Late rally propels Ducks to Pac-12 tourney win over California

Oregon scores two runs in the bottom of the eighth to defeat California 3-2 in its first game of the Pac-12 tournament.

It was just a matter of time before the Oregon bats would break through.

Thankfully for the Ducks’ sake, they broke through just in time.

Oregon scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to defeat California 3-2 in its first game of the Pac-12 tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz. Tuesday night.

With the Pool A win, the Ducks are scheduled to play the conference’s regular season champion Stanford Thursday night.

Down 2-1 for most of the night, the Ducks finally capitalized on a rally. Sabin Caballos began the eighth inning with a single and after Bryce Boettcher came in to run for him, Tanner Smith doubled to right-center that was just beyond the glove of Cal’s Kade Kretzschmar to put runners on second and third.

Now Oregon was in this position four times before this, but couldn’t come up with the big hit.

This time the Ducks came through.

Drew Smith’s grounder was just enough to score Boettcher to tie the game and Jacob Walsh’s sacrifice fly scored Smith for the eventual game-winning run.

Closer Josh Mollerus came in the ninth and earned the save with a game-ending double play. California left its best hitter, Max Handron, on deck.

Handron led the game off with a 430-foot triple that went off the center field wall. When he crushed that first pitch, a 3-2 game was the last thing on anyone’s mind.

But Oregon used its six pitchers to perfection and held the Bears to just two runs on six hits and scoreless for the final seven innings of play.

The win was also Oregon’s first-ever victory of the conference tournament, which came into existence last season. The Ducks lost two straight and were bounced out early.

Now Oregon has a chance to make some noise should they upset the No. 1-seeded Cardinal Thursday night.

Social media reacts to Oklahoma’s win over California, sweep of Norman Regional

The Oklahoma Sooners launched six home runs to beat the California Golden Bears and social media reacted accordingly.

The Oklahoma Sooners steamrolled through the Norman Regional with an impressive 16-3 win over the California Golden Bears on Sunday afternoon to advance to the super regional round of the NCAA tournament.

Oklahoma mashed six home runs, including a pair each from Tiare Jennings and Alyssa Brito.  It was another incredible performance by the back-to-back defending national championships.

The Sooners outscored Hofstra, Missouri, and California by a score of 38-3, capped off by their dominating performance of the Golden Bears on Sunday. Now they wait for the winner of Clemson vs. Auburn in the Clemson Regional.

Here’s how social media reacted to Oklahoma’s 16-3 win on Sunday.

Norman Regional schedule and weekend primer: Oklahoma vs. California set for Sunday afternoon

Norman Regional Softball 2023 Schedule, weekend preview. Can anyone dethrone a loaded Oklahoma team in the regional?

Oklahoma continued their hot start to the NCAA tournament with an 11-0 win over Missouri. The Sooners kept their former Big 12 foe and future SEC league mate at bay with some stellar pitching from Jordy Bahl.

The bats didn’t take long to come to life as Oklahoma scored in the first and the third to jump out to an early 5-0 lead.

Missouri didn’t have an answer, striking out seven times and reaching base twice.

California defeated the Missouri Tigers to advance to Sunday’s matchup with Oklahoma.

Top-seeded Oklahoma Sooners learn opponents for Norman Regional

During the NCAA tournament selection show on ESPN, the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners learned who they’ll be facing in the Norman Regional.

The Oklahoma Sooners begin their quest for a three-peat this week and now know their opponents for the first round of the NCAA tournament.

As revealed in the NCAA Tournament selection show on ESPN, the Sooners will host Cal, Missouri and Hofstra in the regional round of the NCAA tournament.

Not surprisingly, the Sooners are the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. The back-to-back national champions are riding a 43-game winning streak and haven’t lost since February. The Sooners are making their 29th consecutive NCAA appearance and have advanced to the Women’s College World Series in six straight seasons.

Joining them in Norman are the California Golden Bears, who went 33-19-1 in 2023, but just 9-14-1 in Pac-12 play. Notably, they won series over Arizona, Arizona State and Utah and picked up wins over Iowa and Texas Tech in nonconference play.

The Missouri Tigers return to Norman after going 34-24 and 7-17 in SEC play, finishing in last place during the conference’s regular season.

Hofstra joins the field after winning the CAA tournament title. It was 29-25 during the season and went 16-7 in conference play. The Pride went 8-1 in their final nine games, including 5-1 in the CAA double-elimination tournament.

The Sooners are the overwhelming favorite to advance out of the Norman Regional, which will begin play Friday May, 19. The Sooners open the series against Hofstra at 4 p.m. CT on ESPNU followed by Missouri and California. The winners will meet in the first game of Saturday’s triple-header.

The winner of the Norman Regional will face the winner of the Clemson Regional, hosted by the No. 16 Clemson Tigers.

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Texas Tech transfer Jaylon Tyson commits to Cal

The California Golden Bears and head coach Mark Madsen picked up a commitment from a Big 12 standout this past season

Texas Tech transfer guard Jaylon Tyson has found his next destination. It will be the third school for Tyson who originally signed with Texas out of John Paul II in Plano, Texas. He announced his decision via Instagram on Monday.

After playing in just eight games in his first college season with Texas, averaging 1.8 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 0.4 assists; Tatum had a much better year in 2022-23 with Texas Tech, averaging 10.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists over 31 games.

He’ll join a Cal Golden Bears program that was one of the worst Power Six programs in the country this past season. The Bears went just 3-29 including 2-18 in Pac-12 play.

Notably, because Tatum has already transferred once in his collegiate career, he’ll have to apply to the NCAA for a waiver in order to be immediately eligible next season for the Golden Bears.

Since last making the tournament last in 2015-2016, the Golden Bears have consistently struggled, failing to win more than 10 games in four of the last six seasons. Prior to their poor last six seasons, the program didn’t fail to win less than 10 games since the 1987-1988 season.

This offseason, the university fired head coach Mark Fox and hired Utah Valley head coach Mark Madsen. Madsen is coming off a 28-9 season with the Utah Valley Wolverines of the Western Athletic Conference leading them to the NIT Semifinals. The former Stanford star and NBA role player led Utah Valley to two WAC regular-season championships and earned the WAC Coach of the Year honors this past season.

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Baseball recap: Ducks take 2 of 3 from Cal in the Bay Area

Oregon went down to the Bay Area and took two of three from California, including a 9-3 rout in the rubber game Sunday.

Although a sweep would have been nice, the Oregon Ducks baseball team has to be satisfied with its trip down to the Bay Area.

The Ducks were able to take two of three games from California, including a 9-3 rout in the rubber game of the series Sunday afternoon. With the win, Oregon improves to 26-11 overall and 11-6 in Pac-12 play.

Game 3 was tied 1-1 in the fourth inning, but the Ducks were able to grab the lead with a 2-run double from Bennett Thompson and then a fielding error later in the frame that scored the Oregon catcher for the 4-1 advantage.

Oregon blew the game wide open in the ninth with four runs on five hits, including a home run from Rikuu Nishida.

Matthew Grabmann was assigned his first Sunday start of the season and he came through nicely with four innings pitched, allowing just one run on four hits. Turner Spoljarik was credited with the win in relief.

The series opener was quite an exciting game that saw the Ducks take a 4-1 lead, only to watch the Bears tie it up late with three runs in the seventh. Fortunately for Oregon, the offense was able to muster up one run in the eighth and closer Josh Mollerus shut the door for the five-out save and the Ducks won 5-4. It was the seventh save for Mollerus.

Oregon had to rally itself in Game 2 to erase a 6-2 deficit. But the Bears responded late and took their only win of the series 8-6 on Saturday. Starter Logan Mercado, who shut down Stanford the week before, had a hard time of it against the Bears, going 3.1 innings and giving up six runs and walking five.

The series win also washed a bad taste in the team’s mouth from a disappointing 10-9 loss earlier in the week at Portland.

Oregon now returns home for a busy week that features five games in six days. The Ducks host Gonzaga for a quick two-game series beginning Tuesday before Arizona State comes to town for a weekend set.

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Mark Madsen hire proves one Pac-12 school wants to improve

Stanford failed to capitalize on the chance to hire famous alumni Mark Madsen as their next head coach, watching as rival Cal brought him in instead.

When the 2022-23 college basketball regular season ended, it seemed all but certain that multiple Pac-12 programs would move on from their current head coaches, yet only one – the California Golden Bears – actually did.

Stanford stuck with Jerod Haase despite years of mediocrity in Paolo Alto, while Oregon State is riding out the ill-fated extension for Wayne Tinkle and Washington isn’t ready to give up on Mike Hopkins despite another bad year in Seattle, and multiple hasty exits for players into the transfer portal.

Stanford’s decision remains the most questionable, especially since they had a very obvious candidate available for replacement in Mark Madsen – a beloved former player who also happened to coach Utah Valley to a 34-15 record in the last three seasons of conference play in the WAC.

Madsen instead inked a deal to replace Mark Fox at Cal, forcing Stanford fans to watch as one of the league’s most coveted mid-major coaches – and a fan favorite – starts his new career building up the program’s biggest rival.

Haase receive full confidence from Stanford’s AD after a season where the Cardinal went 14-19, bringing his overall record at Stanford to 112-109.

The team has done well recruiting, including landing Andrej Stojakovic for the 2023 class, but it hasn’t helped them climb out of the cellar in the Pac-12.

Programs like Oregon are impacted by the rest of the league failing to improve their basketball success, as it lowers the quality of competition and hurts resumes.

With UCLA and USC out the door after next season, it will be even more imperative for the bottom of the Pac-12 to improve on the hardwood – and failing to make obvious moves to improve the coaching staff is not going to keep this conference afloat even if they do add a solid basketball program like San Diego State.

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College basketball coaching carousel: Major programs with openings across the landscape

Breaking down the current job openings across college basketball and who could be on their way to fill them.

The annual NCAA Tournament is just a few days away from ‘Selection Sunday’ but that isn’t the only action going on across the college basketball landscape.

We are seeing plenty of openings for major programs. One program that has already filled their vacancy are the Syracuse Orange. On the same day it was announced that Hall of Fame head coach Jim Boeheim would step down, the school announced that Adrian Autry would take over.

Another notable name could be returning to college basketball as LSU Wire reports that Will Wade is closing in on a deal with McNeese. He was fired by the Tigers after it was revealed that he was hit with five Level I violations.

Thus far we have seen a total of six major programs in college basketball with vacancies yet to be filled. College Sports Wire breaks each one down along with who is seen as the top candidate.

California Golden Bears fire head basketball coach Mark Fox

There it is. It was expected, but now the #Pac12 MBB coaching carousel has officially started to spin. Will there be more changes?

The Pac-12 college basketball coaching carousel has officially started to spin. One job has just come open.

California fired Mark Fox on Thursday, in a widely-expected move which represents the first of what could be three dominoes to fall in the conference. There is plenty of speculation that Stanford could fire Jerod Haase as soon as Stanford is eliminated from the Pac-12 Tournament. Washington head coach Mike Hopkins is very much on the hot seat, with his future in question on Montlake, after the Huskies lost to Colorado in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament.

The Fox firing was reported by multiple sources. It comes as no surprise and is not a jolt to the industry. It does give Cal a chance to hit the reset button and find a leader who can jump-start what has become a moribund program in Berkeley.

Stay with us for more Pac-12 coaching carousel coverage.

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LSU gymnastics set to compete in River Center for quad meet

Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department. BATON ROUGE – The No. 6 LSU gymnastics team will face No. 7 California, No. 23 Washington and George Washington for a quad meet inside the Raising …

Editor’s Note: The following is an official press release courtesy of LSU’s athletics department.

BATON ROUGE – The No. 6 LSU gymnastics team will face No. 7 California, No. 23 Washington and George Washington for a quad meet inside the Raising Cane’s River Center in Baton Rouge on Friday, March 3, at 6 p.m. CT.

“I’ve been impressed with how our team has been true to our message and stayed on course this entire season,” said head coach Jay Clark. “They just keep climbing, and that has to be our continued message. We’re taking it one step at a time and only letting ourselves define us. It’ll be an entertaining podium meet on Friday and I hope our fans show up.”

Live stats of the meet will be available on meetscoresonline.com.

Tickets

Tickets for the Podium Challenge inside the Raising Cane’s River Center can be found on Ticketmaster and also through the River Center box office.

The Series Record

The Tigers own an overall record of 2-0-0 over California. This will be the first time the two meet away from the PMAC during the regular season.

Against Washington, the Tigers are 13-4-0 and 3-0-0 away from the PMAC. The last time the two teams met was in 2018.

LSU is undefeated against George Washington as they hold a 9-0-0 record over the Colonials and are 6-0-0 in the regular season. This will be the first meeting between the two since 2018.

Last Time On The Floor

LSU defeated No. 9 Alabama with a season high road score of 197.975-197.925 last Friday night in Coleman Coliseum.

It was a career night for the Tigers as the team posted a season high road score of 197.975 to take down the Crimson Tide. LSU won their fourth competition against the Crimson Tide in the team’s last five meetings inside Coleman Coliseum.

Junior Haleigh Bryant and sophomore Aleah Finnegan both recorded perfect scores to lead the Tigers to victory. The last time two gymnasts earned a perfect score in the same meet was in 2022, when Kiya Johnson and Haleigh Bryant both earned 10’s in the Tigers win over Auburn. It was the first time since 2019 two 10’s were recorded on the road.

Finnegan’s 10 on floor marked her fourth straight in as many meets, making her the only LSU gymnast to record such an accomplishment. The sophomore now owns two career perfect scores on floor and four in her career. Bryant moved her career total to seven on vault.

LSU began the competition on bars, scoring a 49.175 for the event. Sophomore Alexis Jeffrey led off with a 9.800 followed by junior Olivia Dunne who made her first appearance of the year for the Tigers, scoring a 9.825. Sophomore Tori Tatum earned a 9.875 in the third spot and senior Alyona Shchennikova added a 9.750. Bryant anchored with a team-high 9.925 to send the team to the second rotation.

Junior Elena Arenas hit a huge 9.925 routine to lead off on vault and earn a season high. Chase Brock scored a career high 9.975 in the third spot and freshman Bryce Wilson followed with a 9.875 in her first career appearance in the event. Finnegan added a 9.900 before Bryant anchored with her perfect ten, which was the seventh of her career. The Tigers put up a 49.675 on vault to tie for the second highest score in program history overall and on the road.

LSU led at the halfway point with a score of 98.850-98.650.

On floor, junior Sierra Ballard led off with a 9.850 followed by Jeffrey, who made her first appearance in the lineup for the Tigers and scored a 9.750. Brock continued her career night and earned a career high with her 9.925 performance. In the fifth spot, Finnegan had another perfect routine to mark her second on floor for the year and take the win. Bryant anchored with a 9.975 as the Tigers earned a 49.575 in the third rotation.

In the final rotation, Arenas continued to show poise for the Tigers and led off with a 9.850. In her first career appearance on beam, Jeffrey scored a 9.900. Junior Sierra Ballard recorded a career high score of a 9.925 and Bryant added a 9.900. Finnegan closed the night out with a 9.975 to help the Tigers match their season high beam score of 49.550.

Despite injury setbacks, the squad continued to climb as LSU battled for the win in Tuscaloosa.

Bryant’s career high all-around performance helped lead the Tigers to victory, as she scored a 39.800 and recorded her seventh win. After earning two titles against the Crimson Tide, she now owns 20 titles on the year; two on bars, three on beam, one on floor and seven on vault and the all-around.

Perfect Scores In 2023

Bryant earned the first perfect 10 in 2023 for the Tigers after her vault against Missouri. It was her sixth career perfect score; all of them being on vault. The junior tallied another perfect score on vault at Alabama, moving her career total to seven after her second 10.00 this year.

Finnegan has recorded four perfect scores in four consecutive weeks to find perfection in all of February. The sophomore’s first career perfect score came on floor against Georgia February 3rd, followed by a 10.00 on vault at Auburn. She found her first perfect score on beam and third in her career against the Gators. Most recently, Finnegan recorded her second perfect score on floor this year and fourth in her career last Friday at Alabama.

She will look to be the first gymnast in LSU history to earn a perfect score across all four events.

Conference Honors

The Tigers have notched three weekly conference honors in 2023. Bryant earned the first conference award for the Tigers this season as she was named SEC Co-Gymnast of the Week on January 24. Against Missouri, she earned a perfect 10.00 on vault and scores of 9.900+ on all four events.

The junior notched her second award on March 1 after her career high performance at Alabama, where she recorded her seventh career perfect 10.00 and a 39.800 in the all-around to help lead the Tigers to victory. She now owns three weekly conference honors in her career.

KJ Johnson earned her first honor as she was named SEC Specialist of the Week on February 7 for her performance against Georgia. The sophomore earned a 9.875 on vault and matched her career high on floor with a 9.950 against the Bulldogs.

The Squad

Bryant and Finnegan are expected to be mainstays in the all-around as the team prepares for their first quad-meet of the season. Arenas could also appear in the all-around for the Tigers.

An eight-time All-American, Bryant has embraced a larger role this season and has earned 20 titles in 2023, including six straight all-around titles. She owns seven career perfect 10’s on vault as her front handspring-front pike half is considered to be one of the best vaults in all of NCAA gymnastics.

Bryant has recorded season highs of 9.975 on floor, 9.950 on bars and beam, and matched her career high 10 on vault against Missouri and Alabama. She set a new career high against the Crimson Tide to become only the sixth gymnast in program history to record an all-around score of 39.800 or higher.

Finnegan competed in the all-around for the first time in the team’s season opener at Utah and now owns a career high score of 39.800 after her career night at Auburn. After recording four straight perfect 10’s in the Tigers last four meets, the sophomore now owns perfect scores on floor, vault, and beam and a career high of 9.925 on bars.

Arenas has been a consistent contender in the vault, bars and beam lineups. The junior from Athens, Georgia, won the SEC vault title in 2021 and owns a season-high score of 9.925 on the event. She also recorded a career high of 9.925 on beam at Kentucky and 9.900 on bars against Florida. In her first appearance on floor this season against Florida, she earned a 9.825 and matched that against Alabama.

Shchennikova competed in the all-around for the first time this season against Missouri and matched her career high 39.525 against Auburn. The senior owns season highs of 9.925 on vault, 9.875 on bars, 9.800 on beam and 9.925 on floor.

Kai Rivers provides experience and leadership within the team. After a battle with injury throughout her career, the senior is a staple in the beam lineup and owns a season-high of 9.900, which she scored back-to-back against Auburn and Florida.

Junior Chase Brock made her vault and floor debuts against Oklahoma and has been continually making her mark in the lineups. After her career night against Alabama, she now owns highs of 9.975 on vault and 9.925 on floor.

Ballard continues to bring the energy to the floor leadoff spot and owns a season high of 9.900 on the event. The Louisiana native debuted on beam against Oklahoma and now owns a career high of 9.925 after her performance at Alabama.

A native of Dallas, Texas, KJ Johnson has shown out on floor and vault, where she owns season high scores of 9.950. Johnson also recorded a career high 9.875 in only her third beam appearance against Florida.

Tori Tatum, a sophomore from Chanhassen, Minnesota, made her debut on bars against Oklahoma after suffering from an injury last year. Tatum scored a 9.875 in her first ever collegiate routine and recorded a career high 9.900 against Missouri, which she matched again against Florida and Alabama.

A consistent bars leadoff, Alexis Jeffrey owns a career high of 9.925 on bars and made her beam and floor debuts in Tuscaloosa. The sophomore now owns highs of 9.900 on beam and 9.750 on floor.

Freshmen Ashley Cowan and Bryce Wilson have stepped up in only their first season with their Tigers. Cowan made her collegiate debut at Auburn where she scored a 9.775 on bars, while Wilson made her debut on beam against Utah and recently debuted on vault, where she earned a 9.875.

Fans can follow the Tigers on the team’s social media channels @LSUgym on Instagram and Twitter and www.Facebook.com/lsugym.

Week Eight Rankings

LSU (4-5, 4-3 SEC) moved up to sixth in the week eight Road To National rankings following a season-high road score of 197.975 last Friday night.

The Tigers own an NQS of 197.575 in the week eight rankings and continue to climb the top-10 for the sixth consecutive week. LSU’s six scores are 198.100, 197.700 and 197.450 from home meets and 197.975, 197.500 and 197.250 away from the PMAC.

The squad also climbed the event rankings to place in the top-10 in all four events for the first time this season. LSU ranks second on vault, fourth on floor, seventh on bars and tenth on beam.

Junior Haleigh Bryant ranked amongst the top-10 gymnasts in the nation for the sixth consecutive week at No. 4. The junior is tied at the top on vault and ranks in the top-25 on bars, beam and floor.

Sophomore Aleah Finnegan also ranks amongst the top-25 gymnasts in the country as she placed at No. 3 on floor, No. 4 on beam, No. 22 on vault and No. 12 in the all-around.

LSU ranks second in the conference, only behind Florida.

Week Eight Road To National Rankings (2/27/23)

Rank Name NQS
1 Oklahoma 198.205
2 Florida 197.845
3 Utah 197.805
4 Michigan 197.715
5 UCLA 197.655
6 LSU 197.575
7 California 197.535
8 Alabama 197.530
9 Auburn 197.460
10 Denver 197.305
11 Oregon State 197.285
12 Kentucky 197.275
13 Michigan State 196.910
14 Missouri 196.890
15 Arizona State 196.870
16 Ohio State 196.860
17 Arkansas 196.815
18 Georgia 196.710
19 Southern Utah 196.620
20 Iowa 196.610
21 Stanford 196.585
22 Minnesota 196.580
23 Washington 196.530
24 Illinois 196.490
25 Maryland 196.395