Charles Fischer

5-1 Ducks after eight innings. Nothing on offense this inning... Big 6'4" freshman Blake Crawford came in, but walked a batter and was replaced by closer Devin Bell. He retired all three after that! This has to be important for him, as he went to Western Oregon University just 25 miles north of Corvallis. Can he get it done in the 9th?

5-1 Ducks after seven innings. Gotta love the Beavs choking for once. (In baseball) Two straight walks of Angel Laya and Maddox Molony who were moved up by a sac-bunt by Burke-Lee Mabeus. Naulivou Lauaki hits opposite field down the first baseline to score both! Tanner Bradley returned and after giving up a hit...struck out three in a row!

3-1 Ducks after six innings. Finally....the opposing team has pitching that chokes, as the Oregon State stud reliever walks Angel Laya, Burke-Lee Mabeus and Naulivou Lauaki Jr. Jax Gimenez hits a chop single that bounces over the SS area to score Laya. There was a disputed call at second when Laya stole it, and the Beaver sportscasters cannot get over it. Yep, it sucks. A grounder that gets past first base by Brayden Jaksa scores Mabeus! Then Ryan Cooney walks to score Lauaki! But Oregon left the field stranding bases-loaded, for a total of 10 left on base this game. Michael Meckna gets two outs, but walks two and is replaced by our ace reliever, Tanner Bradley, who gets the final out.

1-0 Beavis after five innings. Oregon stranded another in scoring position... Toby Twist comes in and strikes out the side of....Beavis. (So far...we've had good pitching, now let's get the bats going!)

1-0 Beavis after four innings. Oregon left another stranded in scoring position which makes SIX stranded thus far, with four in scoring position. Damn! We bring in another freshman pitcher in Shane Johnson for this inning, and it seems that Waz wants them to get accustomed to a big environment, by dipping their toe in it. Building them for later in the season, as we need pitchers!

1-0 Beavis after three innings. Oregon had bases loaded with one out...and stranded them. That is five in the game already... It turns out that Cooper Strawn did start and pitch one inning before Gabe Howard. In the third we see Cooper Markham start it at 6'3" 229 pounds, and he gave up two base runners. So Luke Morgan came in and his pitches seem to be ON today between a curve-dropball, and a fastball on the corners.

1-0 Beavis after two innings. We gave up a homer in the first inning, and I could not see the first inning, as I was struggling to find the game. Go to KOIN.com and sign up for a free account. Then click on the link they email you, and then was the struggle trying to find the damn game. I believe I found it under "Videos" and then a subcategory that referred to Live sports...but I am not sure I can duplicate it. Pretty poorly done by KOIN... It lists freshman Cooper Strawn below as the starter, but when I was able to get into the game in the late second inning--we have sophomore, lightly used pitcher from West Linn, Gabe Howard. He is a big-boy at 6'3" and 230 pounds...

The second article above is a great article.... "While supporters of the 24-team field believe that November conference games get a boost in value, detractors argue that September non-conference games aren’t as meaningful. But those in support of a 24-team field believe that administrators will be more willing to schedule high-level, revenue-generating, non-conference matchups as the penalty for a loss isn’t as severe in a format where a third or even fourth loss doesn’t mean elimination. “I think 24 solves an enormous amount of problems,” said Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks last week from the Sports Business Journal’s World Congress of Sports. “You can create (A) more valuable games that the schools need, but (B) one of the big knocks against college football is the first three weeks. It’s actually hard to find great games.” "While the concept features just one additional round, it adds 12 total games, more than doubling the current 11-game CFP field — perhaps a way to recuperate the financial loss of the power four conference championship games (what many estimate to be a $150-200 million value)." And let's remember the daily efforts of volunteers who help us all by posting these great articles! NJDuck Steven A Smith72 Jon Joseph Without their efforts--we would all have to go to 15 sites every day to find these articles, and their work is a BIG benefit to being a part of this community. Thank You!

Media Question to McKay when he was in the early years at Tampa Bay...."How do you feel about the execution of the offense?" McKay: "I'm all favor of it."

Yep, not a great “underrated” call, but that is how OregonReigns writes!

The D1Baseball poll came out for this week, and Oregon remains ranked and poised to move higher with more wins. No. 1 UCLA 36-3 No. 6 Beavis 30-8 (Who we play in Corvallis on Wednesday night at 5:35) No. 19 Oregon 28-11 No. 20 Nebraska 31-9 No. 23 USC 30-11 The Big-10 rankings are in great flux, although UCLA has run away with it, and everyone else is playing for second, or simply good NCAA seeding later. Gotta win games! Oregon averages 7.8 runs per game, and give us good relief pitching....?

Incredible post, Jon. You make a powerful case, and I agree with you in that it would increase the interest in regular season games, because more teams have a shot at making the field. Teams that stumble, and have one bad game still have a chance to make the Playoffs. More money, more opportunities for teams to make the Playoffs, more exposure for all, and more great, compelling games. Greg Sankey?

OREGON ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2026 BASEBALL | @OregonBaseball Ducks Homer Four Times in Series Win Champaign, Ill. — Ryan Cooney hit two of No. 19 Oregon’s four home runs to lead the Ducks to a series win at Illinois on Sunday with a 11-5 Big Ten Conference win at Illinois Field. Cooney went 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored leading Oregon to their 21st series win in the last two seasons covering a span of 23 weeks. How It Happened: Oregon (28-11, 12-6 Big Ten) jumped on top early scoring a run in the top of the first. Jax Gimenez led off the inning with a double over the third-base bag before scoring on a Brayden Jaksa base hit to center field. Illinois (20-18, 8-10 Big Ten) answered with a pair of runs in the second inning to take the lead, but Oregon took the lead back with three solo home runs in the top of the fifth. Ryan Cooney led off the frame with a line drive over the left-field wall, before Naulivou Lauaki Jr. and Maddox Molony went back-to-back with both homers off the TV tower just to the left of the batter’s eye. The Fighting Illini hit a solo home run of their own in the bottom of the inning to chase Oregon starter Miles Gosztola after he followed the homer with a four-pitch walk. RS Freshman Naulivou Lauaki after his Dinger... Oregon tacked on two runs in the sixth inning. After Jaksa reached for the third time in the game on a walk, Cooney went yard in the second consecutive inning for a 6-3 lead. Illinois cut it to two in the sixth, but Oregon answered with four runs in the top of the seventh. Gimenez came through with the bases loaded, ripping a one-out triple that scored all three runners. The Ducks’ right-fielder then scored on a wild pitch to make it 10-4. The Ducks tacked on an insurance run in the eighth. After hits by Drew Smith and Lauaki put runners at the corners, Molony drove in a run on a fielder’s choice for an 11-4 lead. Box Score Notes: Molony homered in all three games of the series to run his career total to 33 home runs … The back-to-back homers by Lauaki and Molony were the first back-to-back homers since Jaksa and Cooney did it against Nebraska on April 10 … The three home runs in an inning were the first since Chase Meggers, Anson Aroz and did it in the first inning at Texas A&M on June 9, 2024 … Cooney’s two home runs were his first multi-homer game of his career … Dominic Hellman made his 100th career start … Gimenez extended his reached base streak to 29 games with a leadoff double … On Deck: The Ducks travel to Oregon State for a nonconference game on Wednesday (5:35 p.m.)

Ducks win 11-5, as Tanner Bradley came in got two strikeouts, and then a walk. The next batter hit the pitch deep, and Jack Brooks caught it, but when he hit the wall--the ball came out to score an Illini run. Oh well... Official game recap will be on this thread much later...

11-4 Ducks after eight innings. Drew Smith beat out the throw from 3rd for an infield single, and Naulivou Lauaki nails a grounder to CF as Smith races to third. Maddox Molony grounds out, but scores Smith to add a run this inning. Cooper Markham gave up a walk, but finished off the rest of the batters. If Illinois was going to make a comeback--the eight inning was crucial in scoring a few runs...but didn't. It increase our odds much better with three outs left.

10-4 Ducks after seven innings. Burke-Lee Mabeus starts it out with a walk, followed up by a Dominic Hellman line-drive hit to CF that moves Mabeus to third base. Jack Brooks walked, so now we have bases loaded with one out. A new Illini pitcher comes in with an impressive 2.16 ERA, and he's pitched a ton at 25 innings this season thus far. Jax Gimenez shows no respect, as he gets under a curve/drop-ball pitch and nails it to center field, where it is bobbled. The speedy Gimenez makes it to third and scores three runs! Finally...an important timely hit with the Ducks-on-a-Pond! A wild pitch scores Gimenez, but remember---with this wind and relief pitching--no lead is safe! Holy Crap! Waz put in true freshman Cooper Markham to pitch? He is a highly heralded recruit from Washington, but he has seen little action this year. To put him in during such a crucial time...in this ball-park? Then he goes out to create the only 1-2-3 inning of either team today!

6-4 Ducks after six innings. Things are getting lively with relief pitchers in as Brayden Jaksa walks to start, and then the Pride of Portland, Ryan Cooney blasts a 2-run dinger over the corner LF wall to put Our Beloved Ducks up three. Leo Uelmen gave up a solo homer, and that was it for the inning.

4-3 Ducks after five innings. Ryan Cooney blasted a solo home run, and not much later--Naulivou Lauaki just tore into the pitch and sent it hitting the camera deck past the CF wall. This RS freshman has quite a swing to back up his 6'5" 265 pound frame that just shouts power. Then, the Pride of Springfield, Maddox Molony made it back-to-back homers that his the camera deck as well! Oregon was facing a relief pitcher who had an ERA below 3.00 but today was not his day. Now a new Illini pitcher is in with an ERA below 3.00 as well. Miles Gosztola gave up a solo dinger, and a walk to yield the hill to Leo Uelmen, who redshirted last year due to injury, but was an important part of the staff as a freshman in 2024. He is rounding into form, and got the last two outs of the inning.

2-1 Illinois after four innings. The Ducks strand one, and Miles Gosztola gave us another scoreless inning.

2-1 Illinois after three innings. Oregon strands another base runner, but Miles Gosztola kept the Illini scoreless this inning.

2-1 Illinois after two innings. Oregon stranded two on base this inning for a total of five in just two innings. In Friday's win, we stranded five the entire game, and in yesterday's loss we stranded a ridiculous 15. Miles Gosztola gave up hits and two runs...

1-0 Ducks after one inning. Oregon is taking on a freshman pitcher, Aidan Flinn, who has an ERA of 3.37 and both sides will deal with a stiff wind blowing out over CF. The sleeves of players were whipping at times from the wind already... Jax Gimenez nails a pitch down the 3rd baseline for an opening double, and then Brayden Jaksa follows that up with a line-drive to CF that scores Gimenez. Then the disturbing trend of the weekend continues as Oregon strands bases-loaded...again. It would appear that Cal Scolari is either injured or lost his starting spot, as Miles Gosztola (4.62 ERA) is the Sunday starter. He gave up two hits, but retired the rest for no-score by the Illini in this inning. We have a change in the outfield as Brayden Jaksa has switched with Jax Gimenez in moving from RF to LF, as they switch. Perhaps moving the speedy Gimenez due to the wind? Dominic Hellman is at first base with Burke-Lee Mabeus catching today.

Illinois wins 16-13 as Devin Bell gives up a three-run homer with two outs and full count. Very, very frustrating.