but they couldn’t keep the “magic” from gaining admittance. The athletes, their parents and the few fans that were allowed admittance, cheered with the passion for which Oregon track fans are renown.

Login to view embedded media

Oregon baseball continued its winning ways with a Saturday sweep of New Mexico State.

EUGENE — Oregon starters Cullen Kafka and Brett Walker combined to strikeout 25 hitters to lead No. 19 Oregon to a doubleheader sweep, 2-1 and 6-1, of New Mexico State on Saturday at PK Park.

Kafka and Walker both posted career-highs in strikeouts while not allowing an earned run between them to finish a four-game nonconference sweep of the Aggies (10-14). The Ducks’ (16-6) pitching staff combined to strikeout 33 Aggies in the two games, including 20 in the nightcap.

Game 1: Oregon 2, New Mexico State 1

Kafka allowed just two hits in 8.1 innings and Oregon rallied late to clinch the series with a come-from-behind win.

New Mexico State took the lead in the second inning with an unearned run, but the Ducks answered with single runs in the sixth and eighth innings to come away with the win.

How It Happened: NMSU capitalized on one of just two hits it would get off Kafka in the second inning with a little help from the Ducks.

Austin Duffy singled with two outs in the inning for the Aggies and came around to score from first when Oregon centerfielder Bryce Boettcher dropped a ball for an error.

NMSU starter Rorik Maltrud made the run hold up until the sixth inning, before Oregon scored the tying run. Tanner Smith led off the inning with a triple that had cue-ball spin that evaded NMSU leftfielder Zerek Saenz and skipped into the outfield corner. Pinch-hitter Anthony Hall tied the game with a single to left-center field to plate Smith.

The game stayed tied until the bottom of the eighth when Oregon finally took the lead. Tristan Hanoian, who came off the bench on defense in the top of the eighth, singled to start what turned into a one-man rally. He moved to second on a Smith sacrifice bunt, before moving to third and then scoring on wild pitches.

Kafka go the first out of the ninth, before Kolby Somers came in to get the final two outs for his fourth save of the season.

Game 2: Oregon 6, New Mexico State 1

Walker dominated for six innings allowing no runs on just two hits with a career-best 13 strikeouts. The Ducks’ one-two punch of Kenyon Yovan and Aaron Zavala both homered to give the Ducks’ pitching staff all the offense it would lead.

How It Happened: The Ducks did not waste any time jumping on top in game two scoring two runs in the first. Hanoian, making just his second career start, and Yovan had back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Zavala followed with a two-RBI double to give the Ducks the early lead.

Oregon picked up two more runs in the third thanks again to Yovan and Zavala. Yovan singled with two outs before Zavala blasted a two-run home run for a 4-0 lead.

Oregon scored an unearned run in the fourth on a Josh Kasevich single before Yovan made it 6-0 in the fifth when he hit a one-out solo home run.

Walker, who entered the game with 15 strikeouts all season including a then career-high five at Arizona last Sunday, combined with Hunter Breault and Andrew Mosiello to strike out 20 Aggies. Breault fanned two in an inning of relief, while Mosiello struck out five of the nine batters he faced in two innings.

Doubleheader Notes: The 33 strikeouts by the pitching staff were the most in back-to-back games by the Ducks this season … Oregon has four double-digit strikeout games from its rotation this season (Kafka-2, Walker-1, Ahlstrom-1) … Zavala reached base five times in the doubleheader going 1-for-3 with a walk in game one and 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored in game two … Yovan reached base four times, walking in the opener and then going 3-for-4 with a RBI and three runs scored in the nightcap … Kasevich and Hanoian both went 2-for-4 in game two.

Series Notes: Oregon swept it’s second four-game series of the season, while winning its fourth series in the last five weeks … Oregon’s pitching staff allowed just one earned run in 36 innings pitched in the series for a 0.25 ERA … The Ducks’ staff fanned 55 hitters with just 14 walks while allowing only 18 hits … Thirteen Oregon pitchers held NMSU to a .141 batting average … Zavala led Oregon batting .364 (4-for-11) with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored … Kasevich batted .357 (5-for-14) with a RBI and two runs scored … Smith and Yovan both went 5-for-15 … Smith had four extra-base hits (three doubles, one triple), while Yovan had two (home run, double).

On Deck: Oregon meets Portland in a nonconference game Tuesday at 2 p.m. at PK Park before hosting Oregon State next weekend in a three-game Pac-12 Conference series.

Oregon put together a set of pool photos taken by Eric Evans at Pro Day yesterday. The session was closed to public and media.

Definitely worth watching.

Login to view embedded media

Great stuff from the new DC today.

Login to view embedded media

NOt good news:

Sean Dollars

Wasn't sure if this one had been posted, as it's only a month old. Maybe just a remix of early video, but who among the Duck faithful tires of watching TT wind it up? Anyways, dude makes some tough passes. Cant wait.

Login to view embedded media

Lots of action for the Ducks today. Baseball continues against New Mexico State after coming back to win yesterday. Today is a doubleheader with first pitch at 12:05pm.

EUGENE — Robert Ahlstrom did not allow an earned run over six innings and Oregon scored multiple runs in three straight innings to rally for an 8-2 win over New Mexico State at PK Park in a nonconference game on Friday.

Oregon (14-6) uncharacteristically committee three early errors that led to two New Mexico State (10-12) runs in the first three innings, but Ahlstrom kept the Ducks in the game allowing just those two earned runs over six innings while allowing just three hits with six strikeouts.

How It Happened: NMSU took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the third inning, but the Ducks jumped on Aggie starter Chris Jefferson (4-2) for three runs to take the lead.

Gavin Grant started the rally by drawing a walk, before moving to second on a wild pitch and to third on a Tanner Smith infield single. Anthony Hall, who had a five-hit game in the Arizona series finale on Sunday, put the Ducks on the board with a double into the right-field corner that scored Grant and moved Smith to third.

Kenyon Yovan followed with a base hit to center field driving in both Smith and Hall for his team leading 22nd and 23rd RBI of the season.

The Ducks added to the lead in the fourth. Robby Ashford walked with one out and moved to second on a Josh Kasevich base hit. Grant put the Ducks drove them both in on a double into the right field corner with Kasevich scoring after being obstructed by New Mexico State shortstop Brandon Dieter for a 5-2 lead. Grant, who moved to third on the throw to the plate, scored on the next pitch on a Smith RBI ground out.

Gabe Matthews made it 8-2 in the fifth. The Ducks’ first baseman blasted his second home run of the series, a two-run shot, over the right-center field wall to give Oregon a six-run lead.

Notable: Matthews hit his second home run in as many days, marking just the second time he hit homers in back-to-back games (April 13 & 15, 2018 at Washington) and the first time he has hit them in back-to-back days … He extended his reached base streak to 17 games … Ahlstrom, who lowered his ERA to 2.17, did not allow an earned run for the third time in five starts including a pair where he went six-or-more innings … Grant had his first career multiple-RBI game … Yovan had his eighth multi-RBI game of the season and his third in a row … He now has 16 multi-RBI games … Hall had his third-multi-hit game of the season, and his second in the last three games …

Record Watch: Matthews’ home run was the 17th of his career, tying him for ninth all-time in school history with Dave Roberts (1970-72) … He made his 193rd career start to pass Aaron Payne (2011-14) of second on Oregon’s career list.

On Deck: The Ducks and Aggies finish their four-game series with a doubleheader at PK Park with a 12:05 first pitch. Oregon will send Cullen Kafka (2-1, 2.73) and Brett Walker (3-1, 4.21) to the mound looking for the sweep.

I could not access this in todays Washington Post, but this summary says it all.

The financial burden on NCAA sports wears wingtips, not sneakers
The biggest drag on collegiate sports is not women’s basketball. It’s murkily titled, excessively salaried suits, who try to paint women’s teams as a revenue fail to cover their soft-padded seats.

I will never root for the Beavers in the Civil War (I've always bee resistant to change) but Pac Pac12 teams can't lose high profile recruits to other conferences, no matter who they are. Particularly when building programs lose out, it is a sore toe stubbing. The days when I could grin about this sort of thing or OSU "winning" a recruits away from Montanas or Idaho States are over

Here's a look at where the early recruitment stands for the players who made the 2023 Rivals100: