Sports

The hopes of the top-ranked Oregon State University baseball team were dashed Monday night after they were eliminated from the NCAA tournament.  The Beavers lost to UC Irvine 4-2 in the Regional finals.  A dejected Head Coach Pat Casey spoke after the game, the fifth of the weekend for the team. 

Oregon schools sent dozens of athletes to the NCAA Western Preliminaries in Arkansas over the weekend, hoping to qualify for the national championships happening in Eugene in less than two weeks.  Perennial track and field powerhouse, the University of Oregon, qualified 39 individuals for the finals – 20 women and 19 men.
 

Both Oregon and Oregon State’s baseball teams played in NCAA Regional tournaments this weekend.  
 

Because of Oregon State’s number 1 rank, the team hosted their post season regional.  But the home crowd couldn’t deliver a perfect weekend for the Beavs.  OSU won their opening game against North Dakota State, but then dropped their second to UC Irvine.  The Beavers came back and won their next two games against UNLV and UC Irvine.  

OSU’s Jeff Hendrix, a Corvallis native, went 4 for 4 in Sunday’s win.   

The University of Oregon softball team ended their run at a National Championship on Sunday.  It was an up and down weekend for the Ducks at the women’s College World Series in Oklahoma.  Oregon won their first game against Florida State, then dropped their second to Florida.  That loss sent them to the loser’s bracket, where they faced and defeated last year’s national champion, the University of Oklahoma.  But Oregon wasn’t able to pull out a win against Alabama, and was knocked out of the tournament.
 

Oregon State baseball will go into the NCAA post season as the number one seed in the country.  The bracket was announced Monday morning.  The Beavers will host a double-elimination Regional tournament in Corvallis, facing UNLV, UC Irvine, and North Dakota State in the first round.

The University of Oregon baseball team did not receive a high enough seed to host a Regional.  Instead, the Ducks will travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt, Clemson, and Xavier.  

The #1 ranked University of Oregon softball team is hosting the NCAA Super Regional tournament this weekend.  In the opening game of the best-of-three series on Saturday, the Ducks defeated Minnesota 10 to 2 before a record crowd.  The Golden Gophers got on the board first with a two-hit, one run first inning, but then Oregon’s lead-off hitter Courtney Ceo homered to tie it up.

The #1 ranked University of Oregon softball team advanced to the NCAA Super Regions with a win Sunday over Wisconsin.  The Ducks won 6-0 in the Regional tournament final in Eugene. 

Now Oregon advances to the next round of the post season, which begins at 7pm Saturday at Howe Field on the University of Oregon campus.  They'll take on #16 ranked Minnesota.

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(Updated at 6:45pm 5-16)

The University of Oregon's softball team walked away with a convincing victory in the first game of the post season Friday. The Ducks defeated Utah Valley 12-1 at home in the NCAA Regional. The Ducks pitching staff struck out 11 of 18 batters they faced.

The Ducks entered the tournament ranked first in the nation. Before play began at the U of O's Howe Field, Head Coach Mike White said the ranking doesn't put any extra weight on the team's shoulders.

Damian Lillard hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the Portland Trail Blazers stunned the Houston Rockets 99-98 to take their playoff series in six games and advance to the Western Conference NBA semifinals for the first time in 14 years.

In the raucous postgame celebration, Lillard took the public address microphone and shouted "Rip City!"

Portland, making its first playoff appearance since 2011, had been eliminated in the first round in its last six trips, and hadn't advanced to the second round since 2000.

The #1 ranked Oregon Ducks softball team completed their Civil War series with Oregon State Monday with a sweep.

In the final game in Corvallis, the Ducks crushed the Beavers 18-0, after winning games on Saturday and Sunday.

Over the course of the three-game series, Oregon outscored OSU 38 to 7.  The Ducks should stay at #1 in this week's national rankings.  
 

Gambling addiction is not new in Oregon. An estimated 2.7 percent of the State's population identify as having struggled with the issue at some point. For the first time, the U.S. government is bringing attention to the subject by highlighting March as Problem Gambling Awareness Month. That may be due to the millions of people filling out brackets for the NCAA's basketball tournament. Julie Hynes is Lane County's Gambling Prevention Coordinator. She says March Madness can exacerbate problems for recovering gamblers, but it's usually not an issue for the average person.

The University of Oregon men’s basketball team advanced to the field of 32 in the NCAA tournament Thursday.  They soundly defeated BYU 87-68.  Oregon’s Elgin Cook had a career high 23 points off the bench, playing in his home town of Milwaukee. Oregon will stay in Milwaukee to play Wisconsin Saturday.

Eugene's reputation as "Track Town USA" was well earned Saturday. Both the women's and men's teams were crowned NCAA Indoor Champions. It was the men's first title since 2009. This was the women's fifth consecutive championship. They are only the second team to accomplish this.

The University of Oregon’s bid to repeat as PAC-12 tournament champions was squandered Thursday night by the same team they defeated last year to win it all.  UCLA blew the game open in the second half to win by 19. 

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The game was a back and forth affair for most of the first half, but UCLA got hot shooting and opened up a 20 point lead with five minutes go.  They held on to win 82-63.  Oregon’s Joe Young scored a game-high 29 points, but no other Duck broke into double figures. 

The Oregon State women’s basketball team made it to final of the PAC-12 tournament this weekend, only to fall short against the USC Trojans on Sunday. 

Oregon State was within five points with less than a minute to go, but ended up losing 71-62. 

The Beavers went into the tournament a number 3 seed, having won their final nine regular-season games.   But USC was even hotter in the tournament.  They defeated Stanford, one of the best teams in the country, in the semifinals.