Ducks are the designated visiting team and will bat first today versus Louisville.

 

Colby Shade hit a one out double to the wall in left/center field.

 

Drew Cowley with a two out single through the right side of the infield drives home Colby Shade.

 

1 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB

 

Oregon leads 1-0 going to the bottom of the 1st inning.

Jace Stoffal on the mound to pitch against the Cardinals.

 

Louisville answers in the bottom of the 1st inning with a run.

 

1 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB

 

 

A strike out and two fly outs set down the 6, 7, and 8 batters in the 2nd inning for our Ducks.

 

0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB

Louisville matches Oregon in the 2nd inning with three up, three down in the second inning.

 

0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB

 

Tied at 1-1 after two innings.

Gavin Grant legs out a bunt to put Oregon's leadoff batter on base.

 

A single through the right side of the infield by Tanner Smith puts runners at second and first base.

 

Colby Shade moves the runners to third and second with a sacrifice bunt.

 

Brennan Milone hit a ground ball to shortstop with Grant out at home. Runners advance to third and second.

 

A fly ball out to right field by Drew Cowley ends Oregon's threat in the 3rd inning.

 

0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors, 2 LOB

Cardinals strand a runner at second on a two out double in the bottom of the 3rd inning.

 

0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB

 

Still 1-1

The Ducks score zero runs in the third inning, and that's on Coach Mark "George Horton" Wasikowski. Weirdly, Waz orders a sacrifice bunt with two men on and nobody out. Statistically, a team will score just a single run in that scenario. The Ducks need to play for big innings, because their pitching is unreliable. 

 

I'm very disappointed in Coach Waz. Giving up outs early by bunting is a bad strategy at any point in the year. During tournament time, it's a strategy that's bound to end your season.

Ducks go three and out in the top of the 4th inning.

 

0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB

Stoffal gave up a one out single, and then a homerun to left/center field.

 

2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB

 

Oregon 1 - Louisville 3 after four innings

100% right call on that balk!

 

Not stopping the hands keeps runners for getting a good jump and makes the batter feel quick pitched while he is waiting for the pitcher to make a definite pause.

Sam Novitske with a leadoff walk in the top of the 5th inning.

 

In a weird sequence of events, Gavin Grant flied out the the wall in left/center field, but the umpires ruled the pitcher had committed a balk prior to the pitch, putting Grant back at the plate. Gavin draws another walk.

 

Novitske advances to third base on a wild pitch, so the Ducks have runners at the corners with no outs.

 

Tanner Smith drives in Novitske on an infield ground ball "fielders choice" with Grant out at second..

 

Colby Shade walks to put two on base with one out.

 

Neither Milone or Cowley can move the runners along.

 

1 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 2 LOB

 

 

Andrew Mosiello in to pitch against Louisville in the bottom of the 5th inning. Stoffal goes 4 innings and gives up 5 hits with 3 earned runs.

 

Andrew faces the minimum batters in the 5th inning.

 

0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB

 

Oregon 2 - Cardinals 3 through 5 innings.

On 6/5/2022 at 10:35 AM, DazeNconfused said:

100% right call on that balk!

 

Not stopping the hands keeps runners for getting a good jump and makes the batter feel quick pitched while he is waiting for the pitcher to make a definite pause.

Thank you for the great explanation! Much appreciated.

Anthony Hall with a one out single up the middle.

 

A double play out on a ball hit to shortstop ends the Oregon half of the 6th inning.

 

0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors, 0 LOB

Mosiello has walked the first two batters to put runners at second and first with no outs.

 

Ducks bring in Kolby Somers to try and get out of the inning.

 

Kolby almost got out of the inning but after two outs a balk, double, and single scores three runs for Louisville.

 

3 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB

 

Oregon 2 - Cardinals 6 after six innings.

Ducks go down in order on a ground out, pop out, fly out in the top of the 7th inning.

 

0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors, 0 LOB

After two outs Kolby dishes up a solo homerun to right field.

 

1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors, 0 LOB

 

Oregon 2 - Louisville 7 at the end of seven innings.

Ducks start the eighth inning with singles by Colby Shade and Brennan Milone.

 

After one out Josh Kasevich plates Shade with a single up the middle.

Runners at second and first with one out for Anthony Hall.

 

A wild pitch moves Milone to third and Kasevich to second.

 

Hall hits a ground rule double that hops over the fence in the right field corner, scoring Milone and Kasevich.

 

3 Runs, 4 Hits, 0 Errors, 1 LOB

Rio Britton now pitching for the Ducks.

 

Out of his first seven pitches six are off the plate, and Britton's time on the mound is done. RJ Gordon on in relief.

 

Gordon complete's the walk to Louisville's second batter. Two on with no outs.

 

A sacrifice bunt moves the runners to third and second.

 

The third walk in the inning loads the bases with one out.

 

An infield single to third base brings the 8th run of the game for the Cardinals.

 

1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors, 3 LOB

 

Oregon 5 - Cardinals 8 heading to the 9th inning.

Gavin Grant pops out to second base.

 

A swinging strike out by Tanner Smith.

 

Colby Shade strikes out.

 

Oregon 5 - Louisville 8 final score.

The Ducks gave up 8 runs to Michigan, 6 runs to Southeast Missouri State, and 8 runs to Louisville. So what is Wasikowski doing playing small ball in the third inning of today's elimination game? With the Ducks' atrocious pitching staff, they needed to be able to outscore other teams. Playing George-Horton style baseball got Waz just what he deserved--a one-way ticket back to Eugene. 

 

Alex Rodriguez made a very perceptive comment during last year's major-league baseball playoffs. He said that errors, whether physical or mental, are magnified during the postseason. Waz's small-minded small-ball nonsense threw a wrench in the gears of the Ducks offense. For the next four innings, Oregon managed one measly hit--a single, and just one run. By the time the eighth inning rolled around, the game was basically over.

 

It was a tall order for the Ducks to beat Louisville and then defeat Michigan twice. But to do it, the Ducks needed to be aggressive at the plate and jealously guard every precious out. I'm very disappointed in Waz. I thought he knew better than to manage a big game like his dopey predecessor.

This team was not as mentally strong as I hoped either, and it showed up in hitting and pitching at inopportune times.

 

Only 64 teams out of 299 D-1 schools get to go to the NCAA Baseball Tournament.  The first year for Waz was stopped due to COVID, and both years since--he has taken us to where nearly 80% of college baseball teams don't get to go in both non-COVID years.

 

Now for the next step up...

 

 

               I Love my Ducks!

The postseason was not kind, Oregon was in a parade of losing to lower seeded teams, Arizona, fresh off being swept by Oregon the week before, then ASU in the Pac-12, then they were No.2, Michigan No.3 in the Regional. They did beat SEMO before losing to No.1 Louisville. 

 

The lack of pitching we knew about. But was there a "This is too big for us" factor in play for the Ducks? The "small ball" from Was? The postseason swoon was disappointing but I dob't think the season was a failure by any means and the Ducks will build on it for next year. 

Edited June 6, 20223 yr by 30Duck