Charles Fischer

You probably missed the post where I reported last week that Coach Waz disclosed for the first time since the Super-Regionals, that his pitchers got sick after the first game. It would explain the meltdown, and do recall that Texas A&M finished as the national runner-up, and was a preseason No. 1 this year. We lost to a good team... We do have to look at more than a couple of games, as the ERA for Grinsell was 4.08 for the entire 2024 campaign. That is good, not great. For Ryan Featherston, his 2024 ERA was 3.76 and my limited baseball knowledge says that an ERA between 3 and 4 is good, below three is excellent and below that is rare for college pitchers. I am not pleased with all that has occurred, but we do not yet have MLB-type pitchers that Horton had in his early years. Right now it appears that we recruit smaller college transfers and use a see-who-can-play approach, and we recruit freshmen who have upside. Finishing No. 12 in the nation two years in a row got us a great freshman class, and I love the development that has occured with many of the pitchers. For example Collin Clarke had a 6.41 ERA last year...and I was not real enthusiastic about him. But the coaches worked with him, and I was stunned to see him as the Saturday night starter this year, and his ERA in two games with 12 innings pitched already is 0.00 so if we are going to draw conclusions from only two games...(and I do not think we should in both directions) Cole Stokes is another one who I was not impressed with last year as a freshman with a 11.42 ERA, but in three innings of relief in two weekends in 2025...he is 0.00 ERA. Not a great sample, but he passed the eyeball test with his improvement and development. Collin Clarke The pride of Sherwood, Ian Umlandt, had a 3.94 ERA last year, and in nine innings pitched already in two weekends of 2025 he has a 0.96 ERA and is looking even better than last year. My point is that I see some real improvement with pitchers I wrote off from last year. Coach Waz stated in a recent interview that some of the new pitchers played extremely well in summer-ball, and fall baseball scrimmages, but had a bad first outing. He is confident in them, and I will trust that. Another element that can distort ERA is how long a pitcher is in there. Up to this year, pitchers were given a long rope when they got into trouble, in order to allow them the opportunity to gain confidence getting out of them. Problem was...that did work about half the time and the extra innings flattened out what would have been a terrible ERA had the pitcher been pulled right away. But this year, the pitching coach is quick to pull them if he doesn't like the control issues to begin. Thus some short innings for some pitchers and HUGE ERAs. Besides the development of last year's freshmen, I like what I see of this year's freshman class of pitchers thus far. Gabe Howard, the pride of West Linn, has a 1.80 ERA in five innings of relief in two weekends, highly heralded Will Sanford is 2.25 ERA as the Sunday starter, and Kellan Knox showed some real promise with a 4.15 ERA thus far with 4.1 innings of relief in two weekends. Freshman Michael Mekna was the top RHP in Nebraska, he looked good in his 3.2 innings today with a 2025 ERA of 0.00 as well. So, I think there is a lot of upside for this team, but they have a higher hill to climb than I hoped. But Waz stated going into the season that he has more pitching depth than last year, and I believe it. The unexpected development of many pitchers, and the pleasant freshman surprises promises a ton of games won this year. Will Sanford (My stats taken from GoDucks.com after the last Rhode Island game)

Oregon wins 15-2 on the ten-run rule with a Anson Aroz GRAND SLAM. Two in one game? Sheesh! Jaxon Jordan came in and pitched a scoreless seventh inning before the fireworks from Aroz. Nice ending, but our depth at pitching was deeper than theirs. Can't draw too much from that yet, but nice nonetheless.

11-2 Oregon after five innings! We got a walk, then bunted twice to advance the runner...and then got a balk to score the runner from third! Not power-ball, but it works. Then Jacob Walsh came to the plate and hit a double that scored two more runs...love it! Oregon's freshman pitcher Michael Mekna has gone two and two-thirds innings and kept them scoreless!

8-2 Oregon after four innings! Heralded freshman Burke-Lee Mabeus hit a GRAND SLAM and is responsible for six runs today already! Will Sanford got into some trouble just before the rain delay, and has two earned runs against him. After the three hour delay--both teams brought in new pitchers. For Oregon...it is another freshman, Michael Mekna, the top RHP in Nebraska and a top 500 recruit for over 300 D1 Baseball teams that would contend for recruits, although most of the best ones go straight to MLB.

The Bad News? USC is recruiting fantastic The Good News? It is Lincoln Riley…😝

Yep, the other day both USC and Oregon had 10 verbals for 2026, but with the flip of Williams and a recent 4-Star defensive lineman to USC...the Ducks drop all-the-way in rankings to... No. 2 (Long way to go!) USC fans are always classy... "We might be taking Oregon's lunch money this year with a couple of kids." "This guy is the 13th best QB in the nation according to 247??? I would be willing to bet money that he ends up much higher when he puts pen to paper." "It was clear then that he wasn't going to Oregon." - Tom Loy (This has the makings of a book title) "USC gets a flip from an Oregon recruit? Hmm.. did Uncle Phil's check not clear?" "Like shooting Ducks in a barrel." 2026 all-teams football recruiting team rankings N.RIVALS.COM 2026 all-teams football recruiting team rankings by Rivals.com

Yawn. This is one position where I am NOT in favor of developing them through trial-and-losses. Sure, build depth in case of injury, but if a great portal QB who is experienced is available....grab him. As talented as Dante Moore is, (or purported at this time, since we have no proof) would we have gone 13-0 until the Playoff? No, as there were plays that only an experienced QB makes and knows. As far as I'm concerned, we have a pretty deep QB room right now, and I'm fine with this loss. Now if it was an offensive lineman...that would be different. Is that a beautiful photo or what? Geez I love our photographers...

Check our schedule in the article versus the other B1G members....thoughts?

It is POURING in Eugene, with big drops, thus a RAIN DELAY.

After two innings it is 4-1 Oregon, as Sanford gave the Ducks another shaky start loading the bases, but got out of it. Boy he has a nasty curve/drop pitch to go along with his low 90s fastball.

See end of thread later... --------------------------------------------------------------------- A noon start, and it is 3-1 Oregon after one inning. Freshman sensation Will Sanford started out very shaky, but recovered and shut down bases loaded giving up only one run. The Ram pitcher gave the Ducks a bases loaded gift in two walks and a hit batter, and Ducks got three runs off of it. Boy, the Freshman catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus had a great hit scoring two, and he looks impressive already.

My Duck-Buddies, I hope you will read and learn so much from this article as I did. A TON of surprises in the B1G scheduling, and nobody does the research like Jon. I personally will be saving the link to the article, so that I have it as a reference source between now and the end of next football season. Surprises in there about Indiana, Michigan, Rutgers and MORE. And GREAT pictures...

19-12 is the final, Oregon!

17-11 after seven innings, Ducks!

16-9 Ducks, after six innings. Freshman Kelian Knox had a scoreless inning in relief, and Mason Neville added a homer to center field in the rain.

Craziness continues, but in the favor of Our Beloved Ducks, as they take a 15-9 lead after five innings!

Did Bamba save the day on defense in the second half?

Ducks lead 11-8 after four innings! Reitz got tore-up, but so did the Ram pitchers. We've had great hitting, terrible pitching, a slew of errors, tons of walks and hit batters. The precise opposite of the morning game and it is only after four innings! There won't be any pitchers left for tomorrow...

Game recap coming later at the end of the thread... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ducks up 2-0 after one inning on an error and then a homer by Anson Aroz. The Big-Guy, the 6'11" monster, Jason Reitz on the hill...

Gabe Howard got it done in the 11th, and see the top post for how it ended. More coming later..

The Ram pitcher has not only been superb, but gone the entire nine innings in a 0-0 game. Starter for Oregon Collin Clarke gave us seven scoreless innings, and then big Cole Stokes (6'6") came in for two scoreless innings with his 97 mph fastball and a very nasty curve/drop ball pitch. We go to the tenth with Freshman from West Linn Gabe Howard trying to close...

Good gosh, 0-0 after six innings with a pitchers’ duel. Not only has Collin Clarke done well, but his low pitch count allows him to continue on in the seventh inning.

0-0 after five innings, and the Rams decided to test true freshman catcher Coen Niclai, of the Ducks who threw a perfect bullet to easily get the runner trying to steal second base.

0-0 after four innings.

Down 17 at one point? Damn...glad I recorded it and can watch without trepidation...great win. Is this the game that turns this season around?