Tag: Jacob Young

Look: Nationals, former Gators OF reps Jaguars cleats vs. Phillies

Look: Nationals, former Gators OF reps Jaguars cleats vs. Phillies

Nationals outfielder Jacob Young reminded everybody where he is from amid his rise to MLB stardom, sporting Jacksonville Jaguars-themed cleats in Washington’s 3-2 loss to Philadelphia on Friday.

Young is a Jacksonville-area native who played for Ponte Vedra High School before enrolling at the University of Florida and ultimately making it to the big leagues.

He set a program record 30-game hitting streak with the Gators in 2021, which was tied by Kansas City’s 2024 first-round pick, Jac Caglianone, earlier this year.

Washington selected Young in the seventh round of the 2021 MLB draft and promoted him to its major league roster late in the 2023 season, where he has remained for all but two games since.

The Washington Post called Young a “defensive wizard” in an analysis of his play Monday, citing his MLB-leading 18 outs above average and 16 runs prevented this season in his growing case to win the National League’s Gold Glove Award. 

Young has produced a .253 batting average over 517 career plate appearances with the Nationals. He hit the first home run of his major league career in June and is up to two on the season, paired with 26 runs batted in.

Young’s 28 stolen bases this year rank No. 9 in the MLB.

Young should be able to catch the second half of Jacksonville’s Saturday evening preseason matchup with Tampa Bay after Washington faces Philadelphia at 6:05 p.m. ET. The Jaguars and Buccaneers are scheduled to kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

Former Florida outfielder becomes 82nd Gator to play in MLB

Young joins a long list of Gators to crack the highest level of baseball on the planet.

Former Florida Gators standout outfielder [autotag]Jacob Young[/autotag] became the 82nd member of the Orange and Blue to play at the highest level of baseball on Saturday when he debuted for the Washington Nationals. He is now the 30th player that head coach Kevin O’Sullivan has sent to the majors from Gainesville.

The former seventh-round pick of the 2021 MLB draft (203rd overall) has spent the last couple of years working his way up the Nats’ organization, reaching Triple-A Rochester. There, he posted a .294 batting average along with a .471 slugging percentage and a .765 on-base plus slugging percentage, which despite the complete lack of walks earned him a trip to the big leagues.

In his first appearance, Young scored the game-tying run with two outs in the ninth inning in a pinch-running role. Washington went on to win the game, 3-2.

Over the course of his three-year career a the collegiate level, Young produced a slash line of .330 BA/.400 OBP/.447 OPS. He excelled out of the gates in the minors, scoring 118 runs — best in MiLB — in 2022 while batting .262/.360/.331 over 115 games.

The previous former Gator to debut in the big leagues was utility player Dalton Guthrie, who got his first cup of coffee last September with the Philadelphia Phillies after being taken in the sixth round of the 2017 MLB draft.

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Always Us eliminated in the second round of The Basketball Tournament

The hopes of Always Us winning $1 million went down the drain as the Oregon alumni squad was eliminated in the second round of TBT.

It was deja vu all over again.

For the second straight year, the Oregon alumni team of Always Us has been eliminated from The Basketball Tournament after a second-round defeat. This time it was at the hands, or paws, of the Gutter Cats by a score of 72-62 in Omaha, Neb.

Shukur Juiston led the way for the former Ducks with 16 points. Jacob Young added 11 and Michael Finke poured in 10.

But it wasn’t nearly enough as the Gutter Cats hit 15-of-32 from three-point range and erased a 37-31 halftime deficit. They came out of the halftime break and proceeded to outscore Always Us 22-9 in the third quarter to take complete control of the game.

As with the NCAA tourney, TBT is a one-and-done tournament, so Always Us will need to put their dreams of winning $1 million on hold for another summer.

 

Jacob Young leads Team Always Us over Jackson Underdogs in first round of TBT

Always Us, made of former Oregon basketball players, advanced to the second round of TBT with a 79-78 win behind 27 points from Jacob Young.

It’s not the NBA. It’s not Division I basketball. But it’s exciting nonetheless.

Oregon’s alumni team Always Us managed to defeat the Jackson Underdogs 79-78 in the first round of The Basketball Tournament with the eventual champion taking home $1 million.

Always Us, the 4-seed in their region, will now take on the 1-seed Gutter Cat Gang on Sunday at 3 p.m. PST.

Newcomer to the team Jacob Young led the way with 27 points, including 15 points in the third quarter to help the former Ducks erase a nine-point halftime deficit.

The game went back and forth for the entire fourth quarter until the game went into the Elam Ending, a very different way to finish out a basketball game. The goal is to have the game end on a made basket and have a set score total a team has to reach and in this case, it was 79.

Always Us was down 78-77 and had to get a defensive stand, which they got. Garrett Sim eventually found himself open for three, but he was fouled. The Portland native drained the first two free throws to send the Underdogs packing.

Every game of TBT can be seen on ESPN3.

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Former Oregon guard Jacob Young joins Team Always Us

Former Oregon guard Jacob Young has signed on with Team Always Us in hopes of winning a million dollars.

A bunch of Oregon men’s basketball alumni came together last summer and competed for a million-dollar prize in The Basketball Tournament made up of 64 teams in eight different regions.

Team Always Us, the Oregon squad, has announced they have signed Jacob Young to the roster. They made their tournament debut last summer and won a game before falling to Autism Army in the second round.

Young averaged 12 points and 3.4 assists a game in his only season at Oregon.

This version of Team Always Us will be led by EJ Singler and Johnathan Loyd with current Duck assistant coach Mike Mennenga helming the sideline.

Team Always Us, taken from Dana Altman’s saying of “Sometimes you. Sometimes me. Always us,” will open up in the Omaha Region as the 4-seed playing 5-seed Jackson TN Underdawgs. The game will be on July 16 at 3 p.m. PST and will be televised on one of the ESPN channels.

How it happened: Ducks’ big second half allows them to advance in the NIT

Oregon advances to the second round of the NIT with an 83-72 win over Utah State.

Oregon liked playing the Aggies so much it’s going to try it again.

The Ducks went on the road and defeated Utah State 83-72 and will travel to another team called the Aggies, Texas A&M, for the second round of the NIT. Oregon’s victory was Dana Altman’s 300th win as the Duck head coach and it also marked his 12th consecutive 20-win season in Eugene.

Utah State was up 37-33 at the halftime break, but it was a completely different story in the second half as the Ducks used their superior athletic ability on the Aggies. Oregon continually went to the basket, more specifically, Jacob Young, and the Ducks dominated the Mountain West squad.

Young scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and De’Vion Harmon kept the Ducks in the game with his 16 first half points.

How it happened: Oregon’s game-winner rims out vs. USC, Ducks lose 70-69

It was almost a magical senior night for the Ducks, but a last-second shot from Will Richardson rimmed out, leaving Oregon with a loss to USC.

It was a game that would have been massive for the Oregon Ducks’ at-large NCAA Tournament hopes, but in the end, they couldn’t quite pull it out.

It wasn’t for a lack of chances, The Ducks had numerous opportunities to win, and they led by 2 late in the game. However, a USC 3 with 11 seconds left but the Trojans up by one, and a game-winner attempt from Will Richardson rimmed out at the buzzer.

Oregon struggled mightily from the floor, going just 6-for-23 from deep, and 15-for-21 at the free throw line.

Oregon isn’t out of the NCAA tournament discussion just yet, as they can boost their resume with a trip to the Washington schools next week. However, it will now take a deep run in the Pac-12 tournament at the very least to make a case.

Here’s how everything went down on Saturday:

How it happened: Ducks upset No. 12 UCLA 68-63, keep tournament hopes alive

Two meetings, two upset victories over the UCLA Bruins. Not a bad night for the Oregon Ducks.

It’s pretty hard to argue against the notion that Oregon gets up for big games now, isn’t it?

Yet again, faced against tougher competition with No. 12 UCLA in town, the Ducks pulled off the upset and left Matthew Knight Arena with a 68-63 win. It was a victory that was much-needed for Oregon’s waning NCAA tournament chances, but kept them alive with three games left on the schedule.

It was a pair of transfers who got the job done for the Ducks, with De’Vion Harmon and Jacob Young leading the way down the stretch. Both came up clutch at the end of the game and were able to hit their free throws to close it out.

Here’s how all of the action played out:

Bracketology: Latest tournament projections emphasize ‘must-win’ reality for Oregon Ducks

Oregon picked up a historic win over Colorado on Thursday. ESPN’s tourney projections show their March Madness hopes still hang in the balance, though.

Thursday night was certainly an eventful one for Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks. Not only did they beat the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder for the first time in school history — a venture that took 11 tries and 22,325 days to complete  (h/t to The Oregonian‘s James Crepea) — but they also picked up a valuable win in their quest to keep the 2022 NCAA Tournament hopes alive in Eugene.

At this point in the season, the Ducks enter every game with virtual “must-win” status hanging over their heads. With a 14-7 (7-3) record early in the month of February, they know that with another bad loss in the books, they could be eliminated from tournament discussion. After dropping one to the Buffaloes at home last week, the stakes were high on Thursday night when they went into Boulder, a place where they had never won before. Fortunately, led by Jacob Young and Will Richardson, the Ducks prevailed with a 66-51 victory.

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For another few days, the tournament hopes are alive and well.

That notion was supported by ESPN’s latest ‘Bracketology’ projection, where the Ducks currently hold the title of “Last Team In.” If the season were to end today, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi predicts that Oregon would be picked as a No. 12 seed, where they would play the San Diego State Aztecs in one of the first four games of the tournament. Fortunately for the Ducks, that game is predicted for now, at least, to be held in the Portland regional.

There is still a lot of basketball to be played, with 10 games coming in this month alone. Due to some rescheduling that happened because of COVID-postponements, the back-stretch of the schedule is going to be loaded, and the Ducks will have matchups on the road against the likes of No. 7 Arizona and Washington State while hosting the likes of No. 19 USC and No. 3 UCLA at Matthew Knight Arena in a stretch of three days. Then comes the Pac-12 tournament, where we all know that anything can happen.

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It will be a grueling stretch, but one that could see Oregon move up in the bracketology projections and find some safety in their seeding. Contrarily, a stumble or two could kill the Ducks’ postseason hopes altogether. As I said earlier, each game holds that “must-win” status at the moment, and Oregon will live with that pressure for the foreseeable future.

That future starts again on Saturday night with a road game against the Utah Utes. The Ducks blew out Utah at MKA a few weeks ago, but will now be facing the second game of their challenging mountain road trip, playing at elevation in Salt Lake City.

If they want to keep tournament hopes alive, they know what’s at stake.

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