Charles Fischer

6-5 Ducks! This is after six innings, as the replacement for Anson Aroz...Jeffrey Heard, got a dinger over the center field fence to tie it. Then Oregon's Burke-Lee Mabeus got a blooper single in shallow left field to set up The Pride of Portland Oregon, Ryan Cooney, who blasted a two-run homer over center field as well. The crowd went nuts... There is a stiff wind blowing out toward center field, so anything up in the air can get carried long, and Cal Poly got a HR that way.

4-3 Cal Poly after five innings, as the Ducks' Carter Garate singled to get to first, got to second on a wild pitch, and then was advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Then came a LONG at-bat with Dominic Hellman, who fouled off tons of pitches, and with two outs and a runner on third...we needed this. He got the pitch he wanted and blasted it out of the park and into the left field scoreboard for a two-run homer! The crowd was razzing the pitcher, and went crazy with the HR. The Mustangs are hitting Oregon's Grinsell much more than I would have thought...

3-1 Cal Poly after four innings. Sigh…

3-1 Cal Poly after three innings. Oregon's Ryan Cooney got a double to center field, got sacrificed to third, and Dominic Hellman hit him with a single to left field. Left two stranded!

2-0 Cal Poly after two innings. They caught a Grinsell fastball for a two-run HR.

0-0 after one inning, and Grayson Grinsell looks good.

Be a Good Fan... ------------------------------------------------------ I will be watching and reporting, even if through slits of the fingers... Coach Waz says this Cal Poly coach is very, very good. They barely lost to Arizona yesterday 3-2, and this team won the Big-West Tournament against teams like UC Irvine and Santa Barbara. Forget about the future...let's win a game! Grayson Grinsell pitching!

Yes, and no. It cost the game, but Oregon should have pitched better, hit better, and not made one play decide the game. I better really soak up and enjoy this weekend, because it is probably the last of Oregon baseball for this year. I just do not think we have enough pitchers to win four games straight, especially when we’re playing Arizona in the last two games, with the worst of our pitchers by that time. Oh well, I still love my Ducks, and got to see a lot of winning baseball this year…

Well…Oregon would have to win four in a row, and I am afraid we don’t have enough pitchers for that. Although freshman Tanner Bradley was a bright spot…

Oregon loses 6-5. We play Saturday at noon.

6-4 Utah Valley after eight innings. Drew Smith homers, and then a massive play which turned this game occurred. Chase Meggers flied out to left field and Anson Aroz tagged from third base. The throw to home was not secured by the catcher and bounced up. While the catcher was reaching for it--he blocked the plate and Aroz ran into him trying to get to the plate. They called him out, and instead of 6-5 with one out and a runner on second, it was two outs and a runner first while stil 6-4. Teams have great games against us...

6-3 Utah Valley after seven innings. Not good…

4-3 Utah Valley after six innings. Reitz has struck out an incredible 14 batters with 104 pitches.

4-3 Utah Valley after five innings. Jason Reitz is doing well pitching, while Oregon batters...not so much yet.

4-3 Utah Valley after four innings. The Wolverines exploded on Reitz in the third inning, and while he kept them scoreless in the fourth--it was heavy damage. Meanwhile the Ducks got going with a Jacob Walsh single to opposite side, and the Drew Smith did the same past the right field fence for a two-run homer! Anson Aroz got under the first pitch to send it over the left field fence to score three in the inning.

0-0 after two innings. Ducks are getting on base, but not doing much with it. Jason Reitz put them down 1-2-3 again, and a hint given by the sportscasters as to why he started? He has not pitched in nearly two weeks..

0-0 after one inning, and the Ducks left two stranded on base. Jason Reitz got the start, and the in the pregame interview....Coach Waz danced around why. It could any number of factors, such as more rest for Grinsell, a tweak with Clarke...who knows? Lurch got them put down 1-2-3 with his 95 mph fastball, and then a changeup that makes them whiff.

In Eugene on Comcast, the game is on channel 420, or HD at 1210. And streaming on ESPN+.

I will make this the official game thread, and I brought over a superb analysis from another site about our opponent, the WAC Tournament Winner, Utah Valley. No. 171 Utah Valley Wolverines (32-27, 13-11 WAC) What a strange year it was for the Wolverines. They lost easily their most talented player in program history (Daniel Dickinson, who transferred to LSU and has a plus-1.000 OPS in the SEC), their head coach (Eddie Smith, who was swept by the Ducks and missed out on the tournament in his first year at Washington) and finished their regular season losers in 16-of-20. What? None of that takes you by the shoulders and yells "tournament team!" but indeed, for the first time since 2016 and just the second time in the programs' Division 1-history, the Wolverines are tournament bound. It's an immensely fun offense. The WAC is notoriously hitter-friendly, but the Wolverines have four players with double-digit homers, seven with double-digit stolen base,s and nine qualifiers with an OPS north of .800. Their only qualifier with a sub-.800 OPS is DJ Massey, who's hitting .331. Oregon fans may hold their breath at this, but the offense reminds me a lot of the 2023 Oral Roberts team that came to Eugene and knocked the Ducks out of a College World Series berth. Not only is there talent, but the talent is experienced. Their best hitter, Mason Strong, is 22 years old. CJ Colyer has nearly 600 collegiate plate appearances and had no problem jumping between divisions. Utah transfer Landon Frei (team-high 73 RBI) was terrific, and incumbent Luke Iversen more than doubled his home run impact from his first two seasons in Orem. Corbin Kirk Things do get a little suspect on the mound, both as a result of the WAC in and of itself and UCCU Ballpark being extremely hitter-friendly. Corbin Kirk is the Wolverines' Friday starter, coming off a legendary 13-strikeout, one-run complete game against Abilene Christian in the WAC Tournament. After a terrible three-start stretch where he had an 18.00 ERA, he's allowed just five runs total over his last three. No. 2 starter Colton Kennedy is also assuredly now a fan-favorite, combining with reliever Cooper Littledike to throw a no-hitter against top-seeded Sacramento State in the WAC tournament. Still, his season-ERA is over six, but he's got the best stuff of the starting rotation. Littledike is the best pitcher in the Wolverines' bullpen, leading the team with five saves as just one of four pitchers on the roster with a sub-4.00 ERA. Carter Krosky and Ray Hernandez are viable options, but they've combined for under 30 innings between them. Carston Herman had a legendary performance of his own against UT Arlington in the WAC tournament, going six innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen, but still has a 6.02 ERA. With over 50 innings, he's clearly the most trusted bullpen option. Some combination of Garrett Miller, Alan Huerta and Landon Zaborowski are going to have to eat quality innings for Utah Valley if it wants any success in the tournament. All three have high potential, with Miller's 10.0 K/9 representing the low mark of the trio, but control flaws have hampered their run-prevention ability. Under-the-radar X-Factor: SS Dominic Longo Trivia question: how many players nationally have over 20 stolen bases and more than 10 home runs? Answer: probably more than you'd think! I was ready to search for every player before realizing that it's relatively easy, especially in smaller conferences. Then, I whittled my search down to players in the NCAA tournament before giving up on doing that because of how many there are. Still, it's not exactly a common feat by any means. But Longo has done so. The transfer from Spokane Community College has played far better at the Division 1 level than he did at SCC last year. He didn't homer once last season and had just a .709 OPS, up to .930 with ten tanks. Playing shortstop at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds with solid power and terrific speed, it's easy to see Longo getting some draft consideration when he's eligible. But he's sixth amongst team qualifiers in OPS and gets somewhat hidden within the offense. And he's got more multi-hit games (22) than no-hit games (20), so when he gets hot, he can carry the team on his shoulders. The Eugene Regional begins on Friday at 1 p.m. PST, as the second-seeded Wildcats take on the third-seeded Mustangs live on ESPN+. (Arizona won 3-2) The hosts, the top-seeded Oregon Ducks, take on the fourth-seeded Wolverines at 6 p.m. PST after the first game's conclusion.

The Eugene local Comcast still shows the UC Irvine vs. ASU at 6:00 PM, yet when on ESPNU just now watching a bit of USC beating TCU 6-1...in both the footer running announcements, and the box that appears in the right corner showing scores and upcoming games...it has Oregon's game on ESPNU. We shall see...

There is confusion on where to watch tonight's Baseball Regional Playoff game. Originally, the schedule on GoDucks.com stated that the game was on ESPN+, but then yesterday morning it changed to TV on ESPNU. Problem is, my TV listing locally for Comcast/Xfinity shows UC Irvine vs. Arizona State at that time, and as of this morning on Friday--it continues to show that. Meanwhile, GoDucks.com continues to show ESPNU, and I emailed the Sports Information Director for Oregon Baseball about the issue, and he says that what is on the schedule at GoDucks.com, (ESPNU) is correct. When I go to the schedule for ESPN+...it shows the Oregon game to stream at 6:00 PM! When I go to the online schedule of ESPNU at their website....at 6:00 PM it states...."TBA" of which is pretty damn strange for the day-of a Playoff game. So there IS a chance of our game on ESPNU at 6:00 PM, and I guess we will find out tonight.

There is confusion on where to watch tonight's Baseball Regional Playoff game. Originally, the schedule on GoDucks.com stated that the game was on ESPN+, but then yesterday morning it changed to TV on ESPNU. Problem is, my TV listing locally for Comcast/Xfinity shows UC Irvine vs. Arizona State at that time, and as of this morning on Friday--it continues to show that. Meanwhile, GoDucks.com continues to show ESPNU, and I emailed the Sports Information Director for Oregon Baseball about the issue, and he says that what is on the schedule at GoDucks.com, (ESPNU) is correct. When I go to the schedule for ESPN+...it shows the Oregon game to stream at 6:00 PM! When I go to the online schedule of ESPNU at their website....at 6:00 PM it states...."TBA" of which is pretty damn strange for the day-of a Playoff game. So there IS a chance of our game on ESPNU at 6:00 PM, and I guess we will find out tonight.

He has been a complete jerk in past Oregon telecasts...as I recall.

Below is another take that makes sense considering Oregon has a Blue-Chip roster that is primarily young... ----------------------------------------------------------------- Quote:..."shift their NIL focus from paying for high school prospects large sums of money but instead spending large chunks of their money to keeping its current talent on roster beyond the current season, and then hitting the transfer portal" That's not a viable long term plan. If you don't keep bringing in high level talent, 2-3 years later there aren't enough guys left worth paying that big money. Which makes me think this is a short or medium term strategy, reacting to an unbalanced roster. Unbalanced rosters aren't the worst thing. Michigan loaded up on older guys to win in 2023. tOSU wasn't that different in 2024. This could be us preparing for something similar in 2026. ---------------------------------------------------------------- This could be an "Oregon" strategy for now? It makes sense to tailor your planning to your roster, what you have in NIL funding, and where you believe legislation is going?

Over at 247, the principals there just revealed what they believe is the adjusted recruiting strategy for Oregon Football, and it below.. "It sounds like Division Street, Oregon's sports programs, the AD, and other various NIL outlets have started to shift their NIL focus from paying for high school prospects large sums of money but instead spending large chunks of their money to keeping its current talent on roster beyond the current season, and then hitting the transfer portal. I believe in this move and think in the long run it will pay off for the Ducks, but time will tell there." It is possible that they anticipate new maximum levels attached to NIL, and thus are adjusting to it now and not have to alter NIL contracts and deal with that aftermath later? I also wonder if they are now fully realizing their positioning in the CFB food-chain, in that even if there are few good transfers available at a given position, such as offensive line--that they will be able to attract what they want from the portal such as this year's Nevada OT Isaiah World, USC OG Emmanuel Pregnon, and Texas State OT Alex Harkey? (Whew!) Are you better off spending enormous amounts for an unproven, inexperienced HS player or star transfer at that position? I think it is obvious, and perhaps my attitude towards portal QBs might be seeping over to other positions? To pull this off--you have to be very aware of what you can truly attract from the portal, and I gotta say...Lanning and staff have been elite at evaluating, recruiting, and coaching up those who come to us from the portal.