in the third, advanced on a balk and scored on a base hit by Bennett Thompson, and in the third Chase Meggers came up with one out and runners at second and third, and smartly hit a ground ball to the right side that scored Aroz. "I just thought it was an unselfish offensive day," Wasikowski said. After Heard's diving catch to open the fifth, USC put two on. With two outs, the Trojans' leading hitter, Jacob Galloway, smashed a ball to center that Boettcher tracked to the wall before jumping to bring back what would have been a three-run home run that gave USC the lead. Boettcher said plays like that are things the UO outfield works on in practice drills. "Then it just carries over into batting practice, and just crashing into walls, diving for balls," said Boettcher, a Eugene native who doubles as a linebacker on the UO football team. "People will say you gotta save your body, which, maybe if you're playing 160 games. But in the fairly short season that we've got, you can afford it. And to make those plays, I think it benefits the team." Another double play helped Gordon pitch a 1-2-3 eighth inning, when Walsh snared a line drive with one on and one out, then stepped on first to double up the runner. The Ducks added on in the bottom of the eighth, without a hit — Boettcher struck out but reached on a passed ball, Walsh walked with one out, Aroz walked with two out and Ryan Cooney was hit by a pitch to force in Boettcher for a 4-1 lead. Gordon was pulled in the ninth after a walk put runners at the corners with one out. But Mercado slammed the door for the save, and preserved the win for the Ducks and their Friday night starter. "I think that's a position for older guys, just to kind of set the tone for the weekend," Gordon said of accepting the Friday night role. "And overall it hasn't been easy for me — I've grinded through a lot of not-great outings, good outings, just kind of trying to find that happy medium of what my process is on the mound. I think I'm starting to creep to it; I still think I've got a lot of ways to go, but yeah, it's great." On Deck: Game two of the series is Saturday at 2 p.m.

I was so critical of our pitching, and then RJ Gordon puts up an incredible game. Scoring four runs is usually not enough to win, but with such great pitching--you can. He was NOT good at times early in the season, and you can see him improve to where he is now a studly Friday night starter. I am very happy for him and Our Beloved Ducks!

Ducks win 4-1! RJ Gordon got an out in the ninth, and turned the final two outs to Logan Mercado who got a clutch strike out, and fly out!

Ducks leave the bases loaded, but pick up a run to make it 4-1 after an hit batter; eight innings done! Holy Crap! RJ Gordon is on the mound for the ninth inning.

Omigosh! The crowd at PK are dancing to SHOUT as Oregon finished off USC’s eighth inning with a sweet Jacob Walsh double-play! Walsh caught a low line-drive hit for the catch, and out, and then stepped on the bag to put the runner out who was headed to second. Double plays and great pitching! RJ has gone eight innings!

Still 3-1, Oregon, after seven innings, and RJ Gordon has done GREAT holding those SoCal Bastards to one run in seven innings pitched. He’s out there for the eighth!

No change of score after five innings due to Bryce Boettcher jumping up two feet over the wall to make the catch, and prevent a three run home run! And don’t forget a diving catch by Jeffrey Heard in right field! Whew!

Ducks up 3-1 after four innings, with a sweet double play to finish the damn Trojans.

After two innings, it is tied at 1-1.

…Or a massive change of heart by PAC-12 members in a few years. Yeah, we want to earn half again, and be invisible to most of the country.

Tasty Tidbits: --Oregon has opened the conference season winning all four series for the first time ever, and are going for a fifth! --When looking at the batting averages, you will see that the Ducks have seven players over .300 with two knocking on the door! --Oregon has a deeper pitching staff than last year, but has yet for all the newbies to settle. ERAs are not great, but fortunately are due to the occasional bad game that hurts their average, such as Michael Freund's one inning disaster of giving up seven runs on Tuesday. His ERA was decent prior to that, and he was 3-0 at the time. He will do better the majority of the time. --The Ducks still have four pitchers who won games for us last year, who must be injured, as we have not seen them in action yet in 2024. Others such as Matthew Grabmann and Turner Spoljaric, and only now starting to contribute after a rocky start or two.

Right now we are third based on overall percentages, but I look at the number of losses for comparison. We are second in that category, of which will rise to the top as the season progresses if we keep winning. This is a great opportunity to create some space with a team that is right there with us...

The Diamond Ducks are one of five teams that are all very close in the conference, and can beat each other on a given day. Oregon State is certainly ahead of us, but Oregon can battle for the runner-up spot in the conference to get a good NCAA seeding later. USC started out slow, but has really come on by sweeping Washington last weekend, and winning both games with Oregon State, the last one by a 17-4 score. (Their third game was rained out) Thus the Ducks have their hands full this weekend, but they are at home and CAN DO IT!

When buying a new jersey can backfire on you...

That could be, but I do not recall. I agree with you, that filling out a schedule as an Independent could be very difficult, not to mention qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

Then I checked the West Coast Conference, and it is not particularly strong, and has nobody ranked either. Then I checked the Big West, of which I figured would be the best matchup for the Beavers... They have one team ranked well, UC Irvine at No. 12 in the nation. Oregon lost a series 2-1 to UC Santa Barbara at the beginning of our season, and Fullerton has won 'Nattys before. I see this as the best landing place for Oregon State, but even then...it is not particularly prestigious. Not like the SEC, ACC, or Big-12, and does not have the brutal depth that the current Pac-12 does. In short, this will be a drop in conference on the Baseball side as well, and while they can combat it with their tradition and current success, I do think it will drop the level of their recruiting a bit. Certainly a dip in prestige. They could make a case that the Big West is stronger than the B1G in Baseball right now, but it does not change the massive Power-4 dimension Oregon will enjoy. This could help turn some in-state recruits in Oregon's direction more often...I'd like to think. Thoughts? (Hubba-Hubba! I did a thread on Oregon State that was not ruthless or snarky, although I am enjoying the contemplation of a decline in their best sport, which would benefit Our Beloved Ducks)

Oregon State has a very strong team this year, (ranked No. 5 this week) and has a rare historic tradition for a cold-weather team. Yet with the dissolution of the Pac-12..it is evident that moving to the Mountain West in football and the West Coast Conference in Basketball is a big step down from a Power-Five conference. But what about Baseball? Will moving to another conference diminish their reputation and impact recruiting? I was curious and went to look at potential Baseball conferences where they could end up. The first is the Mountain West, and below are the current standings. Nobody is ranked, and frankly--is a weak conference in Baseball. Next I checked the WAC, but that was even weaker...

Ducks Power and Pitching Lead to Win EUGENE, Ore. — Jacob Walsh hit two of Oregon’s four home runs and Ian Umlandt gave Oregon a solid start tossing seven innings in Oregon’s 11-4 nonconference win over Sacramento State on Wednesday night at PK Park. Walsh (2-for-3, 2 HR, 5 RBI, BB) slugged home runs in both the first and second innings, while Dominic Hellman and Bennett Thompson both homered as well to help Oregon earn a two-game series split with the Hornets. Thompson (4-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, 3 R) matched career highs in both hits and runs scored while tying his season high in RBI. Umlandt (2-0) gave Oregon seven strong innings, a season-high in innings pitched by a Ducks’ starter this season, while finishing with a career-high nine strikeouts. In addition to the start being a season-long effort by a Ducks’ hurler, it was also the longest of Umlandt’s career. How It Happened: Oregon sent eight batters to the plate in the bottom of the first scoring four runs. Bryce Boettcher led off the inning with a double before coming around to score on a Thompson single up the middle. Two pitches later, Walsh launched his 11th home run of the season over the right field wall for a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, Dominic Hellman made it 4-0 with a solo shot into the Sac State bullpen. The Hornets responded in the top of the second with three runs, but Oregon got them right back in its half of the inning. Like the first inning, it was Boettcher, Thompson and Walsh who did the damage. Walsh came up with the big at-bat, blasting his second home run of the game and 12th of the season after Boettcher and Thompson both singled in front of him. Sac State (15-20) got one back in the top of the fourth, but Oregon (23-9) answered with the long ball again in the bottom of the sixth. This time it was Thompson delivering a two-out laser over the wall in left center for his fourth hit of the game. Oregon tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Chase Meggers led off the frame with a base hit to left and then scored on a Maddox Molony double. Boettcher picked up an RBI scoring Molony on a sacrifice fly after he moved to third on a Carter Garate base hit. Ian Umlandt Box Score Notes: Umlandt made his first career start after 21 appearances out of the bullpen … Walsh homered twice in the same game for the second time this season (vs. Cal on March 17) and the fourth time during his career (at Arizona 3/31/23; vs. Stanford 4/15/23) … Walsh, who set the Oregon career home run record Sunday at UCLA, ran his career total to 34 homers … With his five RBI, Walsh moved into sixth on Oregon’s all-time RBI list passing Kyle Garlick (2011-14) … Walsh moved into a tie for 10th all-time in single-season home runs at Oregon with 12 … Oregon 1-2-3 hitters (Boettcher-Thompson-Walsh) combined for eight hits, seven runs scored and nine RBI … The Ducks 7-8 hitters (Meggers-Molony) combined to go 5-for-8 with three runs scored and a RBI … Outfielder Justin Cassella missed his ninth consecutive game. On Deck: The Ducks return to Pac-12 Conference play on Friday when the host USC in the first game of a three-game series. First pitch on Friday is at 5:05 p.m. Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski On whether today was the most complete game of the season... “Could have been, yeah. We played good defense, the pitching was stellar with Ian’s start, was really really good. I thought (Matthew) Grabmann and (Turner) Spoljaric came in and did a really nice job as well. So, from top to bottom the pitching was good and I thought the offense was sustained throughout.” On Ian Umlandt’s performance... “Well, he’s got a lot of pitches, so when you try to start sitting on one of them, he's got something else that’s just good enough to get you. So, when you start trying to guess with a guy like that, sometimes it can be a little slippery guessing, and Ian was spot on with his command today. He was out in the middle of the zone. The runs he gave up, just a couple of them were on walks, and he had a hit-by-pitch and a walk, and those guys scored there in the three-run inning. And other than that, he was in full control again.” On the takeaway from today’s game... “The takeaway today is we won the game. I think when you look at college baseball across the board, when you look at the top 25 yesterday, I don't know how many teams in the top 25 lost, but a lot of them did. I think midweek games are hard. There’s a lot of really good players in college baseball. I think with just the lay of the land in college baseball now, you’ve got a better opportunity for teams to sneak up and get you because there’s a lot of 23-year olds playing. If they don’t get a chance to play pro ball, or sometimes with no money where they come back to school because of NIL money or what have you. There’s a lot of really good old players in college baseball that are probably keeping freshman off the field in some programs. I mean, we’re not scared to play freshman, and we’re playing a lot of them and we’re going to continue to play young players to develop them because that’s how we feel you should develop.” Bennett Thompson Thoughts on what was working today… “I was just trying to simplify my approach the last couple of days. I’ve been working with Coach (Jack) Marder trying to go back to some of the keys that make me successful as a hitter. Luckily today I was able to get a couple of squibbers to fall which was nice. Just trying to get after fastballs and just have fun hitting.” Importance of setting the tone… “Something that we take pride on is trying to win each inning. We had an opportunity in the first inning today to go out and win the inning and we were able to do that. (Jacob) Walsh’s home run was pretty sweet to set the tone early and even (Bryce) Boettcher leading off the game with a double, that was sweet. It’s something that we want to do in every game. In every game we want to take the lead in the first inning and today we were able to do that and ride that momentum through.” Jacob Walsh Thoughts on the swing and career day… “I’m just sticking to my approach. Getting good pitches to hit and putting swings on balls.” Thoughts on five games in a week and the importance of only three pitchers throwing today… “Five games in a week is always tough. Making sure we have enough fresh arms going into the weekend is super important, so Ian (Umlandt) being able to go out there and throwing 95 pitches and mowing guys down is great to see.” Ian Umlandt On what was working today... “I think just being able to mix four pitches for strikes was huge today. Obviously not always overpowering stuff, but the ability to mix a slider, cutter, changeup, and a heater anywhere around the zone to both righties and lefties was a big key to success. Once I hit the fourth I feel like I really found my groove and just was able to settle in and go from there.” On how you feel after first career start... “I feel good. I feel blessed and really lucky to be able to have the opportunity today, and that was big thing. I actually found out I was starting today after I got to the field. So it wasn’t something that I knew, so it was really cool. Just the preparation that goes with that was a lot different, obviously, not coming out of the pen. But, really, really happy, really blessed. My parents were able to make it down to the game last minute, so just feel really lucky.”

In the SEC?

At another site...they are saying this is a sneaky-good receiver that a ton of schools wanted. Oregon got a good one. He is a 4-Star on Rivals, with offers of note from Notre Dame, Oklahoma,....and Washington! Are you sure he isn't a linebacker?

Press release is coming later, but for now... Oregon wins 11-4, and got both the pitching and batting back on track. Jacob Walsh crushes two home runs and drives in five runs. If he isn't hitting 'yard' or doubles, he gets walks. He is really hitting his stride at the plate... Canadians finished off the pitching, as Matthew Grabmann pitched a scoreless inning in the eighth, and fellow Canadian Turner Spoljaric threw a scoreless ninth inning. The Ducks had an amazing four double plays tonight! Oregon Natives Propel Ducks The pride of Sherwood, Ian Umlandt, went seven innings, and only gave up the four runs. He has been slowly working his way back into the lineup, and seven innings is a career high. The pride of Eugene, Bryce Boettcher, went 2-4 along with his easy fielding. The pride of Medford, Bennett Thompson went 4-5 with three runs batted in. The pride of Springfield, Maddox Molony, went 3-4 to continue his impressive streak as a starter for the Ducks. This guy finds ways to get his bat on the ball and get hits! Big series with USC this weekend!

GREAT to have him back!