There are five baseball polls, but the one I focus on is D1Baseball for consistency. We finished No. 12 in the nation in their polls--three years ago and two years ago. We were on that path last year until the pitcher meltdown in our hosted NCAA Regionals.

Thus we were not ranked preseason this year, and not for nearly a month into the season, but Coach Waz and Oregon baseball is known, and if you keep winning--the rankings will follow.

After at No. 23, then No. 20, and then No. 19....we are now at No. 15 in the nation. Below is us and our major interests and conference competitors:

No. 1 UCLA 12-0 (B1G) and 25-2

No. 9 Beavis 21-5

No. 12 USC 10-2, 26-3

No. 15 Oregon 7-2, 23-5

No. 19 Nebraska 8-1, 22-6

And we play all of them above to sort out the conference, and improve our RPI. (We play Nebraska and USC at PK Park)

There was an interesting article about Oregon vs. USCB by D1Baseball writer Eric Sorenson, and he clearly liked both teams, but was impressed by the improvement in Oregon pitching. We are not there yet, but we have had big steps forward by many of our relievers.

Coach Waz stated in an interview recently that many of our relievers are nails in practice scrimmages, but need experience in games to make it happen there. Thus why four of our five losses were due to pitching, but he explained that "you have to play them to get experience and get over that hump."

You can see how many relievers have grown, and given the Ducks clutch performances that have resulted in more wins for Oregon. Now with that--everybody has a bad day, and we have even seen that from our starters on occasion, just as we have observed it from our opponents.

Back to the D1Baseball article--Sorenson writes...

Coach Waz is one of the more unique head coaches in our sport because he is the only one who will ask me, “What did you think of us this weekend?” Yes, he actually asked me that, both this weekend and the weekend of the Vegas Tournament. This time I told him, “You guys proved you could win some games against a really good opponent without having to rely on the home run or big multi-base hits.”

In Vegas they bashed the ball around a lot, gaining a few two-run and three-run yard calls to win games. Here in Santa Barbara they relied on their pitching and defense to win games. Oh sure, Angel Laya got his fencebuster today, but it’s not like the Ducks based their entire hopes of winning on the long ball.

“The inexperience thing was real,” coach Wasikowski said about their earlier struggles this season on the mound. “Now, as you see these guys starting to get more experience, you’re seeing them settle down and the game has become manageable. I see them growing and developing every day and that’s a credit to Matt Florer and Dan Straily for working with those guys on a daily basis.”

Tanner Bradley has emerged to be a top reliever.

Thank you, Vince Scul, er, Charles, for the great B1G baseball coverage of OBD and other Big Ten and Pacific time zone programs.

The notes on Oregon's pitching prowess brought me back to Vin Scully's call of Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956 - "Got him! The greatest game ever pitched ... A no-hitter, a perfect game, in the World Series."

1956 was the last time the Brooklyn Dodgers played in a World Series. In 1958, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to LA, and the New York Giants moved to San Francisco. St. Louis was no longer Major League Baseball's western-most team.

The iconic Scully called the Dodgers games for 67 years, 1950 - 2016.

He was also at the mike for Hank Aaron's 715th home run in 1974, and a lame in both legs, Kirk Gibson's pinch-hit, walk-off home run against Oakland A's closer Dennis Eckersley to win a 1988 World Series game in extra innings.

In 1956, I listened to Scully calling Larsen's perfect game on my transistor radio. I was fortunate enough to watch Hank Aaron's record-breaking home run and Michigan State man Gibson's game-deciding home run.

Charles, you have decades left to cover your beloved Ducks!