Moved from 4;00 PM to 1:30 PM...Damn. That shoots my day...

Will Sanford will be on the hill with a 2.60 ERA, and we don't know who he faces, and the choices are:

--Hall at 3.83 ERA (Probable) Regan Hall is the starter today...

--Gannon at 2.08 ERA

--Flinn at 3.33 ERA

--Remington at 3.67 ERA

The difference in the teams appears to be hitting, as Illinois at 19-16 has only three batters over .300 and Oregon has five, with a bunch knocking on the door...

As a side note, Oregon is averaging 7.41 runs per game which is more than enough to win them. It illustrates our problems with pitching, primarily from relievers.

We need more Home-Run Huddles...and Pitching

2-2 after one inning. It is 80 degrees and has wind gusts up to 30 mph which could blow homers out of the park easier--and we already see that. There is a big storm coming in later today, and thus why the game being moved up.

Portland's Ryan Cooney got a hit up the middle, and then Drew Smith launched a massive swing low-to-high to blast the ball over the LF wall for a 2-run homer! Great start on offense!

Will Sanford gave up a double, and then a 2-run homer that I think was wind-aided...but that is the way the park plays today. In for a dilly!

3-3 after two innings. Maddox Molony blasted the first pitch for a solo homer.

Illinois did the same thing to Will Sanford. The Illini stranded two on base from a hit and a walk.

8-3 Ducks after three innings. That wind is blowing everything out of the park, and no lead will be safe.

Brayden Jaksa hit opposite to RF, and the ball hopped weird past the fielder to give him a triple. Ryan Cooney nailed a pitch on a line to deep CF/RF gap to score Jaksa, and put Cooney on second. Drew Smith drives a liner to RF to give him a hit and put Cooney on 3rd. A ground-out traps Cooney going to home for an out, but it puts the batter, Angel Laya on first and Smith on second.

Then the RS Freshman in for the injured Dominic Hellman at DH, the big-guy from Utah....Naulivou Lauaki, blasted a 3-run homer that was no doubt over the LF wall. Whew! We got a new hitting stud!

Will Sanford gave up a double, but got his first scoreless inning. He and the pitching staff are adjusting, as you cannot throw fastballs and look for them to miss. Because when they connect--it is not just a hit--it is out of the park today with that vicious wind.

So he is pitching a ton of curve-drop balls that are sweet to see, and then mixes up fastballs on the outside corners. So far--so good!

11-4 Ducks after four innings. Again...no lead is safe in this ball park today with that wind...

Brayden Jaksa got a grounder hit through the left infield, and Ryan Cooney nailed a liner to RF. Angel Laya then got plinked to load the bases for Maddox Molony who hit deep to LF, but the bounce went over the fielder's mitt to score three runs!

Oregon chased out the Illinois starting pitcher!

Will Sanford gave up a solo HR, but limited the damage to that.