Northwestern lined up their best pitcher today for their best chance to win. They will start Matt Kouser with an ERA of 2.57 vs. Oregon's Cal Scolari with an ERA of 2.37 who was absent last week because of the flu.

This figures to be a tight, low-scoring game that either team could win. I give Oregon the edge with home field, and better batting averages. Oregon now has seven of their nine starters hitting over .300 and the Wildcats only have one.

Cal Scolari

Information I pulled from D1Baseball taken from their scouting of Cal Scolari at Oregon fall practices....

Cal Scolari showed as the top prospect for the Ducks. He’s a redshirt sophomore and 2026 draft-eligible who transferred from San Diego and was named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year last season (over then-teammate Logan Reddemann, who is now the ace for UCLA). The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Scolari is a good athlete with a loose arm.

His other starter-type traits include two above-average pitches for strikes, a repeatable delivery with a loose, high leg lift and above average extension out front (6-foot-6 for Scolari with 6-foot-2 the MLB fastball average). His fastball touched 97 and sat 94-95 for much of his five-inning, eight-strikeout start on 84 pitches on a hitter’s day. And it’s just not a garden variety heater.

It showed riding life and some swing-throughs at the top of the zone and had good carry, holding its plane down in the zone which resulted in some called third strikes. His 78-81 mph downer curveball is an even better pitch with up to -15” IVB depth and spin rates into the 2600s rpm. It’s a pitch he threw to both sides of the plate with success. He also flashed a promising 86-87 mph cutter/slider.

Scolari looks to be building into another Friday option for a spot that’s already a strength for Oregon with Sanford as the current Ducks’ ace. At this point the industry has Scolari evaluated around the fifth round, but I saw a higher round prospect on my look. Time will tell what he turns out to be, but Scolari impressed during week four.

2-0 Ducks after one inning. Cal Scolari was throwing 95 mph and even 96 mph, but adds a tough cutter, and a nasty curve-drop pitch to generate three strikeouts in just the first inning already!

The opposing pitcher for the Wildcats has an issue with walks, and must have been nervous as he walked both Ryan Cooney and Jax Gimenez to start the game. Oregon makes them pay as Dominic Hellman nails a grounder through the right-infield to score Cooney. Drew Smith sacrifice-flies to score Gimenez!

3-2 Wildcats after two innings. Whoa! Cal Scolari lost control as he gave up a homer, a walk and two hits. Might not be very strong after his bout with the flu?

Ducks strand Maddox Molony at second base...

3-2 Northwestern after three innings. Cal Scolari got it done this inning, but he has a high pitch count with 70 pitches in just three innings.

Nothing on offense...

6-2 Northwestern after four innings. EGADS! Our pitching staff is having a bad day, as Toby Twist comes in and gives up even more than Scolari. Whew!

Michael Meckna replaced Twist to get the final out.

And we can't hit-a-lick on offense. Lovely.

10-2 Northwestern after five innings. Good Grief! Michael Meckna comes in and give up two homers, one a three-run shot. The entire Oregon pitching staff today is off, and they appeared to get progressively worse while the Wildcats are seeing the ball superbly. I do not sense a lack of effort, just some days--you get your butt-kicked.

Coach Waz is waving the white flag early; he is already subbing the outfield, and true freshman pitcher Blake Crawford is coming in. (This could get even uglier)

10-4 Wildcats after six innings. Well, Blake Crawford did something no Oregon pitcher has done in a while--kept them scoreless!

Ryan Cooney hits to the LF wall on a sub/reliever Northwestern brought in, and Dominic Hellman blasted another out into the parking lot for two runs.

Nope...no comeback predictions today!

10-9 Wildcats after seven innings. Oregon's Blake Crawford got in a jam, but Luke Morgan came in to pitch and generated a double-play to end the inning.

I cannot believe what happened in this inning; Burke-Lee Mabeus walks, and Gabe Miranda is walked, and then Josh Schleichardt hits a zinger off the 3rd baseman mitt to score Mabeus. Then Jax Gimenez hits a short blooper into LF, and scores Miranda.

Then Dominic Hellman comes up and blasts a dinger over the CF wall for a three-run homer! Two innings to go...Ducks can do it!

10-9 Northwestern after eight innings. Luke Morgan got them 1-2-3, and looked good doing it.

But Oregon had a man on, but struck out and hit into a double play--AAARRRG!

Still have an inning.

10-10 after nine innings...we're going for more baseball! Oregon's Luke Morgan got it done again in the ninth, as his meltdown vs. Irvine is long in the past.

Ryan Cooney hits the homer over the CF wall that ties it up! Unfortunately, the Ducks could not get any more to end the game.

10-10 after ten innings. Oregon's Luke Morgan got two outs, but gave up a hit and plinked a batter. With two on base, Tanner Bradley was brought in to get the third out...and did.

Ducks strand two on base... On to the 11th!

10-10 after 11 innings. The Ducks' Tanner Bradley gave up a hit, but struck out three! Good-gosh the action on his pitches are something to see...

And the Ducks strand bases-loaded!

Northwestern wins 11-10 as Devin Bell gave up two hits, but a wild pitch set up a runner on third.

Oregon stranded two on base to end the game.

Ugh. Runners left on base enough to win a couple time.

Good, or at least interesting game.

It's baseball.

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Ducks Rally Falls Short in Extra-Inning Loss

 

EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon rallied from an 8-run deficit to send the game into extra innings, but Northwestern scored a run in the top of the 12th inning to salvage a game in the series with a 12-11 win at PK Park on Sunday afternoon.

 

After Oregon fell behind 10-2 after five innings, Dominic Hellman homered twice to pull the Ducks within one run in the seventh inning. Ryan Cooney completed the comeback with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning and send the game into extra innings.

 

The Ducks (19-4, 7-2) had chance to win the game in extra innings. Oregon got two on with one out in the 10th inning but failed to score after a strikeout and flyout. Oregon loaded the bases in the 10th inning after a double and two intentional walks but the Wildcats escaped with a strikeout and a ground out.

 

After Northwestern scored a run in the 12th inning, the Ducks had chances to tie it in their half of the inning. Naulivou Lauaki reached first to lead off the inning after being hit by a pitch, but NU turned a double play to get within an out of the win. Oregon responded with a Cooney single and a Jax Gimenez bunt single to put runners on first and second, but Wildcat pitcher Justin Fryer fanned Hellman to end the game.

 

How It Happened: For the third straight day, Oregon put runs on the board in the first inning. Northwestern issued a couple free passes to Cooney and Gimenez to lead off the inning and Hellman made them pay. The Ducks’ designated hitter singled through the right side, scoring Cooney and moving Gimenez to third. Drew Smith followed with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

 

The Wildcats (8-11-1, 2-4) took their first lead of the series, scoring three runs in the top of the second, before sending nine batters to the plate in the fourth to push the lead to 6-2. A pair of homers, a solo shot and a three-run home run, in the fifth pushed the lead to 10-2.

 

Oregon got a pair back in the bottom of the sixth inning. After Cooney doubled to lead off the inning, Hellman lined a two-run home run over the left-field wall to cut the lead to 10-4.

 

The Ducks cut the lead to one in the seventh, scoring five times. Burke-Lee Mabeus and Gabe Miranda drew back-to-back walks to open the inning before Josh Schleichardt delivered an RBI single to score Mabeus. Gimenez followed suit with an RBI base hit of his own to cut the lead to four.

 

Hellman stepped to the plate with runners and first and second and lined a homer over the right-center field wall for his second home run of the game. Cooney then tied it in the ninth with a leadoff home run.

 

Hellman finished 3-for-6 with six RBI and two runs scored. Cooney went 4-for-6 with a home run, double and three runs scored. Blake Crawford (1.1 IP, H, 2 BB), Luke Morgan (3.1 IP, 2 H, 5 K) and Tanner Bradley (1.1 IP, 1 H, 3 K) combined to toss six innings of scoreless allow the Ducks to send the game into extra innings.

Box Score Notes: Oregon scored 14 runs in the first inning in the series against Northwestern … Smith (2-for-5, RBI) extended his streak of reaching base to 23 games this season and 25 games dating back to last season … The top four – Cooney, Gimenez, Hellman and Smith -- in Oregon’s order combined to go 12-for-22 with three home runs, nine RBI and seven runs scored … Hellman homered twice in a game for the fourth time in his career with two of those coming this weekend … Hellman moved into seventh on the Ducks’ career home run list with 26 passing Shaun Chase (2012-15) … Oregon had its winning streak snapped at eight.

 

On Deck: The Ducks hit the road for a five-game road trip in San Diego and Santa Barbara, Calif. The Ducks face UC San Diego in a pair of midweek games on Tuesday and Wednesday before opening a three-game series at UC Santa Barbara on Friday.

 

Quotes:

 

Head Coach Mark Wasikowski

 

On today’s performance...

“I thought the guys really did a great job battling back. I thought the pitching was shaky early, and then things settled in. There were some really good relief outings. Luke Morgan was tremendous today, just flat out tremendous. And there were some other guys that threw the ball very well. We got mileage out of Blake Crawford, which was really handy, and then we just didn't have enough to be able to get it done.

We had the table set a couple of different times, and we had a chance to win that ball game a couple of different times with the bats, and we just weren't able to do it. I was really impressed those guys were so resilient to grind their way back into that game after being down by so much, and then, you know, by the end of it, having opportunities to win the game. It didn't work out, and we're disappointed about that big time, but very proud of the fact that those guys were able to really fight and scratch and claw their way back into it. You know, I appreciate that effort.”

 

On Luke Morgan...

“We've had a lot of faith and belief in Luke. He's thrown the ball very, very well in scrimmages, and we have a lot of confidence in the guy. I mean, the guy throws 95 miles per hour with a really good breaking ball and good off-speed pitches. I mean, he's tough to hit. And so, for him to get out there and go three and two-thirds and only give up two hits and not walk anybody and strike guys out like he did. I mean, he kept us in that game, right? He gave us a chance.”

Let me repeat for emphasis. The Ducks had loaded the bases in the 11th. They get one run across, they win. They didn't.

Yes, I wrote that.