Ducks survive Game One of pool play, face Nebraska today at 4
In their opening game at the Big Ten Baseball Tournament Oregon eliminated Michigan State with a 4-2 victory, a game that only mattered for pride and RPI.
As the higher seed, the Ducks only had to beat Nebraska on Friday to advance, but the win Thursday night at Charles Schwab Stadium mattered in their quest to host an NCAA regional.
They won it with a strong outing from Ian Umlandt who worked 6.2 innings and allowed two runs, one earned, leaving in the 7th with two outs and a runner on second, score tied 2-2.
Santiago Garcia (3-0) pitched out of the jam and pitched a 1-2-3 8th for the win. Seth Mattox followed with a 1-2-3 9th for the save, his eighth.
Anson Aroz starred at the plate with a double and two singles, good for three RBI. Tied in the bottom of the 7th, the Ducks got RBI singles from Drew Smith and Aroz to break the game open.
Oregon meets No. 8-seed Nebraska today at 4:00 p.m. PT for the right to advance to the semi-final, televised on the Big Ten Network.
DSA's Scott Reed celebrates phenomenal week in Oregon Sports
In his weekly Thursday Round-Up column Scott of Duck Sports Authority sums up a remarkable weekend in Oregon sports, recapping the Ducks' successes in softball, baseball and track and field.
About the softball team he writes:
"There was so much drama on Sunday. Two elimination games. A deficit against an elite offense that started to seem insurmountable. A pitcher with limited appearances shutting down the Cardinal. And a dramatic three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh capped what was one of the best weekends in Oregon sports history."
Inside the Pylon asks, can the Ducks go undefeated again in Big Ten football?
Clinton Boring and Ryan Satkowiak, hosts of the "Inside the Pylon" podcast, a weekly show on Big Ten football, ask the penetrating, $20.2 million question about Oregon football.
An undefeated regular season is a elusive goal for any program, particularly with road games at Penn State, Iowa and Washington. To come anywhere close to achieving that for the second straight year, Dante Moore has to be every bit as good as advertised, and the young secondary has to gel in a hurry.
Specifically against Penn State in Beaver Stadium on September 27, Oregon's linebackers have to be stellar filling the gaps at that line of scrimmage while posting a superb day tackling elite running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, who combined for 229 yards rushing when the two teams met in December at the Big Ten Championship Game.
The Ducks could not solve Andy Kotelnicki's offense in Indianapolis, which rolled up 523 yards and 37 points that evening. It's a lot to ask Dante and Dakorien Moore to duplicate what Dillon Gabriel and Tez Johnson pulled off in a 45-37 shootout.
A year too late for the Ducks, the College Football Playoff Committee signs off on straight seeding
No longer will the College Football Playoff have that weird bracket where conference champions get seeded one through four. As reported yesterday at Autzen Zoo, for 2025 the committee unanimously approved a straight-seeding format where the teams are bracketed according to their record and ranking.
The top four teams will get the top four seeds, lessening the chances that the No. 5 or No. 8 seeds get a cushy route to the semi-final.
Had that been the model a year ago, Oregon would have met the winner of Indiana-Boise State in the Rose Bowl, a much more logical draw for the playoff's No. 1 seed.
Last year all four teams that earned a first-round bye lost in the quarterfinals. Conference champions will still make the playoff field but will be seeded according to their rankings.
The committee is still discussing further changes, including expanding to a 16-team field in 2026, with great controversy around the Big Two's proposal to rig the tournament with four automatic bids each for the SEC and Big Ten.