Home Baseball Nevada & Stanford Series (+ Spring Football)

Nevada & Stanford Series (+ Spring Football)

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Midweek vs Nevada Tuesday and Wednesday, and then Stanford this weekend. Stanford should be a good series and the best test so far. Need to go 2-0 vs Nevada and then hopefully 2-1 vs Stanford.

Feel free to go off topic and discuss Spring football or the Spring Game April 16th.

Go Beavs!

241 COMMENTS

  1. Just curious, the “need to go…records” are those suggestions for making the post season or what you expect from this talent? Again, I’m more in the boat of let’s see a better indication from the bullpen and identify a solid starting rotation for a post season run. We know these guys can score.

    Looking down the road, how long is the layoff from the pac-12 tourney to the regionals? Might be best to lose out of the tourney early on and reset the pitching rotation if there isn’t a lot of rest time.

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    Nevada games are need to win because the losses would be bad losses if it the Beavs are on the bubble at the end of the year. Losing a series to Stanford isn’t as hurtful to the postseason.

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      In no way are both Nevada games NEED to wins. Dropping, say, one of two midweek games in March would have zero impact on how successful the Beaver season may be. Some of you need to lose the hyperbole and you might gain some credibility.

    • Baseball is very different than basketball or football. Losses come regardless of who the better team is. Pitching is so pivotal to success in an individual day, so 1 loss to a bad day doesn’t carry as much weight. The reality is, if this year we are a bubble team at the end it doesn’t much matter because we would have to absolutely go into the tank. And momentum in baseball is the most important part going into a long post season run.

      • LaVonda Wagner gutted the program and we got Rueck out of the deal. Maybe we can be lucky? Nice thing about basketball is that it’s a small numbers game with a roster. Not like rebuilding football from scratch.

    • Very VERY dark sign. He’s one of the ones who tried to change the culture w the guys who wouldn’t get w the program. He was maybe the most effected by the coach refusing to bench or even discipline guys who broke rules, started fights and skipped workouts. He played every game and gave it his everything all season. And now he’s choosing to leave the school where he got tons of playing time at. His decision to leave is very ominous as to how he thinks things will go here

  3. Lucas and Tink didn’t seem to get along this year. I was at a game where WT grabbed JL by the jersey and told him to start “playing for the f*cking team.” That was the same game where WT told Dashawn Davis to sub in and Dashawn said “no.”

    Gonna be another long year…WT has seemed to have lost the program.

      • Buyout is 1.5 million. Contract is worth almost $3 million a year if he makes the tourney. Signed through 2026. Worth it

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            No, 1.5 mil is what Tinkle would owe if he went elsewhere. Here is what OSU owes him for firing him without cause.
            2022-23: $2,600,000
            2023-24: $2,700,000
            2024-25: $2,800,000
            2025-26: $2,900,000
            2026-27: $3,000,000
            So 14 million… I picked to wrong career.

          • I’ve honestly often wondered why it isn’t. Sorta what you’re paid to do is WIN. How is worst season in over 100 years of program history not “cause?”

          • You’d need some kind of illegal scandal or whatever Barnes had on GA. Tinkle does not seem to have questionable morals so that route seems unlikely.

          • That is disgusting. How is it OSU gets Riley too long, Jay Johns, Craig Robinson, Gary Andersen, the wbb coach who preceded Rueck? I was in Corvallis for baseball when Tinkle was hired. He wasn’t that great a coach at Montana and I said in ab that I had doubts. DeCarolis gave the usual pitch ”people that fit in.”(paraphrase). Maybe hire someone obnoxious who can coach!

    • The crazy thing about all the players that have transferred after being recruited to Corvallis is that while you can understand a kid leaving because of lack of playing time, but STARTERS (the guys who were getting all the minutes that prompted the transfer) have been leaving as well.

  4. Down 6 players already from this season’s roster and Daschel says there are likely more. Lol. That’s incredible. We might need to recruit long distance runners since the starters will need to play all 40 min and hope nobody fouls out. Even in xfer portal Era this has to be a large exodus.

  5. AJ lattery with the start today. Jacob Biesterfeld starts for Nevada. A native Oregonian so he will be pumped to start vs the beavs.

  6. Hey guys relax about Tinkle. He is in Couer d’Alene building his second home. He has everything under control. It’s nice to know he is 700 miles away while the mbb program is imploding. I’d say that may be enough for cause to fire. Maybe he just doesn’t expect much out of this program and he is gravy training on Barne’s dime…

    So what is the body count for transfers so far this offseason?

    Davis
    Hunt
    Lucas

    • Not good to hear, thought she’d develop well with Rueck.
      Noticed that nike has had 4 players enter the portal from their 2020 class.

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    This blew up on Canham big time. Thought the game was over; started taking out starters with half the game left to play; began treating like an exhibition game. Doesn’t know his team; or at least his bull pen. What a disgrace.

  8. After making what sounded like a great play on a sac bunt, Lawson drops the ball, balking in the tying run. It’s all Mitch’s fault…….well Dorman too.

    Gotta feel for Parker, fighting a cold and hoping to be able to finish the broadcast.

    • They won’t be ranked #2 after this fucking disaster. Also, I’m not sure I’d play the infield in with it just being the 7th inning. Just get outs, it’s a slowpitch softball game. I guess no confidence in the offense after Canham pulled the starters.

      • But, but, many here said a midweek loss was no big deal. Same folks thought losses to the Cougs and ASU were nothing to be concerned about. Every game matters if you want to host in post season.
        Tough match ups remain on the schedule……AZ, UCLA, maybe Stanford, and even nike.

    • You’ve made some really good points in the midweek and series sweep discussions, a big part of the issue isn’t only the losses but the way they occur. And, to repeat, there are likely losses still on the schedule; easier to accept if losses to lower level teams hadn’t already occurred.

  9. Dernedde and Trosky (who came in for Bazanna when it looked like a blowout) make highlight level plays to get the first two out in the B11.

    10 pitches and the defensive plays mentioned earn Brown the save.

  10. Beavs desperately need Pfennigs back to eat up innings. If the Beavs have to use a lot of arms tomorrow, it’s going to put the pressure on the weekend starters to go deep into games.

  11. I feel like I post this every year. Baseball is more about trends than specific game results. A batter can ccrush four pitches and go hitless. Another can hit four pitches poorly and get a swinging bunt and a Texas leaguer and go 2-4. A major league team wins their division at around 60% wins. It is not that these midweek games are not important but this is not a sport where any games are must wins. If we win 70% of our games this year, regardless of who we beat and who we lose to, we are in comfortably. The biggest thing about these midweek games is that it shows depth and yesterday was not a good showing. Nice to get the win but to have a chance to do something special, the pitching has to get better.

    • …this is not a sport where any (specific) games are must wins.
      Yup, but HOW games are lost is what concerns many fans. And should concern Mitch.
      Don’t get me wrong, I still believe the D and hitting will offset the thin pitching staff; Beavs will still go to post season, just doubt they will make Omaha.

      • The crazy thing yesterday was the pitching was actually pretty good for most of the game, but suddenly in the 6th our pitchers were terrible.
        Grewe and Hibbard gave up 8 consecutive runs without recording an out.

    • No. Continuity is important. You fix issues in the off season, which they did fix some issues like hitting batters. Any college staff that loses 2 weekend starters is going to be a bit thin. Coaches often get too much credit and receive to much blame.

    • No, injuries have had more effect on the pitching than the coaching. It would be a bonus for all these back of the bullpen guys to start throwing better. Good to see Boisvert make his debut even though it didn’t go well. He’s another arm that can help.

          • So who do we hire if you guys are suggesting Mitch should let Dorman go?

            Jokes….good perspective. Hopefully the arsenal is full come go time when it matters.

          • Don’t think Dorman will leave unless its for a head coach job. And that will be years away.

            But if there is an opening, Canham keeps new hires in the family. Gunderson is the next guy up. Runs a pitching academy in Portland.

            Otherwise yeskie could be a candidate. He’s sort of on a journeyman path right now. Maybe the bad blood with him leaving is in the past.

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    Can’t wait to hear the crying after the game tonight. If you read above, you would think we lost last nights game. “Fire Mitch, fire Dorman!” after one mid week game that we won? How does a team become a top 10 team? Apparently folks here think it has nothing to do with coaching or recruiting.

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      Have you been on any sports blog before? Haha

      I think most understand the wildness of the weekday games is due to injuries and players at the end of the bullpen forced into action.

      But if the Beavs want to make a deep postseason run, history says they must be a top 8 seed.

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        Been on this one long enough to know. I guess I don’t find ill informed exaggerations that exciting. Seems like people are treating this like football where any game can make or break you. Seems silly, but if it entertaining, exaggerate away!

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          Giving up 9 runs in an inning isn’t an ill informed exaggeration.

          Blowing an 11 run lead isn’t an ill informed exaggeration.

          Giving up 12 unanswered runs isn’t an ill informed exaggeration.

          Blowing 1 run leads in the 9th inning of a conference game against a bottom feeder back to back Sundays isn’t an ill informed exaggeration.

          It’s alarming and a major cause for concern going forward if some of these bullpen guys can’t drastically improve.

          • Lay off those napkins. Quit looking at it game for game. That’s football or basketball BS. Baseball is decided on a series by series basis, more than any mainstream sport. We have consistently shown we can win series and that is what matters. You can cry all over your bourbon soaked napkins but this team is good, quit acting spoiled. Let’s see your old ass suit up. Bet you can’t even play senior slow pitch softball, yet here you are acting like you’ve been there before.

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    Verburg comes in to give up three straight hits and 4 runs. b8: tied at 8
    Update, another hit for wolfpack as I type.
    Update, walks the fifth batter he faces; particularly disappointing as he usually isn’t considered to be “at the end of the bullpen”…quite the opposite.

  14. Brown gets the save, just like last night he benefited from what sounded like excellent defensive plays for the first two outs, this time plays by Melton and Bazanna – the two who were pulled early yesterday. Ironic?

    Speaking of ironic, Verburg gets the win. All he did was face 6, give up 4 hits, 1bb, and 2 runs.
    Did pick off one:
    https://twitter.com/i/status/1509294659717136385

  15. Honestly, this was the kind of stretch that both exposed the Beavers vulnerabilities and also – I think, could be a turning point of the season. Five of six while not playing their best, on the road no less. I think they’ll be ready for Stanford. This team can handle adversity.

    • Exactly, winning these tight games is more important than blowing out teams. It’s different from most sports where you can just look at the line and judge a game. If the pitching improves even a little bit, we have a team that is gonna be trouble.

      • Agreed. Pfennigs back gives us a really solid core with Hjerpe, Pfennigs, Kmatz, Ferrer, Lattery, Hunter, Brown, Townsend, and Sebby. If we can can 2 of the other guys in shape by the post season we are looking great. My moneys on Lawson and Boisvert

      • Do you trust any of the healthy pitchers outside of Hjerpe or maybe Ferrer to get you 3 outs in a tied or 1 run game?

        Cause I don’t

        It’s mind boggling cause several of these pitchers have been in the program for a few years.

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          I don’t trust you. I trust this offense though. It’s sure funny that you haven’t realized how baseball has changed. But yeah keep soaking up those napkins. You a duck football fan now too?

          • Lmao! Glad you brought it up. You were the same guy that said they had no chance last year. I said they had a shot and you laughed at the time.

            They ended up winning 90 games and almost qualified. But yeah tell us all how much you know.

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    I haven’t been a Dorman guy since day 1 (show him the Door man) but I hope to be proven wrong. Last year he helped set some records like most strikeouts, etc. Also set some records for walks and hit batters or close to setting records. Regardless, kind of a wash. This year is weird and granted losing 2 starters definitely hurts but here’s where he sits now. These stats were before today’s game ended and are Pac12 ranks. Very middle of the pack and considering being low end of innings pitched is intriguing.

    9th in innings pitched.
    7th in hits
    4th in runs
    1st in walks (might change after today) but still really good!
    6th in strike outs
    5th in k/9
    3rd in Homer’s also good stat
    6th in ERA

    I’m not going to pretend to know pitching coach prospects and whatnot for baseball and I haven’t researched our super successful years on where we landed in pitching ranks. However, seems to me that middle of the pack pitching means we need to score a buttload of runs and how sustainable is needing to score 9+ a game to get wins. Obviously overall record is fantastic but I’m not sure this pitching crew being about 7 pitchers deep is going to work as the season progresses and there can be more fatigue, 1 more injury could be a big blow, etc. Guess the question is, if we are getting top classes and continue to be middle of the pack in pitching is Dorman the guy? Is he like Oregon football that can get talent but can’t coach and develop players? Time will tell but I’m still not a Dorman believer.

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      Yup.

      Anyone know what’s up with Mundt? Injured? No longer on the team? I don’t recall hearing anything about any pitchers other than Frisch and Pfennings.

      WTF has happened to Verburg? He has seriously regressed.

      Yes to getting rid of Dorman and brining in Gundy.

    • Creekwater thanks for laying it out there. The key stat right there is walks. We give no free bases and very few home runs. It seems to me if you have a good offense behind that, you may win some games. But I don’t know I am not the level of Nostradamus’s that you and Whiskey claim to be.

      • Found the Dorman burner account i guess. Think you’ve missed some of the other stats that were laid out. Not giving as many free bases but we’re also giving up a lot of hits and we aren’t striking people out…hence the middle of the Pac. Guess we’ll see the age old sports debate of good offense vs good defense play out this season.

        • I feel like an elite offense with middle of the road pitching can win a lot of games. Baseball has shifted quite a bit in the last 5 years. I would have wrote them off too but I realize that offense can carry teams today. It wasn’t that way before.

  17. MBB Jordan Pope commit. Ok offer sheet. At least MBB has their point guard. On a side note, I have friends in Spokane that watch a lot of high school games. Take it for what it is worth but they say Jayden Stevens is legit and wondered why he did not have more offers. I moved back to the valley and actually live near Former Coach Thompson. Should ask him what the hell.

  18. I’ve seen enough of this team to have a good sense of where this season is going. 37 wins is my prediction +/- 3. 40 wins puts them in line for top 8 seed… probably not going to happen. I’m guessing they get top 16 seed. I don’t think the pitching is good enough to advance thru a regional. It’s a good team but not great. If I’m wrong and they get thru regional, they’re better built to win super regional. Right now our ranking is inflated but not undeserved. Rankings are based our history/brand but those that have been paying attention know this team is flawed… only 1 top shelf starter, minimal overall starter depth, lack of middle inning quality arms, no closer. My hope is the young pitching talent develops and a closer emerges. This is where Pat Casey would excel. Good test for Dorman and MC.

    • Yeah worried about regionals too because in weekend series we’re 6-0 in game 1’s, 5-1 in game 2’s, just 3-3 in game 3’s, don’t want it to go to game 4.

      • “don’t want it to go to game 4”. Neither does the other team. I like our chances in pretty much any scenario against pretty much any team.

  19. Another fun look back at last year,

    Last year at the same point in the season, the Beavs were 18-5. Finished the regular season at 34-22. Went 16-17 from April to the end of the reg season.

    This year a similar 19-5 but took a very different path. 30 games left plus the conference tourney.

    • Yeah, this is where the rubber meets the road now. April isnt a cake walk and May is brutal. 4 vs ducks. Last 2 series is Arizona and UCLA. Then Pac12 tournament.

    • Interesting to look back. Offense is on a tear, by far best ever through 24 games
      2022 scored 238 runs, record 19-5
      2021 scored 148 runs, record 19-5
      2019 scored 146 runs, record 18-6
      2018 scored 174 runs, record 21-3
      2017 scored 143 runs, record 23-1
      2013 scored 147 runs, record 21-3

        • A lot less probably. Our offense is carrying a dinged up and young pitching staff. Massive offense is cool but I always prefer reliable pitching. You can get the job done either way though. Very few teams ever have both at the same time.

          • This is what will be interesting through end of season. Is a good offense better than a good defense? I think on the college level good pitching would be preferred and for tourney purposes the defense typically wins out but then I could very well be wrong. There’s no “free” wins from here on out. Even remaining non-conference games are vs Gonzaga and The Dirtbags. Granted we’ve taken 2 vs Gonzaga (16-6) but they’ve swept Oklahoma State in Stillwater and 3 of their losses are the Beavs and Ducks. Series wins are the key but when you look at the rest of the schedule not sweeping WSU, ASU are potentially big…particularly if we sub .500 like last year. Some crazy baseball upcoming for sure.

    • That’s back of the bullpen guys throwing vs Nevada. Won’t see them in the first two games vs Stanford. Sunday could be similar to the weekday games.

        • I’d say so. A 6.57 ERA and a 1.6 WHIP says he’s that’s where he belongs for now. I don’t see canham going to him as the first option. He needs to show results before getting the call to close out a game.

          • Would it be worth starting him in a mid week game to see if he is better suited there? If that doesn’t pan out then I don’t see a role for him. Unless he is working back from an injury.

      • Hopefully Sebby will be good to go for one of the games. Having to burn him was a problem. He normally cleans up after Hjerpe.

  20. Disappointing start of the season for Stanford after “The Cardinal, led by Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer…(was) picked first in the preseason coaches’ poll for the first time since 2013.

    Now they are in the bottom half of the PAC having a 5-4 record over the last 9 games, but they are still only 2 games behind the Beavs.

    Some numbers, Tree(OSU):
    RPI 41(18)
    SOS 25(67)
    That SOS number reflects Tree having already played nike and Arizona, while OSU has played WSU and Cal. Enough right there to concern Beavs fans.
    OTOH, they are committing nearly three times as many errors as the Beavs.

    All that said, I’ll agree with angry on this one, be glad to end the weekend with a series win.

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    OT: former Florida and NFL running back Fred Tayloradmits taking about $50K in “bribes” from people who wanted him to commit to Georgia. “Those were the days!” He said. He took the money AND went to FLA, which won a NC in 96 with him. Sort of implies FLA paid more…

    Just shows again how corrupt NCAA was and is, and why there’s a lack of genuine competitive balance. A school like Oregon State, with no wealthy, slimy alumni wiling to try and buy championships, will never compete for a national title. 2000 was as close as its going to get, which is why, in my opinion, a rose bowl victory over a worthy opponent is the best goal to shoot for.

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      I’m sure we have our share of wealthy, slimy alumni. Just not quite wealthy or slimy enough to buy more than an Alamo Bowl invite

    • I’ve always wondered how those “Orange Express” basketball teams of the late ’70s-early ’80s came together. Yes, AC Green was from Portland and Sitton was from McMinnville, but Steve Johnson was from SoCal, Conner from the Bay Area, and of course Payton later. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some timber baron or some such who made sure players found there way to Corvallis.

      • Could it be due to Ralph Miller coaching?

        I miss those days of sneaking in right before they opened the doors for students waiting overnight. They would have that WTF? look when we were on the front rail before them.

        • Yeah – sure, Miller was a great coach – but it isn’t like cheating in the NCAA was invented yesterday. And of course the Pac-8 (at that point) was “down” with UCLA struggling post-Wooden, but should we be so naive to think OSU was the only school in the country to climb the heights of hoops and did it without any trace of special favors/inducements to players?

  22. LSU basketball last scholarship player from this year entered the portal and all their commits decommitted. So there are programs worse off than the beavs. Of course their coach cheated and got caught so everyone bailed.

  23. Lineup posted:
    Gretler starts at 3b, Melton moves to cleanup, Tanner starts at C
    Stanford 3b Bowser is fielding .829 with 6 e’s to date, something to watch.
    Starter for Stanford in 26.2 innings has: 34 K, 5 bb, 5 WP, 2 HBP

    • Maybe, but not as easy as Stanford is making it on Cooper, if you want to put it that way.
      Several “stress” pitches by Stanford and a total of nearly 20 more than Cooper through 5 full.

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    Nike looks like the best baseball team in the PAC-12 which absolutely sucks to say! They may just buy their way to Omaha? They just keep winning.

  25. Did 3rd still send Fuchs after he held up a bit? That out at home was unfortunate…especially since Meckler got a hit after.

    • Can’t remember many teams who won when they couldn’t score at least one run. Plenty of chances in this game. Base running error cost them this one and a coaching error by the third base coach. Cost them a W no doubt.

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    Let the whining commence. “This is the worst team ever!” “Cut Fuchs and fire the third base coach!”. Can’t wait to hear all of the hot takes after this one.

    • I agree but the truth is this is all Mitch’s fault. I can’t believe he allowed this to happen. He just doesn’t have that moxie.

    • Yup, I expected Mathews too. Turns out they go to Ty Uber to start, maybe Mathews will come on soon or wait till Sunday, we’ll see.

  27. Unfortunate. Until Pfennings is back, not sure we win many Sundays in the Pac. Tomorrow is huge to grab at least 1 win.

    • Do you expect the Beavs to score more than 5 tomorrow? I do.
      Hard to believe the Beavs bats can be held down for a third game at home.
      Question is, can the Beavs hold tree to less than 5?

  28. Kwan makes the opening day roster!

    This year might be the year where all the stars of the 2018 team are in the show.

    Madrigal is in. Larnach and Grenier are in AAA. Adley is rehabbing from an injury but is expected to be called up when healthy.

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    Wild game. Great win! Stanford starter much better than whoever we’re putting out there to start. Need this high powered offense to do something high powered or I don’t think we can hang. Don’t see Beavs pitching keeping it close tomorrow..

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    OT- does anybody know the scoop on Canzano? Was he fired by the paper? I signed up for the basic version of his newsletter for shits and giggles, but man he is too much to try to read every day. Dead horse themes…….he’s already worked Tracy into one of his articles and I get it, Larry Scott was not a good leader. A lot of expected Quack blather, where one could just substitute Lanning’s name for Cristobal’s in each story. I don’t know that he’s going to get any deep insights into Beaver sports now that he’s not working for The Oregonian. I don’t see why anyone would pay for the premium version.

    • Not sure. Nemec is moving on as well. Now he doesn’t have to claim to be neutral. Lol. Paper business is probably going to skeleton crews would be my guess. Seems like going independent might be worthwhile if they can garner similar income and not have to worry about the paper deadlines and a boss, etc. Perhaps if he decided to write a book or something would the paper get a cut of it to in some fashion? Not sure how all that works.

  31. Good offense not so good this weekend. Long way to go but this is starting to mirror last season quite a bit. 6 weeks of top play and then .500 ball. Supposedly Pfennings is playing catch but 6+ weeks already for a back strain makes me think there’s more than meets the eye. Any word on Wheeler? Logan? Dukart?

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    Playing mostly middle-of-the-road teams up to Stanford, our offense looked better than it is, and our pitching weaknesses were somewhat hidden. Stanford’s the first Pac-12 team we’ve played with an overall record above .500.

    Our best teams had 5-7 dominant pitchers – 2 or 3 starters and 2-4 guys out of the pen. Right now we have one, total, and he’s damn good.

    Good pitching beats good hitting, from what I can tell that’s still a fact. This weekend of Beaver hitting is a classic example. What, 4 earned runs in 3 games … that’s 1 1/3 runs a game.

    Hopefully some of the new kids will settle in and rise up. That happens. Our Pac-12 schedule is back loaded, we play what are looking to be the best teams – Oregon, UCLA and Arizona in our last 3 series. We’ll need a few pitchers to get their groove by then.

    • Pitching was my main concern heading into this season as we only had 6 or 7 guys that had seen any real time on the mound for the Beavs. Considering that Frisch, Mundt and Pfennings haven’t been available that is a big problem and i am surprised that Verberg has had so many issues. When Pfennings comes back I can’t imagine he’d be tossed into long outings as he has very few innings this year so he might take a few series to ramp up. We might be lucky to see .500 ball the rest of the way if there isn’t better pitching consistency.

      Offense was down for sure but also had a lot of missed opportunities. Think we had 12 in scoring position in game 1…something like that. Had runners, couldn’t capitalize.

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    womens bball needs a close examination of what is going on in the program.

    ESPN projected a way too early top 25 for next year and the Beavs weren’t even considered.

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