Well, the long term forecast for today was RAIN. And what I see outside is RAIN, and the forecast for the entire game is RAIN. Now our opponent is from Ohio, and used to cold weather, but is Oregon's starter on the hill, Cal Scolari from San Diego at a disadvantage? Fun to watch for....

Youngstown State starts a veteran pitcher, Brandon Mikos, who threw 58 innings for them last year, was 5-3 on the season, and had an ERA of 7.60 in 2025. Will he be as good as the Friday starter against us, or more like yesterday? Again...that is why I watch!

Cal Scolari

4-0 Ducks after one inning. Well, the weather did get to Cal Scolari, but even with a walk and a plinked batter--he got out of it. The first runner stole second, but slid too far off the bag in the wet turf, and Maddox Molony tagged him! Then Scolari picked off the other runner at first! He was 3-0 hole, but came back to strike the batter out! Even in the cold and wet--he threw 95 and 97 mph? Whew!

Ryan Cooney walked, and then Jax Gimenez sac-bunts down the first baseline to move Cooney to second. Cooney then zips to third on a passed ball, as Dominic Hellman walks. Gabe Miranda nailed a liner to short RF for a hit and scores Cooney. Another passed ball advances both runners up, and then Drew Smith hit a homer that bounces on top of the wall...and then over! Three run HR! What a start...

6-2 Ducks after two innings. Cal Scolari is having control issues today as he is walking batters more than he'd like. He gave up a homer, and after a hit and a walk...another score for YSU from another hit.

Ryan Cooney gets to first on an error by the 3rd baseman, and Jax Gimenez hit a zinger up the middle that had side-spin you could see on the replay. It skidded on the wet turf and got past the center fielder, and with his speed--he made it to third and scored Cooney. Dominic Hellman sacrificed an infield grounder to first to score Gimenez, and we got the two runs back!

7-2 Ducks after three innings. Cal Scolari is in trouble every inning, but gets out of it with a great strikeout for the third out. Drew Smith fielded a ball at third base, and made a rapid throw to home to allow catcher Brayden Jaksa an easy tag.

Angel Laya hit a ball super-high, but the 3rd baseman lost it against the clouds and rain..so he's on error-infield double! Laya got to third on a passed ball. Brayden Jaksa does an RBI groundout to score Laya.

7-2 Ducks after four innings. Cal Scolari gives up a hit and a walk, but gets through the inning scoreless. At 79 pitches, I imagine he is done for the day.

YSU brought in a relief pitcher who put us down easily. Hmmm.

12-2 Ducks after five innings. Ryan Featherston comes and pitches really well and dispenses the side easily. He looks like a starter, and I'm sure he' be a great mid-week starter for us. You need a good one!

Maddox Molony walks, then Drew Smith hit one off the LF wall for a double, and scores Molony from second. Angel Laya rips one to RF, and that scores Smith from second. Angel Laya was picked off, but Brayden Jaksa walks and Jack Brooks drives one off the wall for a double with Jaksa going to third.

A passed ball scores Jaksa. Ryan Cooney hits deep to RF in the gap to score Jaksa. Jax Gimenez walks, and a passed ball moves both runners up. Another passed ball scores Cooney. You gotta appreciate our catchers and coaching when you see other teams struggle...

14-2 Ducks after six innings. Geez...Ryan Featherston just looked great as he put the side down 1-2-3 again!

Maddox Molony grounds up the middle for a base hit, and Owen Morgan walks. Angel Laya hits a base knock to shallow RF to score Molony. Jaksa nails a liner to short LF for a hit, and scores Morgan. Not many HRs, but we are scoring runs with what is given us...

Looks like the Ducks are headed to 8-0 to start the season, though running over George Mason and Youngstown State may not be too noteworthy?

Beavis is 4-3 and will face the Ducks 3 times this season.

No cupcakes in their first 11 games, but I suppose they have to schedule that way due to their conference affiliation later games.

2026 Baseball Schedule - Oregon State University Athletics

14-5 Ducks after seven innings. They tried Hudson Carvalho pitching, but it did not go so well. They brought in Michael Meckna to finish up. Nothing on offense this inning.

15-5 Ducks after eight innings. Michael Meckna put them down 1-2-3 and looked impressive.

Brayden Jaksa walks, and Ryan Cooney hit a fly to RF...that was dropped. Jaksa jetted all the way to score from first. (Such a fast team this year!)

Ducks win 15-6 as Luke Morgan from Grants Pass and Lassen C.C. in Redding took a turn and gave up a run, but closed out the game.

5 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

Gimenez hit a zinger up the middle that had side-spin you could see

Look how shallow the centerfielder is playing, as if Jax hasn't got much pop on the ball. I'm interested to see these young Ducks playing so well to start their careers

5 hours ago, HDuck said:

Looks like the Ducks are headed to 8-0 to start the season, though running over George Mason and Youngstown State may not be too noteworthy?

I guess it depends upon the objectives and whether you achieved them?

What I mean is that we had a TON of new players to merge into the team, and half the time when Jaksa plays catcher...we have FIVE new starters out there. Four when Mabeus catches, but the point is...it makes sense to start slow and find out what you have. I'll bet Waz is delighted that he got the lineup right, and it does not look like anyone needs to be replaced.

We also have 23 pitchers on the team, TWENTY THREE. He wants to find out who can play, and only in games where you are up big--can you get them in and see what they can do. I think that is incredibly valuable for Waz's analysis, and for the growth of the players. It's like playing Montana State to get going in football; you are challenged, but should have it in hand.

Now...that being said...people were pretty steamed when we lost a game (out of four) to Toledo last year in a similar early season series. They were torqued when we lost a game to Rhode Island in the next series of four games last year. As it turned out, Rhode Island won the conference and George Mason (who we played last week) was second in the Atlantic-10 with 40 wins...which is pretty good for any league.

So this year we did not lose a game we shouldn't have, and we played a ton of pitchers. Sounds like a good warm-up to me.

Everything changes this next weekend with this big tournament in Las Vegas. More on that later...