Charles Fischer

TV, not movies?

While I squirm at the term, "mercenary," like Jon, I like how your article defined the strategy, the weakness, and the huge upside the portal transfers brought us. In particular I have enjoyed how Lanning's staff has developed transfers into better players, and that has helped the recruiting as well. Lanning has built a Blue-Chip roster from high school recruits, and this year we begin to see the fruits of that, with even more kicking in for the 2026 season. B1G is not thrilled with their new Daddy...

Playing No. 7 Oregon State four times will not be easy, and when you add Washington, UCLA, and USC...we still have four former Pac-12 teams on the schedule.

Let's move this hockey discussion to one of the other hockey threads begun, or start a new one! (Three pages is too long)

When Cristobal was here....he named a son "Rocko," and while the explanation given was after this friend, "the Rock,".....I thought of the cartoon my daughter and I watched together and enjoyed...hmmmm.

She is in her 30s now, but when my daughter was growing up..."we" watched cartoons together often. I would even pause and we would discuss or laugh at something, hence my occasional reference to Spongebob Squarepants of which we watched a TON. But Rocko's Modern Life was another that we enjoyed. An Aussie accent dog and his sidekicks... And who can forget..."Mr. BigHead!" Rocko was great fun, and like Spongebob...there were tons of jokes that a child would never understand, thus written to make ME laugh. (They succeeded)

If there is a new game going on...let's start a new thread instead of three pages here...

First of all, I agree that a loss like this cannot happen often, and I don't think it will. It was a perfect storm of that outfielder saving a HR and who knows how many runs, and some damn fine pitching by Toledo that day. It will happen like that, because as they say, "that's Baseball!" We also had a transfer pitcher in for the first time, and literally could not get an out. Had to be pulled after the fourth batter... A different pitcher for Oregon perhaps gives us a win, but in the early games like this--you gotta play people and see who is good. Oregon also played a number of freshmen in the field, and my gosh we got two impressive freshman catchers. Something I just learned from Waz in an interview was why our pitching staff collapsed against Texas A&M, as I could not understand how Brock Moore could mow down Oregon State, but just got shelled at College Station. Apparently the majority of our pitching staff was SICK after the first game, and that is some bad luck. I was not sure I believed Coach Waz when he said before the season that, "our pitching depth is better than last year." Really? We lost most of who was good, and we have no idea what they are being replaced with...but Waz knew. This is an experienced, savvy team with deep pitching, and Omaha is possible! (Charles, put down those Pom-Poms) Gabe Howard, the 6'3" freshman from West Linn left them scoreless..

A lot of love for Michigan! Damn, these B1G fans have RIVALRIES.

It is a slow time, and we all need a smile. (Even if Gallows humor)

In the D1Baseball rankings, the Ducks moved from No. 12 to No. 11, while holding steady at No. 19 with Baseball America. Frankly, I've always followed D1Baseball, even when on the short end of things. There are five major Baseball ranking services, which is crazy considering how few keep an eye on the sport, IMHO. Unfortunately, Beavis has outscored their opponents 30-3 in their first three games, including a 6-0 victory over B1G Indiana, who has a good team. Oregon State is at No. 7, but could move higher over the season. Our Beloved Ducks have a very high upside, as we had some impressive freshmen pitchers surprise me, and the development of two pitchers that I counted out was also quite impressive. (Collin Clarke and Cole Stokes) Ian Umlandt has strange stuff that still messes batters up, and creates low scoring as last year. So the surprise from this last weekend is how the scoring was much lower for such an experienced team than I would have thought going in, and how the pitching was WAY better than I was hoping for. Yes, it is early and not like playing Beavis, but there is real hope for a shot at Omaha. I think the game lost was GOOD for the Ducks; going undefeated for a while gets teams full-of-themselves, and this was a great reminder of how two walks and an infield error will load the bases with no outs, and you have to mentally clamp down to prevent a bad inning. I gotta say though, that Toledo had an outfielder who caught two incredible hits that prevented three runs scoring between the two catches. (We lost 5-3) ESPN made one of them in their top-ten. Well, and in that game--the Rocket pitchers were just studs, and handcuffed the Ducks superbly. Good on them, and good for Oregon to be reminded of how thin the razor's edge is. 3rd Baseman Carter Garate Loves Baseball....Do You?

Wow. I had no idea it was that bad....thanks so much for the research, and damn...that is tough on the players!

“Live by the three…”

I've changed my mind on this topic, as I am not in favor of getting automatic bids for B1G and SEC after all. We need that push to earn it...and remove the conference championships and make that weekend the first round of a 16 team playoff with no byes for anyone. With 16 teams...anybody that has a real chance of winning a 'Natty will not get left out. And let's seed, and reseed the damn thing.

Ducks up by 14 with nine minutes left...maybe this means I can watch the replay without covering my eyes!

The women are 9-1 already, with the only loss in extra innings (4-3) to Arizona State. Great start!

I am not the least bit worried with Dan Lanning running things, as the upside has only begun. I disagree with his last statement in the article, his conclusion. I am not so sure about USC, in fact I have more confidence in Washington over the next four years--by a mile. That bastard Fisch is a damn good coach, and he is ahead of where I thought he'd be in the rebuilding and a long ways ahead of Jonathon Smith at Michigan State. What he did at Arizona still ranks as one of the most impressive coaching miracles I've seen, as the Wildcats had been the tire-fire for a long time. How you recruit to that is very hard...and he did. He also found gems that turned into great players, and he will do that at Washington, I believe. My Ernest Wish for Washington...

Young Arms Propel Ducks to Series Win EUGENE, Ore. — Four Oregon pitchers combined to toss a four-hitter in a 6-1 series-clinching win over Toledo on Sunday at PK Park. Two true freshman, Will Sanford and Kellan Knox, and a pair of sophomores, Santiago Garcia and Cole Stokes, held the Rockets to just four singles during the game with only two moving into scoring position. Sanford made the start for the Ducks and gave them four quality innings. He fanned the first batter he faced and the struck out two more in the third before striking out the side in the fourth to end his day. Knox came out of the pen in the fifth and picked up his first career win tossing two scoreless innings. He retired all six batters he faced before giving way to Garcia, a junior college transfer from Arizona Community College. The lefty held the Rockets (1-3) scoreless during his two innings finishing with three punch-outs. Stokes, the only returner among the four hurlers, entered in the ninth to get the last three outs. After hitting the first batter he faced, the Ducks’ right-hander retired the next three with the final two coming on strikeouts. How It Happened: The Ducks jumped on top early manufacturing a run in the bottom of the first inning. Mason Neville drew a lead-off walk, stole second and moved to third on an Anson Aroz groundout before scoring on a Jacob Walsh groundout to second. Oregon tacked on three more in the bottom of the second inning to make it a four-run game. Maddox Molony led off the frame with a double to left field and came around to score after a Jack Brooks walk on a Ryan Cooney groundout. Carter Garate drove in Brooks with an RBI single before coming around to score on a Neville double that went off the top of the right-center field wall. Carter Garate and Will Sanford celebrate in Oregon's very cool throw-back 1954 uniforms... The teams exchanged runs in the third inning. Walsh led off Oregon’s half of the inning with a single and moved to third on a one-out Molony double. After a Brooks walk loaded the bases, Cooney picked up his second RBI of the day when he was hit by a pitch. Neither team managed much offense over the next four innings until Molony came to the plate to lead off the eighth inning and launched his third home run of the series over the left field wall for a 6-1 lead. Box Score Notes: Sanford fanned the leadoff hitter in his first career outing … He finished with six Ks in four innings or work … Molony’s home run tied him for the team lead with Walsh … Moloney finished 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and a run scored … Oregon’s four-man rotation allowed just two runs in eight hits in 17.0 innings of work in the series … Oregon finished with 16 extra-base hits in the series, 10 home runs and six doubles. On Deck: Oregon returns to action on Friday when the Ducks open a four-game series against Rhode Island with a 3:05 p.m. first pitch. Quotes: Head Coach Mark Wasikowski Thoughts on the game overall… “It seemed like a complete game to me. The guys played really well, they played good defense, and the pitching was solid from start to finish. I thought there were timely hits. It was nice to extend the lead with that home run by Molony late in the game.” On six of eight lead-off hitters reaching today and four of them coming around to score… “I like breaking home run records where we hit seven homers, but I think six of them were solo shots. That’s not really an offense. Having an offense is what we did at the beginning of the game where the guy gets on via walk, you steal second, he gets advanced to third by a ground ball, and then he scores on a ground ball. That’s having an offense where you score despite not even getting a hit. We want to play good defense, pitch well, and have a balance offensively. There were some weaknesses that were clear that we need to tighten up this week in practice, and we’ll do that.” On Will Sanford’s first performance… “He was okay to be honest. It was his first outing as a freshman, and I’ll be critical and say he was just okay. He’ll probably be put up for conference freshman pitcher of the week, but I don’t know if he’ll win. I like his competitiveness. He finished the last inning with three strikeouts. He wasn’t as good as we’ve seen him quite candidly, but obviously he’s a special talent. When you go out there and give up one run on a wild pitch, I think that's what he gave up all day. It’s hard to be too critical of what he did, but I thought he pitched well.” Maddox Molony from Springfield had an incredible weekend... Will Sanford On what he did well today… “I felt that most of the time my fastball played well, and the cutter was a great pitch today. I could have done better on my secondary stuff and keeping that mindset of attacking with every pitch, but I felt good. It feels good to get the first one out of the way and keep building on it.” On if he was nervous today… “I feel like there’s always some jitters on the start. Once you walk up to the mound and see all the fans, you get a little nervous. Then, once you throw that first pitch and get it out of the way, you feel good.” On having Anson Arroz behind the dish… “I love Anson. We’ve worked with a couple catchers over the fall and winter. He’s caught me a good amount and I probably feel the most comfortable with him. He’s always working. If the ball is in the dirt, he’ll get it, and he’s always moving. Anson does his best trying to control the game and talking to me, and he’s a great catcher.” Carter Garate On takeaways from series win... “There is good and there are things to improve upon from the weekend. Obviously, going 3-1 and expecting to go undefeated, but we’re going to take this weekend to learn. I think that’s the biggest thing we can do this weekend is learn from what we can improve on, and we’re going to do that throughout the week.” On infield leadership... “That is something that I have taken as my responsibility as a guy in the infield. It’s not just me, but the infield as a group. It’s the job that I feel like we should all be able to do, just encouraging our guys, we need to be up there with the pitcher. He’s on a mound up there by himself, but we want him to feel like we’re right behind him.” On depth of infield players... “We have a good group of guys. We have a lot of guys that work hard and push each other. This group has unlimited ability. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do with it.” Carter Garate got-him! Ryan Cooney On takeaways from series... “I thought we hit the ball pretty well. I think that we have a lot to improve on. I like the pitching staff a lot. I was really impressed by Ian Umlandt and the guys who threw today were really impressive. I’m glad they came out and worked their stuff. As an infielder, it’s nice to see when those guys are out there with good intent.” On Will Sanford’s pitching debut... “He’s got special stuff. As a young kid, it’s really nice to see him with that intent that I speak of. I think he is really strong with his ability but also understands when to control himself. I think you saw that today. I know he had a couple walks or hits, and then he was just working through them. I think that’s what really sets him apart from other guys, along with that great stuff he has.” On dynamic amongst returning players... “I think the great experience helps dudes settle down. For example, with pitching staff having a young guy out there, having older guys around him is really important. Lineup wise, I think it allows us to be even stronger than we already were. I think we’re going to continue building off what we have and those older guys in the lineup.”

Oregon wins 6-1!

Still 5-1 after six innings, Ducks. Freshman relief pitcher Kelian Knox from Washington has pitched two innings of scoreless ball…super!

Still 5-1 after five innings!

5-1 Oregon after three innings!