Home Baseball Baton Rouge Regional…is this all there is for ’23 baseball?

Baton Rouge Regional…is this all there is for ’23 baseball?

661

Slim chance our Beavs advance beyond Baton Rouge, as ohiobeav said, Bad starting pitching will ultimately get them, I doubt they can score 15 runs a game to win the regional, because that will likely be what is needed given the pattern of the starting rotation and subsequent pressure it puts on the bullpen.

Can Dorman get his crew to follow this advice, given by Jack, …maybe the pitchers (can) trust their defense, instead of this pick and choose shit. At least pick and choose on the bottom of the zone. Make it look good.

Two regular degenerates there with good takes.

First game is Friday, 5 pm Pacific ESPN+. GO BEAVS !

661 COMMENTS

  1. 2
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    Ohiobeav’s entire post, this guys got a good crystal ball:
    Here is how it will go, in case some aren’t yet aware of the acceptable pattern:
    Sellers starts game 1, throws about 100 pitches in 4 innings, strikes out about 9 but has one bad inning and leaves the game with Beavs down something like 6-4.
    This allows Dorman to use the bullpen too soon, burn a lot of arms on day 1 and have a razor thin margin for game 2 against LSU. Ferrer likely goes against LSU, gets rocked in the 1st but recovers for about 3 solid innings which allows Dorman to burn through the rest of the arms in the bullpen for game 2.
    If they are lucky enough to actually win the first 2 games, it may not really matter because they will only have Lawson and Boisvert left to throw for the last game or 2 if needed.
    Bad starting pitching will ultimately get them, I doubt they can score 15 runs a game to win the regional, because that will likely be what is needed given the pattern of the starting rotation and subsequent pressure it puts on the

    • Hard to disagree!
      What was obvious in Surprise has played out. Starting pitching is substandard to what we have been accustomed to.
      The crazy thing is one of the player’s dad told me in Surprise that Joey Mundt would be back in three weeks and they were just being careful with him!
      So he misses the whole season….

    • It’s easy to do. I think I have this right – some years ago LSU, predicted to take the whole thing, was playing Santa Clara (?), first round, LSU up 4(?) last of the 9th (?), some how SC loaded the bases – walk? and some kid who had had only 2 at-bats all year, hit a grand slam. Sublime

      • It was Santa Barbara vs Louisville. Awesome game! SB won with walk off grand slam w dude who had rarely played all year. I believe SB was down by 3 runs so every run contributed to the win.

  2. Anyone with ESPN + think it’s worth the price? Debating whether to subscribe just for this regional. If we beat Sam Houston today, gotta think a matchup with LSU would be on ESPN2 or ESPNU tomorrow. If we lose today, then this thing is likely over and not worth paying to watch the losers bracket.

    • Haven’t looked into this at all so I apologize if this isn’t correct but there might be a hulu live tv trial you can do which might include ESPN+.

      I have hulu live tv with the disney package and I get free ESPN+.

      • Yup, the way to go is with the package if one is interested in shows on Hulu or Disney. I rarely watch ESPN Plus, but surprisingly they show a lot of Portland State Vikings football games (my alma mater), so I tend to have their games going on in the background at times in the fall.

    • Well, a win today just got more interesting as it sounds like LSU will be starting their Ace today. That’s a great break for them if they can TCB today. Hard to disagree with the analysis above. Starting pitching is awful and without Kmatz it’s even worse. Sellers, ferrer and lattery are not scaring anyone. Despite our offense coming alive the last 6 -8 weeks of the year, we don’t win the boat races. We’ve lost 7 of the 9 games we gave up 10+ runs and most of those we also scored more than 10. Anything can happen in postseason play but I don’t see the Beavs moving on unfortunately. However, this team has exceeded my expectations this season so I have to take a step back and remember that. In all reality, pretty incredible to make the regional with what is probably the worst pitching unit in any recent memory. No Ace, no truly reliable bullpen guys outside of Brown and Ferrer and I’d say they were better last year than they were this season. Anyway, if the pitching can hold teams to 7 runs we should be in business.

      • LSU did, indeed, use their ace. Skenes went 9 full and got a 7-2 win.
        Surprised they used him vs Tulane, must be taking the long view and want to use him as much as possible in the tourney.
        Can Miiiitch spin this as disrespect for his guys? Fire ’em up?
        Gotta deal with Sam Houston first!

    • Well he did the job he was assigned to do last time with zero repercussions, so why wouldn’t they? The collusion will continue so long as people watch it.

    • Was Street the ump who called that strike on Adley that was literally a foot in the other batter’s box? Poor Ad, too nice to complain, but the look on his face was pure befuddlement. I’m trying to remember if that was his freshman year.

        • Street hasn’t changed much, here’s word from South Carolina writer Kevin Miller 2 months ago :
          Home plate umpire Greg Street was featured prominently in the early goings, as his zone was all over the place. In just the first two innings, both Mahoney and Barlow were gifted several strikes that were nowhere close to the strike zone. Bad calls behind the plate remained a theme throughout the game but not as frequently as in the first two frames.

          And, here’s Aaron Fitt back on June 24, 2017: The word from multiple people in SEC country is that Greg Street is a nice man and a very inconsistent home plate umpire. Just awful today.

      • Brandon Smith. Looks like 2022 was sophomore season. Not the best offer sheet. Nevada, Hawaii, Robert Morris, Fresno state. While everyone projected another rb via JUCO its a little intriguing. Even losing Lowell we still have DM, Fenwick, griffin and Newell. Seemed to be pretty deep at that position. I’d actually think Fenwick is the weak link of those 4. Really liked Newell out of high school and took advantage of the limited opportunities last year. Unless I’m mistaken, Fenwick would be the only guaranteed loss after this season. Griffin could go pro but is only a rs junior.

        • There’s definitely an injury or departure we aren’t aware of. There’s a frosh RB coming in next year, too.

          • He has 3 years to play 2. I’d guess he gets playing time in 4 games this season, redshirts and comes back to play the next 2 seasons. Or steps in if there’s an injury before then.

          • Yes.
            RBBC can be done smartly, and gain all backs highlights.
            Removing carries in college adds to potential pro carries, which adds to the perception your RB room produces productive pros.
            And then you get people like Martinez, who makes the mould look good.

  3. Not saying it happens but hypothetically is OSU goes to the loser bracket and comes back to force a game 5 what do they do? Throw position players?

  4. I’ll give Sellers this much, he’s at least consistent. There’s no surprises at all. 25 pitches and a couple runs.

  5. 1
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    Kasper looked safe on that slow mo but not sure that was worth trying to stretch for 2. 4-2 beavs and now it’s back to sellers. See y’all back here in 24 pitches.

  6. Greg Street at 3b tonight, normal rotation would mean he won’t be behind the plate till he’s worked 2nd and 1st.
    So if he works both games tomorrow he’d be at the plate Sunday. FWIW

  7. 2
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    Sellers has sat down 13 in a row since that shaky first inning. Would be nice if he could ACTUALLY go 7 and save the bullpen tonight.

    For whatever that’s worth

  8. Sellers has rebounded and been perfect since the first. Retired 16 in a row and has gone 6. Need to get one more inning out of him.

    10-2 Beavs after 5-1/2

  9. 19 straight retired by Sellers. Over 100 pitches. If that’s the evening for him gotta tip the cap after the rough start.

    His best outing as a Beav. And after that shaky first inning. Dude showed some moxie.

  10. 4
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    Sellers has had a nice evening and the bats are still alive. Perhaps they can surprise LSU tomorrow and have a real shot at stealing the regional…
    Good showing tonight by the Beavs!
    Glad my prediction above wasn’t correct…

  11. 17-2 Beavs
    Bring in Cedillo to pitch the last two innings. Tell him it’s just like batting practice and let him give up 10 runs. Save arms for later.

  12. I know I’ve knocked Sellers quite a bit but he showed up after that 1st inning. Wish that outing was more the norm vs being the outlier but absolutely clutch job on the big stage. So awesome to see Turley rip the ball these last few weeks. Great win!

    • Agreed. If that ends up being his last outing as a Beav, I tip my cap and give a head nod of approval. If Turley didn’t have a 2-month slump, he’d have 20+ HR this year. The kid can mash!

  13. 4
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    Completely unexpected ass beating.

    I have no words other than I hope this wasn’t the high point of the post season.

    But, confidence is a good thing.

    I expect Ben Ferrer will get the start tomorrow.

    Go Beavs. Beat LSU

    • I don’t expect him to start. They’ll go with a wildcard and bring Ferrer in early if needed. Best case they get 4-5 solid innings from wildcard starter, and Ferrer finishes.

  14. I didn’t watch the game but from the highlights I saw, it looked like our guys acted like they’ve been there before. No excessive celebrations, bat flips, etc. It’s a young team but they understand the journey.

  15. Oregon State is playing LSU tonight in a huge game and I believe Greg Street is going to be behind the plate. I’ve seen this movie before and I didn’t like it the first time

  16. Since April 9th, Beavs are averaging 10.5 runs per game and have scored double digits 16 times. I’m not taking another lineup over these guys in the nation. I have no doubt they can rough up LSU’s pitching rotation. I thought for sure Skenes would be held back for tonight’s game. The rest of their pitching staff is just not that impressive. With him not pitching tonight, Beavs have a real opportunity to get this one and get to the championship of the regional. They just need the pitching staff to show a pulse and not have a complete meltdown. A lot of runs are gonna be scored but LSU botching their pitching decisions helps the Beavs a bit

  17. And now Saban and SEC reps are going to DC “…to make a case for a federal assistance in regulating how college athletes can earn money off their fame.”

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2023/06/01/saban-goes-to-washington-alabama-coach-set-to-lead-sec-contingent-on-lobbying-trip/70279813007/

    Commissioner Greg Sankey will lead a group that is expected to include university presidents, athletic directors and lobbyists.

    “There’s a lot that goes on between our campuses and D.C. And so this is an opportunity to focus on athletics and some of the pressures that we’re facing. To communicate that, given the realities in college athletics, Congress is the place that can fix the issues we have,” Sankey said.

    Perhaps they need to bring this NIL athlete form LSU:

    https://swimsuit.si.com/swimnews/meet-2023-si-swimsuit-model-olivia-dunne

    • Gotta respect the board representing a group of college alums bagging on Clemson for having a cajun restaurant, and how that’s somehow appropriation.
      That post has 8 pages, and the last post (as of now) tries to give a weird history lesson. In fact, the British spent 30 years trying to figure out what to do with the Acadians of Nova Scotia, until they finally just deported them, in 1755… to South Carolina.
      Ten years later, some of those people were then moved to Louisiana.
      These geniuses spend several pages wondering just how “cajun” the culture within and around Louisiana cities is, yet they shun the common knowledge of what actually happened to the Acadians.
      It’s not wholly a surprise, since some schlub “historian” wrote a fictional history of Louisiana, and had the Acadians crossing the Appalachians and floating down the Ohio and Mississippi, until they ran out of river.

  18. Not a whole lot of upsets on day one. Auburn was really the only one (weren’t they the SEC team that was really undeserving of hosting?)

    • Ok St and Coastal Carolina were also hosts that lost. Ok St and Auburn both losing elimination games right now.

  19. WEATHER
    The site Reverend linked to above now has a discussion of the weather in Baton Rouge, early game currently delayed.
    UPDATE: locals on that board now saying our game will not be played tonight, they are upset at the current delay…….we’ll see.

    BTW, Greg Street has moved clockwise and is umping at 2b in the delayed game. But, not the entire crew from the Beavs opening game is working this one, only Street and one other.

    • The latest they can start is 11 Central, so the first game has to be completed within the next 90 minutes for a 55 minute transition.

      I doubt it’s going to happen.

      • Nvm, they have to complete it in the next two hours. I’d rather play tonight when it’s cool and the stadium is half full.

    • Correct. They need Kentucky to lose and probably West Virginia, too. Indiana winning the regional would make it a lock for the supers being at Goss if they were to get by LSU

  20. I know the committee loves it cause it favors teams in the south but the RPI needs to go. Teams like Ok State, Auburn, Alabama are nowhere close to being top 16 teams. USC is better than them and better than several at large teams. Arizona making it over USC was insane along with teams like Oklahoma. There needs to be a new formula to decide at large teams cause the selection process is beyond broken

    • In the “serves you right/karma” department:
      Auburn AD was the head of the NCAA baseball committee that set the seedlings, sites and at large bids.
      Goodbye Auburn!

      • There has been a push for a format change from some coaches in college baseball to go away from the current format in regionals and extend the season by a week and make the regionals a best of 3 between 2 teams and add an additional best of 3 round before supers. I think this would be the best possible format. Won’t tax arms as much and spreads the hosts around more and gives underdogs a better chance. I wouldn’t mind adding a play-in round too with how biased the selection process is against west coast teams

        • I’d say automatic host for top 3 regular season teams from ACC, P12, and SEC. Top team from B10 and B12 gets 1. Then 4 at large host sites. Eliminate RPI and replace with regional rating system. Would never happen but RPI is a joke and absolutely favors SEC/ACC teams. The baseball on west coast is incredibly underrated. USC, Arizona and ASU all should have been in the field. Beavs, Tree, and Ducks should have hosted.

  21. Indiana defeats Kentucky 5-3 in the winners bracket game. Kentucky will play West Virginia tomorrow in an elimination game.

  22. So when does LSU just cancel their regional and declare themselves as winner because weather in the bayou is terrible in June?

    UW and Oregon both winning big early. Perhaps the PAC12 was much better than we thought but no one ever thinks west coast baseball is worthy of attention.

    • And ironic that Beavs are rained out as the national game so Vandy game gets more attention.

      Since when did Alabama become a top 10 basketball and baseball school?

      • They’ve historically been a top hoops school, like OSU was until the 90s. They’ve just managed to be somewhat respectable, since.
        And they’re the lowest seeded regional, yet they seem to have one of the easier hosting schedules.

    • I mean… yeah… FTD.
      But I like seeing Vandy lose a little more, and I think it speaks to the level of competition the SEC overvalues itself as having.
      I see the same thing with TCU hammering Arkansas, right now.

    • Arizona won exactly 2 series all year against a team who had a record over .500, 0 on the road. They went 4-14 on the road, were swept 4 times they finished 8th in the conference. They were one of the worst at-large I can remember in the last 20 years. They went 2-2 in February against NCAA tournament teams and then got smacked around for the majority of the next 3 months by tournament caliber teams. Wasn’t surprised to see them go 2 and out. Mediocrity needs to be stop being rewarded by the committee

      • didn’t Arizona get the automatic bid by winning the conference tournament? In that case you can’t call them an at-large team. Their presence in the field is a fluke, kinda like Utah back in 2016

        • I remember a shitty Oklahoma team back in ’08 who got in with a 9-17 conference record. The committee always seems to make a couple of WTF decisions every year. That includes the travesty of the ’16 Beavs being left out!

  23. Down goes UW and Stanford. Arizona already lost earlier and only the Ducks win today.

    Hoping the Beavs have focus, great hitting and decent pitching tomorrow.

      • Under Esquer, they’ve won their last 3 regionals but today they’ll play their 5th elimination game in their last 3 regionals as a host. Last year’s team was very lucky they didn’t get sent home in their regional. They have looked fairly overrated all season, so it being dicey isn’t a huge to shock to me

  24. OT: Based on the recruit visit photo in the twitter feed, Reser seems to be progressing well but the lack of symmetry and the different angles of the seating sections (east compared to west) does look odd.

    • Today looks to be the best day weather wise in Baton Rouge for the next several days.

      My question is how much rain fell yesterday and how shitty the field conditions might be.

      Anyone else remember a regional several years back that a helicopter was brought in to attempt to help dry the field? Was either Dallas Baptist or TCU, I forget which and what year that was.

      • That was DBU, 2015. That was one of Oregon State’s worst regional performance along with 2010 in the last 2 decades

  25. Today’s game against LSU is basically gonna decide who wins the regional. Loser would have to play 4 games in 2 days just to make the regional championship game and would have absolutely zero pitching left in that game. Beavs are really light on arms already, so this game is a must win. They aren’t winning 3 straight games in 2 days in about 27 hours

  26. Beavs warming up guys in the first inning makes it clear that all hands are on deck today. 100% the right move. If they’re leading in the 7th, I’m betting they’ll throw Ferrer to close it down and worry about who starts after that later

  27. Gavin Turley has some of the quickest hands in college baseball. Pitchers can’t throw him a fastball anywhere close cause he’s destroying every single one. Next season he’s gonna have a monster year

  28. Some guy on the Pureorange page on Facebook is stating that Dunmore is transferring. No idea if valid, haven’t seen anything legit

  29. Big issue for Lattery all year has been his lack of aggressiveness in the strike zone. Nibbles around the edges and gets behind in the count and then gets hammered in hitters counts. They gotta come get him within the next couple batters or this is gonna be 6-0 LSU in a second

  30. Aggressive base running was costly Friday, now Micah caught stealing. Hope that sort of thing is out of their system now.

    • He got a truly horrific jump there. He easily beats it out if gets even an average jump. And now we’re in a delay. That’s fun

  31. From the Tiger Droppings board, agree??:
    Absolutely perfect scenario for Oregon state. A lightening delay as they would have pulled their pitcher anyway. It’s a bullpen game. Huge beaver advantage.

  32. Disagree, ideal scenario given the pitch count would to get 2/3 more innings out of AJ. I know LSU is worried about their bullpen but ours isn’t great. Just show how little they know about this beaver team.

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      I think pulling lattery at 57 pitches would’ve been the right call despite any game delay. He was playing with fire each inning and traditionally he starts to get shelled in his 3rd inning. Ideally you’d get thru 4 innings but that’s just not the case. Our “ace” rarely made it thru 4 full much less our 3rd and 4th guys. Worst case scenario is we lose, burn 5 or 6 arms in game 1 and then are in a similar situation for game 2. If we go loser bracket and advance it’s very likely we got through 11 or 12 arms today. Not sure what that would leave us for any game tomorrow. I assume we’ll need to stick with one of these guys for an extended period despite any troubles they have. And yeah, our BP isn’t great. This isn’t the same type of Beavs team LSU has faced in the past where good pitching was a strong suit.

  33. Current weather radar doesn’t show the rain/lightning clearing up until 8 CST. It’s going to be a stupidly long day/night ahead for the loser, assuming the NCAA doesn’t push the elimination game back to tomorrow.

  34. LSU fans having an absolute meltdown over in their forum being down 1-0 in the 3rd inning of a non elimination game. I guess what I’d heard about LSU fans is true. They have a crazy active forum over there though. New posts almost constantly.

  35. Can someone explain to me why I was able to stream the game before the delay, yet after the delay I have to have an ESPN+ subscription? Bunch of bullshit. ESPN sucks ass.

  36. Dorman is so bad. Gotta win this game and going with Keljo for just 1 inning just makes it obvious he’s overthinking it. If you were gonna go to Ferrer, why not just put him in to start the inning.

  37. Crews should another pitch this weekend, give him the Bomds treatment, I was extremely critical of Mitch pitching to the Auburn kid last year, let’s hope Mitch learned from last year

  38. Well, this is starting to look like the Beavs pitching we’ve become used to over the last 21 games. 3 homers now and lead 4-3.

  39. Ferrer just hasn’t been the same guy this year. He just can’t locate any pitch consistently. So many guys have taken massive steps backwards on the mound either from last season or within this season and basically all have the same problem. Seems like a coaching problem

    • Sad thing is, most of these guys are coming back…at least from an eligibility perspective. Lattery, Lawson, Thor, larson are all juniors and are the same or worse than last year. We’re in some deep do do from a starting perspective.

  40. 2
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    Beavs seeing what they’re missing on the mound when LSU has a guy like Hurd who can locate his fastball and breaking ball over and over and they don’t have 1 guy who can locate either consistently. Feels like the at-bats are good but quality pitching. The Dorman issue feels like a defining moment for Mitch. Does he have the guts to tell his buddy to seek employment elsewhere or will he allow him to hold next year’s team back as well

  41. Really nice job scouting LSU hitters. They have hit a lot of home runs so lets make sure they only hit solo shots as a strategy?

    Dorman should be left behind in Baton Rouge airport after pulling Keljo, who at least got guys out and had some moxy. Ferrer looks like a scared freshmen, and it seems to be falling apart on him. May as well leave Ferrer in for another. 3-4 solo shots, but pull Keljo after 3 hitters. Goodness talk about out-thinking yourself.

    Beavs need to get the LSU pitcher off his stride and get to a different pitcher in the next inning.

  42. Ferrer follows up a great inning with allowing a potential losing homer. Perfectly captures his season. Wild swings of inconsistencies within the same game

  43. N no I way Brown can get 6 outs without giving up a few more runs. He is just too inconsistent lately.

    Beavs need to get out of this inning at 6-5 and score at least 3-4 in the 9th to hold on.

    Gonna be a long night and very rough road to win 3 in a row to get out of the regional if they don’t win this one.

  44. I’m really trying to understand the logic behind these pitching moves. They couldn’t give Keljo more than 1 inning in case they need him later but trusted Ferrer enough to pitch him with the game on the line and he wouldn’t be able to go again. So they’re saving guys but also not saving guys. Also, having guys ready to go at the start of the inning but not putting them in but they’ll put them in after a couple hitters once damage is done. Dorman seems very reactive and doesn’t have a thought out plan and things just implode

  45. Pretty impressive work from LSU’s pitching coach. Ever since the Beavers went up 3-0, they’ve gone heavy with the curveball and the hitters have stayed with the approach of sitting on the fastball exclusively. If there was one weakness it was they will sit on the fastball no matter what and the breaking balls beat them

  46. 2
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    Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!!!

    Beavs got Greg Streeted on that final “swing”. But there’s no reason to even offer at something that bad.

  47. Gotta play again in an hour. Unfortunately I can’t stay up for the entire game.

    Even if they win tonight there isn’t much left in the tank for tomorrow.

  48. What a surprise, the bullpen gives up all of the runs and 5 home runs.

    Dorman is in real trouble with who is left for 2 or 3 more games.

    The bats may explode on Sam Houston’s #3/#4 starter but Beavs won’t have any arms available to actually pitch to LSU tomorrow even if they can win tonight.

    Starters aren’t reliable and the bullpen can’t hold leads. Bad combination and it is all at Dorman’s doorstep.

    Great pitching staff creates a lot more margin for error.

    Side note the Beavs had 2 potential outs in the outfield they couldn’t hold onto. Need those outs and not “almost”.

    • Bullpen has been bad for 2 seasons now and now the rotation is cooked. Dorman is bad at basically every aspect of his job. He needs to go. He hasn’t developed a single front line starter that wasn’t at Oregon State when he showed up.

  49. Best case scenario…..

    Win tonight and hope for more rain/t storms tomorrow.

    Worst case scenario…..

    Win tonight and hope for more rain/t storms tomorrow….increasing the chances LSU can utilize Skenes to advance.

  50. 1
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    Most knew we weren’t making it out of the regional even if we had Kmatz available. It’s frustrating to see some of the same things plague them all season. Defense in the outfield is avg. Not that those were easy plays, but it’s the kind of plays we’ve had guys make in the outfield going back to the 1st championship. Not the 1st time the outfield had chances to make big plays and come up just a little short. Pitching only gave up 6 runs but it could’ve been much worse…stranding 6 in the first 2 innings was quite miraculous. Unless there’s some big growth there in the off-season, this could be the weak spot next year too. Regardless of the strike zone, some props to LSU and their staff. They’ve only used 4 pitchers in 2 games and are sitting pretty. We’ve used 8 I believe and I don’t see a situation we don’t run thru 5+ tonight unless we just let some guys work through some really bad spots.

    In the larger picture, I think this reinforces that good pitching beats good offense and it’s absolutely crucial in the postseason. We’ll have to see if that can change under MC and RD or this could potentially be what we are looking at moving forward. Make the dance but never advance?

      • 3
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        Casey had the philosophy that great pitching and great defense can win even if offense is limited to small ball execution. His best teams had those elements but added offensive greatness.

        If Mitch is going to abandon the key elements of great pitching for great offense, you have problems over the long run, as we have seen for 3 years. In comparison, these teams don’t have near the pitching, defense of small ball execution of Casey’s standard teams. And even if the offense is better by the numbers, it has been horribly streaky and inconsistent.

        Pitchers that can throw strikes and get guys out consistently win battles better than 7/10 times, when you have an entire staff of those guys, you win championships.

        Dorman obviously can’t recruit guys like Hurd who was apparently the top pitcher California. Yeskie is at Texas A&M and his staff is what we used to see.

        Mitch needs to have a long talk with Dorman and go find another buddy who actually can recruit great as or this will be Riley in baseball version of self limiting successes with an obvious cap at the Regional level.

    • Lawson starts. I’m thinking Quinn and Boisvert will be asked to go a couple innings. They’ll need Lawson to go at least 4-5. They’ll need the offense to go crazy the next 24 hours to have any shot

    • they’re in the 1st vs Sam Houston right now. No idea if it’s televised.
      Does ESPNU go with college cheerleading competitions, or the NCAA Baseball Post Season?
      So many Beavers to choose from

  51. Beavs are just full of unproductive arms. Lawson is at 28 pitches so far and not efficient at all. Really would like to see someone who just throw strikes and doesn’t nibble or sail every other pitch.

  52. Well, beavs look defeated so far. Retired in order for the first 2 innings. 3 or 4 strike outs. Lawson at 30 pitches already. Down 1-0. They don’t snap out of it offensively, this has the feeling of getting ugly.

  53. 23 strikeouts in 11 innings today. The book is out on the offense. Do not throw them fastballs in the zone other than an occasional show me fastball and go heavy on breaking balls/off speed and they still have yet to make an adjustment. At some point when you’re just getting peppered with these pitches, you gotta start sitting on them. It’s kind of sad to see opposing pitchers pound the zone with breaking balls when Beavers pitchers struggle to to do that game after game

  54. 7
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    I love how we lose one game by one run to the higher seeded team AND regional host and the doomsdayers come out in full force. Still baseball to be played gentlemen. And as my brother said, the Beavers always play better with their backs against the wall.

  55. Sometimes I wonder if the coaches insist on guys throwing strikes.It is ridiculous how little composure of focus all of these guys look. It is rare to see a Beaver pitcher who carries himself like he commands the mound/game and is secure in the situation.

    Hjerpe is the last guy I remember that had the demeanor and talent to back it up. The rest of these guys seem to be pretending to do it but have no idea how to actually command the situation.

    Seems like it reflects poorly on Dorman, and perhaps a general direction of emphasis. Offense is the priority not pitching.

    • Guerra slumping this regional has definitely hurt. Think he’s 2 for 12. Timely bloop hit by Smith scores 1. Hopefully that’s the spark they need. Looked very sluggish early on.

  56. 1
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    Obviously Dorman is bad and needs to go but Canham and Co that run the offense for this team need to wake up. A very mediocre pitcher is carving them up with nothing but breaking balls. They should be all over these guys to get off the fastball when he doesn’t want to throw it to get them out. It’s crazy to see 2 teams now identifying a weakness and there being no adjustments.

    • Wasn’t a poorly located pitch at all, too. Brady was just looking for it. Finally someone actually was paying attention and not just looking dead red every pitch.

  57. Beavs are a little lucky. I thought the second baseman should have called for that ball instead of the first baseman trying to make that difficult over-the-shoulder catch.

  58. Jimenez looking confident the last two innings. Him keeping this up is crucial to us getting back in this regional.

  59. That’s why Forrester is the man. Hangs in to see 11 pitches and draws a walk. Excellent job by all three Beavs there to see a lot of pitches and make good contact.

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    1

    I think part of the pitching discrepancies we’ve seen this year is due to our downgrade at catching. Smith is nowhere near Adley and even Logan was a noticeable step above. Catchers can really keep a pitching staff firing on all cylinders. You’d think Mitch would pay more attention to that..

  61. Jimenez has been huge. 6 innings so far. That might be the 2nd or 3rd most innings by any of our pitchers this season. Big time

  62. Beavers pitchers not named Ben Ferrer for Oregon State in the regional:
    22 1/3 innings, 16 hits, 5 runs, 20 strikeouts, 10 BB. Best I’ve seen Jimenez look all season. Aggressive in the strike zone and command of all his pitches. He just attacked and worked fast. Need a lot more of that from his teammates

  63. Jimenez carried the team for 6 innings of 3 hit baseball. MVP. Assume Rhett Larson gets the start tomorrow in the 1st game.

  64. Jimenez was clinical. That was a heck of a performance. Just put the team on his back. I thought they should have left him in. But Brown did fine. They just made some good swings.

  65. Best case scenario now is LSU has used their guys with good to great off speed command. Maybe from here on it will be high velo and little control, which Beavs should do fine against. And address the approach for Guerra, Smith, Bazanna all flailing from time to time.

    Get game 1 and put all the pressure back on LSU for the late game…
    Perhaps their is another freshmen in the bullpen that can duplicate what Jimenez did tonight.

    • Still baffled at how Keljo was pulled after one inning. It’s the tournament ffs, have some faith and let the dude pitch

      • He’s our only lefty, and the scouting report says LSU can’t hit lefties.
        He is still available, as of now.
        But yeah… him getting the win yesterday might have helped more than getting a win today.

  66. It wasn’t a very inspiring performance, but Beavs win 3-1. I hope the anemic offense was just due to emotional/physical tiredness from Game 1, and hopefully there will be more firepower after getting some rest.

    Pitching wise, looks like there’s Mejia, Larson, Hutcheson, Keljo, and Boisvert with maybe Brown/Ferrer available for an inning each. Then Quinn, Thorsteinson, and Grewe as probably last resorts. They’ll need another Jimenez-esque performance from one or two of these guys if the bats stay quiet.

  67. Does the fact that we haven’t seen Greg Street behind the plate yet pretty much guarantee he will be there in 1 of the next 2 games?

  68. Can’t count the beavs out but man, if they hit 5 homers off 2 of our top 5 pitchers, it’s definitely a little daunting to think what they can do to the guys that have thrown like 150 pitches all year. I don’t know much about LSU pitching depth but they’ve only used 4 arms so far this tournament and I think only 2 of them wouldn’t go again based off pitch count. Perhaps the starter from yesterday would be off the list but he didn’t throw that many pitches before the storm delay so it would seem plausible they could use him if needed. Hate losing to LSU and definitely don’t want to get bushwacked by them on our elimination game.

      • Hope so. They weren’t great yesterday with 31 strike outs. Obviously long day and a weird Sat waiting around for the cancelation but we need to get that plate discipline back that we showed the last month of the year. Short rest for offense coming into today. A lot stacked against them to say the least. Ideally winning that game by grinding it out gives them some boost for today.

    • The first game is key.
      If we win, then all bets are off. Their pitching is essentially ours, if Sellers would have been a true ace all year.

  69. Malachi Durant commits to Beavs. WR out of Washington. High 3*. Offers from UO, both WA schools, Cal, Zona, BYU amongst others. 2 wr for this class so far! He’s listed as 6’2″

  70. Do we just not bunt anymore? I haven’t watched any games this season and I keep expecting bunts with guys on and no outs.

  71. Man, wasted opportunity there. 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Get thrown out at home on a FC and then a dribble to 1st for 3rd out. Can’t waste those against this team. Larson hanging in so far but his fastball does seem to be hanging up there a bit. They’ve had contact but hitting them right to our outfield so far.

  72. ESPN announcers noticing the strike zone is a little bit wider today…as it should be according to them. Lol. Setting the table for Greg Street to continue widening it out. Also, larson in trouble. Bases juiced with 1 out.

  73. Whelp, ferrer gives up a rocket to the wall in the gap and now it’s 4-0 with a man on 3rd. Feels like the nail in the coffin but let’s see what our boys can do.

  74. The strategy is to have at least 1 guy on base when Turkey bats, otherwise no one can settle down enough to get a hit.
    I wonder if they all lost the concept of hitting the ball for solid singles and be surprised with a homerun, but the homeruns in game one left them all swinging for the fences/over swinging.

  75. Jim Wilson observed that the more pitchers you use in any one game, the more you have a chance at big innings because you are asking to have more guys be “on” which is unlikely as you work through any given bullpen.
    Let’s hope the Beavs get to that one guys in their bullpen that faulters.

  76. 4
    3

    We got screwed. This should have been a super regional match up not a regional. 2nd in the PAC 12 with the record we had should have been a home regional.

  77. 2 ground balls to traditional 2nd base spot and Bazanna is sitting on the base up the middle
    In a shift both times. Shift percentages don’t always help, and in this case it has sealed the game with a big inning for LSU.

  78. 5
    1

    To quote Denny Green…
    They are who we thought they were!

    The team never had the pitching staff that would get us to Omaha. This simply amplifies the terrible missed opportunity last year. One could argue this team actually ended up overachieving. That being said, something has to change with our pitching direction. The lack of development this year is quite alarming. When our Friday night starter ended up being a JC transfer, something was rotten in Denmark.. Hopefully Casey will give some input to Canham.

    • 4
      1

      Mike Parker said Darwin Barney assessed this season as a transitional year for the team. Not sure if they knew the pitching was underwhelming until the freshmen arms get some seasoning or if the transition was into a full blown offensive philosophy. Good showing and entertaining effort.
      Turkey is a must watch at bat as much as Adley was his Junior year.
      Perhaps there is some psychology to apply to the guys who can’t throw strikes or can’t seem to last beyond 2 innings.
      If I was Dorman, I’d have the pitchers all watch the Facing Nolan Ryan documentary and then adopt the Ryan Express for what is a great pitchers approach to pitching. Attack, intimidate and give no room for a batter to get comfortable, most of all throw strikes.

      Time to assess the direction of the pitching staff and pitching coaches…

      On to football.

  79. 9
    1

    41 wins on the season is pretty good too. Of course can’t help but feel like this team could have been real good with some starting pitching.

    • A few observations after it’s all over:

      Beavs hitters had over 42 strikeouts out of 81 possible outs over the last 3 games.

      Bazanna, Forrester, Guerra and Smith all had tough last 3 games.

      Defense is still needing improvement with several almost plays that should’ve been outs.

      Baserunning errors still happening regularly.

      Brown, Ferrer, Kmatz and maybe a few others have regressed from last year.

      Who scouts opposing teams, and comes up with pitching approach, hitting approaches?

      I don’t like the shift, especially the at bat for Whiye in the 5th or 6th, play for a double play with bases loaded.

      Turley does look like the next big time player, he struggled against conference pitching but LSU is every bit the same type of pitchers and he was mashing the ball all weekend and for the last several.

      Next year may be much the same as this year if they don’t have any new arms or guys clearly identified as 6+ inning starters.

      Most of the guys on the roster are returning so it will be more of the same with the offense but we see it won’t get you through to Omaha without complimentary pitching.

      Good job for exceeding expectations but it does seem like 2-3 additional regular season wins would have them in a super and legitimate shot at Omaha. Too bad

  80. Well, at the end of the day they were a regional team at best due to pitching.

    About where I and many others felt they were before the season.

    • Perhaps but had they been a regional host or received a better draw, which by all measures aside from RPI they were deserving of, this team could have made it to the Supers. But agree that they wouldn’t have had the pitching to get through a Super Regional.

    • What’s sad is they will be better than most of the teams in the supers, yet they are as bad as we see.
      We have been spoiled with teams who were balanced and competitive, on all fronts.
      The relative game of this year’s team just looks bad, compared to past teams.
      That doesn’t forgive the NCAA for the terrible seeding sitch. But that’s another discussion.

  81. 2
    1

    It seems like the Canham should have guys knocking down the door to come to OSU and add expertise as pitching coach.
    Kind of a Mark Banker situation to me, maybe the game is changing on Dorman and he isn’t adapting.
    Dorman as a minor league retread old friend with a little bit of history doesn’t seem to be the best way to build a pitching staff.

      • Washburn was slated to be the long relief midweek guy and he wanted to be a starter and that is why I transferred to Mississippi.
        He ended up in that same position at Mississippi, and ironically he would’ve been our Sunday guy when Frisch got hurt.

        • He also only lasted a year at Ole Miss before transferring to Texas Tech and got hurt before he even played a game

  82. 1
    1

    Have you all heard that Dunmore is no longer on the team? He cleaned out his locker and is back home. He’s not in the transfer portal at this time.

  83. Is there an issue with pitchers and the amount of arm injuries we’ve seen over the last 4-5 years?
    Is it common for all programs to lose key recruits to arm issues and never see them throw?
    Or lose guys for entire seasons and then they depart for the draft etc?

    Maybe Dorman has been dealt a poor hand of unexpected attrition among the pitching staff and to get to where they have the last few years is actually pretty good coaching to overcome the circumstances…? Maybe it isn’t as much about recruiting as it is bad luck with key arms?

    • Definitely been some bad luck but I think coaching has to fill those holes. I think arms all over the nation are having injury issues. But that has been a thing for like 20+ years. You often hear recruits having had Tommy Johns as a plus with the, “got it over already” saying. I don’t know if anyone really knows the true cause.

      • the cause is kids playing City Spring games, then travel club games, then doing camps, and basically playing all year round baseball. I had a cousin who played a lot more baseball than me, was better, but ended up having Tommy Johns surgery in college. He played in multiple baseball leagues for city and summer ball year in and year out.

        • Young athetes should be pushed to diversify their sports, even if they are spectacular in one.
          A well-rounded athlete should always be considered a better candidate to survive one or many increased seasonal workouts, because they have varied their workouts to include growth outside their specialty.

  84. It has always been tricky recruiting high caliber pitchers who get drafted and no show at the school they originally committed. I wonder if the NIL $$ is going to equalize those misses by some schools with deeper pockets and convince those kids to just go to school to mature rather than go into a minor league system and wash out.
    Do the Beavs have any NIL $ dedicated strictly to baseball program? May be a good idea.

    • Don’t know of any NIL focused on baseball but assume there’s something at least being discussed. I know Abel was dead set on being a Beav and then got drafted early in 1st round and that changed everything. We’ve probably recruited too well in last several years with regards to starting pitching which has left us shorthanded because our top guys are signing pro contracts.

    • I thought this too.
      An ace is apparently something rare.
      I’d go the old Dodger route of pitching and small ball, in terms of priority, if that’s the future. Five-tool players can shine with that kind of backdrop.

  85. 3
    23

    Year 3 of Mitch and the same problems keep presenting themselves. It’s time for him to be on the hot seat. His teams are not performing up to Beaver baseball standards. Either we need to be making consistent appearances in Omaha, or, at a minimum, be winning conference titles. I’ll get hate on here, but you see great sports teams always have great expectations, and act accordingly if they aren’t met. If we don’t, at a minimum, win the conference next year or make it to Omaha. FIRE MITCH!!!!!

    • 5
      3

      I would fire Dorman before firing Mitch. Pitching is the problem. The analytics and shifting needs to go out of the window and go by feel, flow of the game, and scouting reports based on hitters’ tendencies. Pat Casey coached teams seemed to have always been in the right position to field grounders by remaining in double play depth with a runner on 1st or bases loaded situation. Mitch seems to put the shift on in those situations and it doesn’t make sense to me.

  86. 1
    1

    Football players getting offered $500 each to appear in the new EA Sports NCAA game. Some group called the College Football Players Association is urging players not to take it because NFL players get approximately $20k for being in Madden.

    This was never going to be easy because the economics aren’t great for EA. NCAA games don’t sell nearly as well as Madden and they have more players to pay (plus they have all the other license fees to pay for schools, conferences, etc.)

    • It’s dumb not to take the $500 to get your NIL into a video game that will be seen by millions. EA will just put in a generic/unnamed player in the game if a player doesn’t accept the deal.

      • As a longtime player and fan of the NCAA Football game, I have no idea why EA even bothers to put in real players. Noone plays that game for that. Current uniforms and playbooks are much more important.

        • They should just have a function where the user could edit all that info, if they really wanted to nerd out about it.
          Build your teams and archive them.

    • Interesting point about the licensing fees. Put together with the 42.5k the players get, maybe the players get the lion’s share?

  87. 2
    1

    Baseball team going out in regionals wasn’t a surprise. Offensively, they just weren’t quite right after the first win over SHSU. Pitching remained a major problem and Mitch needs to bring in 3-4 pitchers in the portal. Starting rotation for 2024 for me looks like Hunter-Jimenez-Kmatz/Keljo. Not a real Friday night guy. They need to find that in the portal. Offense will be as good as any in college baseball, can’t afford to allow pitching to hold them back again.

    Gavin Turley is the most gifted hitter to ever show up in Corvallis. He struggled adjusting in conference play but figured it out late and still had probably the best freshman season ever for a hitter in program history. He’ll be in the conversation for national player of the year next year. Assuming Kasper and McDowell return, a lineup of Turley, Bazzana, Guerra, Kasper, McDowell and Kane will be a monster. I think Jacob Krieg takes over for Forrester at 1B, Trosky will push Dernedde for starting SS spot and Tyce Peterson to push for time. The only issue offensively is the catching situation. Smith/Weber aren’t particularly strong behind the plate and offensively are really poor. Mitch needs to upgrade on that.

    Successful season overall but next year Omaha should be the expectation and they need to get some quality arms to make that happen.

    • They found their Friday night starter in the portal this year and that didn’t really work out. They need to find starting pitching but I don’t trust that a really good Friday worthy guy of a team that is trying to make a deep run in the post season will choose the Beavs (top 15 program but not going to fork out the money it would take). You will get a fringe Saturday guy/Sunday in my opinion. I would love to be wrong.

      • I don’t trust that a really good Friday worthy guy of a team that is trying to make a deep run in the post season will choose the Beavs

        LSU head coach, in discussing his pitching coach accepting the HC job at Georgia, said, “”I think the preparation and the execution with the pitching staff this weekend speaks for itself,” … “But this is also a development-based business.”

        I haven’t checked the LSU use of the portal for pitchers, but the statement seems to support your view.

        • LSUs pitcher vs Tulane, Paul Skenes, was a transfer from Air Force. He was their Friday night guy this spring. The Tulane game was the only game I watch him play in, but he looked pretty damned good.

    • 1
      1

      Is Mundt ever coming back?

      And I agree, especially considering the lack of quality pinching, going deep in a regional was a pretty good outcome.

    • 8
      1

      Jacob Krieg has some big shoes to fill if he takes over from Forrester. I think #44’s fielding ability is an overlooked factor in his play, we’ll miss him. He turned some poor throws into outs at first.

    • 2
      1

      I said the same about Smith over the weekend while thinking about our recent history. Logan is playing with the Hops right now and Adley is single-handedly changing a franchise. Having a catcher who’s a game manager can really captain a ship. Canham should know that better than most. But maybe he’s just not relinquishing that role as a coach or maybe he needs to learn how to build and promote within. Either way, it’s hard to miss the magic we had recently.

      https://www.espn.co.uk/video/clip/_/id/37813033

    • Appreciate the enthusiasm but let’s pump the brakes on Turley a little. Best freshman season ever? Off the top of my head, Madrigal and Conforto were much more productive as freshman. I’m sure there are others. He has the potential to be very good, maybe great, but has a lot of work to do to get there.

      • Madrigal had a very good freshman season but really wasn’t all that close to Turley. Turley had an OBP 58 points higher, an OPS 265 points higher and that’s with some adjusting to pac-12 pitching that led to struggling for a while. His 1.102 OPS was 121 points higher than Madrigal’s best season. Turley had an OPS 64 points higher than Conforto’s and had a higher OBP. Conforto had a bunch of RBIs but that can be a little lucky. Turley had some struggles for sure but it really can’t be argued that there was another freshman more productive as a whole for Oregon State

  88. I watched a couple innings of the Kentucky/Indiana bb game. I don’t know which coach was being interviewed but he said they had chosen not to use the portal – wanted to recruit their own players, coach them up, build camaraderie and loyalty.

    • 2
      12

      Yes! As long as Oregon is losing Beaver Nation is good. Grow up. My god that school owns you, no matter what the sport is. I get why they call you “little brother.” Both schools have programs that are awesome. Come this fall how cool would it be for Oregon and Oregon State to be playing for the Pac-12 title. Well, I guess I need to “dumb it down” for you. How awesome would it be if “Hole” and Oregon State squared off?

      • 8
        1

        Duck High fan speaks.
        Little brother is the issue. The least granted school in the Pac, by far, and our younger and smaller sibling, and we’re little?
        The only think more stupid is that school thinking it’s in some way a flagship school.
        That being said, with the SEC setting up the tourney to essentially guarantee themselves at least two CWS spots, I hope the Ducks make it, as well. They’re not good enough to win it all, but conference respect is necessary, right now. And having the 6th Place team from our conference make it would help.

      • 2
        1

        Hi Tom. Remember that your parents love you very much, even if they don’t show it.

        Anyways, Oregon’s 0-1 in Super Regionals. Last time they faced Kent State, who was also the hottest team in D1, and lost at home.

        Also, you’re correct. I would gladly enjoy seeing Oregon go 0-12 every year. Same with Washington. They’re rivals.

  89. 4
    3

    The Big12 is expanding it’s footprint by trying to play neutral site MBB/WBB/Soccer and a bowl game in Mexico in the near future.
    F that. Think of the security nightmare it must be bringing to full football team, their staff/families as well as traveling fanbases into Mexico. Yay, you may pick up some new fans temporarily. How long till somebody gets kidnapped and held for ransom?

    • https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2023-06-08/ucla-usc-football-opponents-big-ten-conference
      “As expected, the Trojans and Bruins will log plenty of frequent flier miles. Excluding its trip to the Rose Bowl, USC’s four other conference road games in 2024 will require trips of more than 2,000 miles. UCLA’s closest road conference game that season will be in Iowa City, Iowa, some 1,796 miles from Los Angeles. The Bruins will also schlep roughly 2,751 miles to face Rutgers after having flown to Hawaii for a nonconference game. They might want to budget for a jet lag specialist.

      No Big Ten team will have to make two trips to Los Angeles in a season as part of the schedules released for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.”

      • There is a cost after all for the deserters. I wonder how long until the recruits realize they have better opportunities without the miles and transfer out of UCLA…
        This all has been covered as if USC and UCLA have been the top of the PAC12 conference for years. Neither team been dominant in “the lowly PAC12” how do they think they will just drop into the BIG10 and win? I don’t think the middle of the BIG10 is any better or worse than the middle of the PAC12 but when you add the travel in, they will be changing time zones for all conference road games and those same teams will view there trip out to the west coast as a novelty without the same jet lag going east. I think neither school will be much better than Iowa/Wisc and more likely they will finish with about 9 wins on a year to year basis as the goal.
        Mighty USC has made the Faustian deal that will diminish their brand, put them at am inherit disadvantage, and the numbers game will not be in their favor without conference divisions.
        Serves them right. Grass isn’t always greener and the cash isn’t always worth the price.

        • Both deals, university personnel,, how many, how high up, how so secretive, reek. Then, the guy who orchestrated the deals departs.

    • 1
      2

      I’ve been to multiple concerts at MKA. And ALL of them sounded terrible. Even though I’ve seen the same bands at other places and it sounded great.

      It’s the venue. I will never go to another concert there for this reason. You’ve been warned.

      Also heard from multiple friends that Tool sucks live and they would never pay to see them in concert again.

      I have no firsthand knowledge of this as I’ve never seen them in concert.

      • 1
        1

        Can confirm.
        Straight on is shit noise, and the sightlines suck from the sides.
        But I got a bucket list show with Elton John, if I had to suffer through the other shows.
        I want my Cirque du Soleil money back, it was that bad.

      • I saw the Foo Fighters at MK and our seats were shit, up high and off to the side. It sounded good, but it was so fucking loud that I was seriously worried about hearing loss. And I saw Slayer and Testament at the Salem Armory in 1990, worked the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, and played guitar in a thousand live thrash metal and punk rock shows. Never stopped and went, fuck I think this is damaging my hearing until that night.

        The only negatives I’ve ever heard about Tool live is that MJK isn’t a front man like David Lee Roth. Everything I’ve ever heard about the musical performance has been glowing, and this is from musicians I respect.

        • I think you are correct. the main gripe was he just stood there and did nothing. Didn’t attempt to get the crowd into it. Boring was the word IIR.. Wasn’t that they sounded bad. Just were boring. But, to each their own. You mention DLR and not everyone can or wants to be like him.

          Either way, have fun and enjoy the show!

    • Heck yeah buddy! It will not disappoint! I saw them there in 2014 and 2022. 2022 had much better sound and visuals. You won’t find many smaller venues on any tour Tool does, so it will be a real intimate experience.

      Just like any concert, location is key. The floor will be killer. The closer to the stage, the better view of the band, closer to the sound board you’ll get better sound. I have been impressed with MKA. Not a fan of the ducks but its a great venue to see a concert closer than you would at Moda.

      I saw APC there and had floor seats, that was a fun time!

      I’ll be above you in section 107. I wouldn’t listen to anyone who says Tool sucks live lol. There is a reason they sell out in mere minutes. You and your boys are gonna have a blast!

  90. Madrigal and Conforto were both Pac-12 Freshman of the year and on national all American teams.

    Conforto lead the pac 12 in HR and rbi in conf play. His bunch of rbi set an OSU season record.

    Turley batted .164 with 1 HR and 3 rbi playing in only 18/30 games. He struggled mightly once conf play started. To even think he’s on the same level as those two is insane.

  91. 5
    8

    It makes me sick that whoregon will make it to the College World Series. I wonder if now with unlimited financial resources and NIL if they can be stopped. Now all of a sudden their fans are supporting the baseball program with no knowledge of college baseball. A house built on cards. They luck themselves into everything with success.

  92. 6
    3

    Unfortunately, Oral Roberts imploded and blew an 8-0 lead. The Ducks tied it and now threatening in the bottom of the ninth. I would prefer not to see Nikegon in the CWS.

  93. 3
    1

    Speaking of Louisiana and baseball, did you guys see this story about Cameron Robbins? Apparently an 18 year old baseball “star” (not sure if he was recruited, etc), who jumped off a cruise ship on a dare. Really bizarre and worth looking into. I hate that mindset of machismo meatheads chiding a “friend” on to do something really stupid and obviously life threatening.

    • He jumped off a pirate frigate, which isn’t that big a leap. and the water is no more than about 15 feet in that area. He was swimming, then he just disappeared. It’s most likely he panicked and drowned, and the current took him.
      However, there is a shelf that drops off several thousand feet just a couple miles north, and with the report of giant squid in the Gulf a couple years ago, I’m surprised nobody posits that possibility.

  94. 5
    15

    If hole ends up winning it all in college baseball, it will really hurt OSU especially in recruiting. The primary edge that the Beavs have over that team down south is National Championships. Whoregon has better facilities, better brand, image, more money, and the media darlings of every major network and media outlet. They don’t need more exposure and hype. What sets OSU apart from the charlatans is they won it all three times, against all odds. Let’s not forget that the only reason they reinstated their baseball team after a 30+ year absence is because OSU won back to back championships! They one sport we have over them is baseball, it needs to stay that way.

    • 5
      7

      The crotchety old yes men on this site are downvoting you, but everything you said is correct. We better hope ORU can finish.

      • I thought you were done with OSU.
        What happened?
        And UO making it to the CWS helps us.
        Not sure what reality you live in. They’re not good enough to win it all, but it’s not like they won’t be able to buy more players next year.

    • 11
      5

      I fully expect Oregon (and others) to pass us sometime during the Miiitch regime. We shall see. I’ll actually be really surprised if he can maintain our prestige. It’s been very slowly declining.

      • 2
        2

        As I read the Beaver Twitter feed tallying end of the season accolades, I can’t help but think of my wrestling coach’s old adage, “Ties are like kissing your sister. It’s nice but doesn’t mean much.”

        Beavs still have one thing – loyal fans. That said, I remember sitting in Goss in the early 2000s, watching Jacoby Ellsbury and wondering where were the fans? Pretty much it was just my wife and I and player parents Winning the CWS in 2006 turned the tide. And one wonders if 2023 is the Yuck’s launching point.

        One thing is for sure, Beqver pitching has been mediocre since Yetskie left. Where are the dominating ptchers like Luke Heimlich, Kevin Able, Andrew Moore, …? Pitching has “Flashes of Glory” one week, then can’t find home plate the next. It tells me, the mental training/conditioning is absent. Here’s more Beaver lore… Greg Warburton provided mental training for many Beaver pitchers during the Casey era, including the 2006, 2007, and 2018 CWS runs. You would think, hmmm… why screw with success? But I guess it’s just like the return to small ball. It has to hurt sooo much before peeps are willing to consider change.

      • I was talking to a former OSU player from early in the Pat Casey era. He says he’s in close touch with a lot of guys who played then and they are very frustrated and worried. First, they think UO has a superior coach. Secondly, UO has the kind of scrappy do or die players that Casey used to get but the OSU squad is now made up of –and this was his key point and a direct quote–“a lot of prima donnas.”

      • How soon we forget that pre 2013 people were talking about the program being in decline after Barney and Canham were drafted. From 2008-2012 the Beavers hosted 1 regional, missed the postseason once and only advanced out of a regional one time. Then over the next 6 years they made the CWS 3 times, won two titles and were a top 8 seed 4 times.

        Mitch and his staff came into a program that was light on hitting and starting pitching as there was a little dip in incoming talent Casey’s last year and the following year and significantly upgraded the talent offensively immensely with a loaded lineup for 2024 and signed his best recruiting class on the mound by a lot. 1 is a top 100 prospect but they all should show up outside of that one. Dorman has to develop them but talent wise, they’re set up for the next 2-3 years to win big. The doom and gloom is a little dramatic

    • You’re confusing their brand of Football, Basketball, and Track & Field while including Baseball in there. Their baseball brand is still new and haven’t made it to Omaha since they started. Also, how many recruits has Oregon and Oregon State competed against for those kids’ commitment? I would venture not many recruits have been recruited by both teams. I could be wrong since I don’t really follow baseball recruiting.

    • I don’t think UO has a better ballpark. I was in Eugene a several weeks back, they had a home series, but there wasn’t many fans in it when I happened by their ballpark.

      I think Goss is a much nicer setting. UO’s ballpark looks like it was just kind of shoehorned into some vacant space, and it doesn’t have any special design to my eye like their track facility does.

      • They put the baseball stadium in the middle of Shakedown Street.
        It’s not a bad facility. Some of the sightlines down 3rd are a bit poor in the left field corner, but it’s okay.

  95. Wow. Stanford just Coug’d it against Texas. Up 5-2 going into the 9th inning, they gave up 4 walks (including an intentional walk), 1 HBP, just 1 hit, plus a dropped ball by the CF to lose 7-5.

  96. 10

    This is a horrible day for Beaver Baseball. I hope this isn’t the beginning of the end of Beaver baseball dominance in the PAC-12, I hope the pendulum hasn’t now shifted to the team down south. Money is the most important factor no matter which sport it seems.

  97. 3
    4

    Florida and TCU both advanced to the CWS today.

    LSU absolutely buttfucked Kentucky 14-0. That might be a pretty good team the Beavs lost to in Baton Rouge.

          • You sound like a good Catholic boy. Alter boy is my bet. Father Johnson’s favorite pupil.

            You go to Norte Dame or Penn State.

            You guys gotta sickness.

            Keep Portland Weird,

          • babble-fest, over here
            Pat Robertson will no longer be able to take his private jet to check on his diamond mines in Africa.
            Woe is the world.
            It’s the Gays’ fault, because Disney World survived Hurricane Andrew.
            Lord bless us! Cracker Barrell has fallen.

          • I do have to ask:
            Why do you think talking about one corrupt human construct deflects from another equally corrupt human construct?
            Do you think if you talk about one, the other one disappears, like peek-a-boo?
            Your babble just makes no sense.

          • It’s called technical virginity, and it’s been reported several times over the years, most recently during the “abstinence only” pledge drive.
            The reports were always skewed, because the samples were always among religious teens. So someone did an actual study and found it’s somewhat a normal thing among all teens equally, not just the religious ones. They also found out it’s mostly done as a way of ensuring not getting pregnant, and not really a “keep one’s virginity” thing.

  98. The back of the bullpens for both of these teams in Eugene are tough to watch. Oregon walked in 3 or 4 ayraight 9th inning runs and would have walked another but the ORU batter tried swingimg at junk for no reason.
    Main problem with college baseball is too many teams and not enough arms to go around.

  99. Virginia, Wake Forest, ORU and LSU joined Florida and TCU as CWS participants.

    Stanford needs to win tonight and tomorrow.

    Tennessee and Southern Miss will play game 3 tomorrow.

  100. 4
    1

    On to football…
    Keys for OSU success come down to
    1) upgraded qb play by BG or DJU
    2) replace cornerbacks and settle the secondary
    3) find at least 1 wr to replace Harrison/Lindsey
    4) improved pass rush from Dline
    5) a kicker that is reliable from 45 yards
    6) excellent Oline play and running backs must be a given
    7) new linebackers who don’t miss tackles
    8) Smith and Lindgren accepting that this team is a running team and call games accordingly

    This is my list in order of importance. The last Rose Bowl is there for the taking and the schedule sets up great for a real shot at it.

    • Don’t forget the main key to the season: Has Smitty cured his gambling obsession?

      Really need improvement with in game decision making to truly be elite. When the gamble pays off he gets praise and when it doesn’t it’s just defended by analytics pushing hacks.

      I only see two potential losses UW and Utah the rest I expect we win easily.

      Loving DJU as a person. As a player, many Clemson fans seem to hate him but this environment bodes well for him.

  101. 12

    To keep things in perspective with the trajectory of the baseball program LSU is making their 7th trip to the CWS in the last 20 years. A program with every built in advantage you can imagine is ahead of of OSU by 1 in CWS appearances in the last 20 years.

  102. Beavs will need to take advantage of their blue blood status and land a few difference makers from the transfer portal. Pick off good players from smaller programs or the BIG10 where they have little chance of getting to Omaha. Can’t sit on the status quo

    Need to find a Fri night starter and a more capable Saturday guy. Kmatz seems destined for the Sunday spot next year. Rest of the returning guys are more suitable for relief or weekday starts.

  103. 11
    1

    I have to giggle at Kentucky fans griping about umps in Baton Rouge.
    What do you mean that was foul?
    What do mean that was a strike?
    I guess it was their first time.

    • He pitches real similar to Hjerpe he present himself a bit more cocky and verbal as a team leader. Hjerpe had some of the same traits but Matthews has an it factor and the whole Stanford team seems to rally around it.
      Hopefully he doesn’t need tommy John surgery by the end of the month…

  104. 5
    1

    FTD! Two high school buddies played collegiately at Oral Roberts, so I was very glad to see them beat the hated quacks!

    • 12
      3

      Sweet! What time are the ducks playing in the CWS? I’ve had a change of heart and want to watch them represent the PAC and bring home the NATTY!!!!

      • They play Wake first, I believe.
        So they will likely have to play a lot of elimination games, to get a rematch.
        I would be shocked if they won the first game.

      • It was a crazy series of events. Before the pop up, Rios hit a double off the left field wall with 2 outs, but he thought it went over and started celebrating as he rounded first. He almost got tagged out at second which would have ended the inning. It was his run that scored on the botched pop-up.

    • Glad Stanford won but the way they played last night was not deserving of a trip to Omaha. All I could think of was Angrys head exploding if that was Canham coaching this team instead of Esquer. Just mistake after mistake. Stanford should have easily won that game by 3 or 4 runs instead you need Texas to lose a pop up in the lights to advance.

  105. EJ Caminong #1 QB in Washington Decommits from UW and is opening his recruitment back up. Oregon State, Texas A&M, CAL, and BYU are all possibilities.

    • I like his film. I always wanted a gritty QB who was a good college QB, like a Kellen Moore or Dan Lefevour. He reminds me a lot of Lefevour.

    • Visited OSU a couple weeks back and aTm this past weekend. Given the timing, seems this recommitment is more related to the more recent visit than the OSU visit, but who knows. I’m not too concerned with QB recruiting this season since it feels like we have the future already locked down with Chiles. Always need depth, of course, but can’t imagine it will be easy to bring in a blue chip QB this season when they see what’s ahead of them on the roster.

        • Did he not have a tweet about an hour before his commitment that said “recruitment still open”? I know one of the 2 wr that committed did. Seemed interesting to post that then commit an hour later.

    • Doesn’t Smith like his commits to shutdown their recruitment once they commit? Maybe something to do with that and the guy taking another visit.

      • I like that theory.

        Smith: “I hear you’re checking out Purdue. They have a good football team, you should join it. The way things are looking now, you’d have a better chance of seeing the field there. I wish you luck.”

  106. Really need to find a new word to replace the noun and verb form of “commit” when it comes to college football. And I could see schools looking to make the “verbal” somewhat binding, at least until NLI day – or maybe that’s what the NIL deals are for, to get something signed – make the contract enforceable with penalties for “early withdrawl.”

    • It’s probably more pronounced in basketball where the money doesn’t get spread around as much as football and no one cares about Beaver basketball.

      • OSU Athletic Department isn’t “behind the times.” They fully understand NIL. The money isn’t there. “No one cares about Beaver basketball” because it isn’t successful. No success, no NIL money, no good players interested.

        • I also wonder how Tinkle would handle a player making six figures – my guess is the kid would STILL end up bolting at the end of the year. And I also guess Shelton has a new gig already lined up.

    • He’s smart, tinkle is on his last leg. I’m going to guess tinkle gets fired mid way through season. At least there was the elite 8 run

    • Strong reaction from Barnes. Good! Thank you Tim Shelton. An AD dept that tries to be as bland as possible had to actually say something. I don’t have a link – heard it on the radio.

    • 1
      1

      They should have just scrapped the Pac 12 network entirely and let Apple handle the whole thing, then also sell that product to interested networks.

      I’ve never used Apple streaming but if it’s similar to others at $15ish/month with access to all games that’s pretty attractive.

          • Have you seen their MLS coverage?
            They put ESPN to shame. Then again, ESPN puts ESPN to shame on most sports, with what they think are clever quips and talking about just about anything but the game they’re watching. But they’re not nearly as bad as Fox, who can’t be bothered to know where they are, half the time.

          • i want to be able to tune into a game and know that it will be on the same channel throughout the entire game.
            How many times have we been at watch parties where the game starts on ESPNU, the flips to ESPN360 for 20 minutes, and then back on over to ESPN2 to finish the game?
            And if you don’t have access to all 3 of those channel options, the watch party is toast.

            F that. I’ll take Apple streaming online any day over ESPN for my sports.
            Or Amazon, or Peacock, I don’t care. Just keep it simple and have 1 streaming partner so everybody who wants to can watch the games.

            Oh yeah, and also cut down on the commentary budget and re-allocate that budget to improving End Zone replay camera angles.

          • I feel that. They should just air the game without commentators, unless people want to pay more to listen to Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit.

            @Jack, I saw the Whitecaps play on Apple sometime in April. Not quite as good as Sky Sports but it is light years better than ESPN/ABC.

      • It sort of sounds like that’s what’s happening.
        If I can get the espn and fox channels through the apple subscription, then it’s all good.
        Otherwise, I have to add fubo or YTTV for a day or two here and there.

        • Should say… if this is anywhere close to reality.
          It sounds like what we’ve heard they were chasing, but I’m skeptical of anything not said by the Commish, at this point.

    • It’s coming from a Beaver fan, although this one doesn’t typically float garbage out there to get attention, so maybe he has connections?
      Still, I don’t understand why either party would settle on a 3 year deal, unless it’s just testing the waters of streaming (pun intended) and gives both parties a chance to reset soon. But 3 years is so soon that all of this media deal back and forth by fans won’t stop.

  107. 1
    1

    Seven baseball players have entered the portal, among them are pitchers Quinn, Grewe, Thorsteinson, and Boisvert.
    As reported by the big O.
    An opportunity for Dorman or a sign of problems??

    • I’ve heard with the incoming freshmen class we are way above the roster threshold. Wouldn’t be surprised if there are more transfers as well some of the new commits not coming in the fall due to lack of roster spots. Would be nice if we could get some plug and play guys out of the transfer portal.

    • Nothing personal and I wish those 4 the best of luck……

      I didn’t see anything from them this season that was overly impressive. Good luck to them wherever they land.

      Yes, opportunity knocks. Not only for the coaching staff but for any potential transfers and incoming players.

      Have to wait and see what happens in the draft and who shows up for fall ball.

      • Totally agree on the pitchers. Opportunity to make an upgrade. I remember the days when freshman pictures actually contributed to the success of the team. This is still a big name brand product and they should be able to snag some high end transfers.

    • 1
      2

      They all had a fair opportunity over at least two years. Good side, the worst ERAs are leaving. Bad side, you’d figure Dorman would develop one of them into a contributor.

      Kennel is the big loss. He was stuck behind some good ones and some real good ones are coming in if they pass on the pros.

      Canham should act fast in the portal to fill in holes.

      • 1
        1

        Quinn is disappointing as he was highly rated, throws hard, and seems to have potential. Development just wasn’t there, I guess. We can wonder why.

        • TJ Wheeler, Braden Boisvert, Victor Quinn, thorsteinson, David grewe, kennel, Burke and then David case and Aiden Dougherty at the beginning of the fall. Losing sellers and ferrer with the definite possibility of losing Forrester, brown, McDowell, Kasper and Kane. Gotta hope Trosky is healthy and I’m interested in seeing if Reed can be healthy and what he might be able to do. Little curious about Wheeler leaving, especially if Forrester leaves. Think Krieg might’ve been the only other person to play 1st.

          We need to make some hay in the xfer portal regardless if the incoming kids are highly rated. Less worried about the position spots and more so the pitching. No Friday guy. Tenured pitchers coming off injuries Mundt (wouldn’t be surprised if doesn’t see the field anymore being nearly 2 years injured), Hunter and Kmatz. Jimenez by far seemed like the most consistent out of the freshman pitchers and could see him playing a huge role for sure. If brown leaves, I’d suggest Larsen, lattery or Lawson to take that role. All 3 had good stuff for 1 inning but fell apart after 30 pitches. All 3 are listed juniors so at this point I think what you see is what you get.

    • Also, assuming roster size limits return to 35 from the post Covid 40, that’s some additional space we have to make. Good players are going to be squeezed out.

    • 2
      3

      Selling but I could definitely see a better season than last year. Our kicking game isn’t good enough…still puts us in awkward positions instead of putting points in the board. WR could be interesting as well. Bolden is fantastic but there’s definitely going to be new faces in the rotation and how do they all mesh with the QB room. I do believe they are on the cusp though and wouldn’t be surprised if they did make the playoff but there are some definite unknown as well…including the corner positions. Skylar Thomas feels like a big loss in that secondary.

    • If you think CFP playoffs, you have to assume one loss, maybe two depending on if the rest of the top field has two.

      So where is/are the the most likely1-2 losses?

      Home field HAS been an advantage these past two seasons, and Utah, UCLA, UW are at home. I feel like an earlier season Utah loss is most likely because the secondary and qb/wr connections may not come around until later.

      @ UO is obviously a potential challenge, but i actually don’t worry about that game as much as Utah and UW.

      I’m most concerned about secondary qb/wr and kicker coming together a little too late, resulting in a an earlier loss they should have won, and being a team late in the season others are glad they avoided…

    • Buying for many reasons. The Offense has the weapons at QB; whether its DJU or Ben G. The WR/TE/RB passing game will be more prevalent this season with drop down passes. Our run game is the strongest in the Pac-12. We won’t need a kicking game if we score TD’s and rarely kick FG’s. Also, the going for it on 4th downs have been decreasing year over year.

      Cam Rising is coming back from injury still, Beavs play in Boulder. So the altitude is the only concern for me. @Wazzu is a trap game since we play them the week before Utah on a short week. Beavs own Cal and Arizona could go either way, but I don’t see them beating us after a BYE.

      UW and Civil War back to back weeks could be a 1-1 split or 2-0. I don’t see us losing both games.

      So the 2 games I see Beavs losing is Wazzu and/or UW OR Civil War. I don’t see Beavs losing to Chip Kelly’s UCLA.

    • 1
      1

      Selling. We’ll split the last two games of the season and lose another game earlier in the season (Arizona, Washington State or Utah). Too many questions in the secondary.

      Two conference losses might be good enough to get to the conference championship game but we would miss the CFP.

    • The biggest test is the beginning of the season.
      Brennan has a decent team, so if we dink around and don’t just grade their D, to begin the season, we could be nervous at halftime. SDSU is also no slouch, and should not be overlooked for the next week, at Wazzu… or the short week to follow, before Utah.
      If we get to Cal with no losses, my expectations change.

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