There have been teams known to cancel midweek games in college baseball. That’s done, oftentimes, to help avoid a game that would hurt the team’s RPI rankings. Despite that, Oregon Ducks head coach Mark Wasikowski has no intention of canceling games.

Following Oregon’s pair of midweek wins against Saint Mary’s, Wasikowski defended playing midweek games. That’s because he sees that the system is broken and doesn’t want to take away opportunities to play simply because of that system.

“Well, the system’s broken,” Wasikowski said. “So, I’m not going to complain about the system being broken and start canceling games. I mean, if the geniuses can’t figure out that the system’s broken, the RPI is screwed up, and you shouldn’t be canceling games.”

The Oregon Ducks currently rank 23rd in the RPI, a key metric in deciding postseason seeding. That makes them the second-highest ranked Big Ten team. Right now, nine of the top 10 teams in the RPI rankings come from the SEC or ACC, adding value to their conference games. Still, even with the chance that midweek games could hurt Oregon’s RPI, Wasikowski wants to compete.

“Tonight was a great opportunity for guys to get a chance to play. We got a chance to play in two really good baseball games. We got some guys in — we got a lot of experience out of those two games,” Wasikowski said. “And if we’re canceling games because of some magical RPI formula that is so messed up it’s not even funny, we’re taking opportunities away from student-athletes that they deserve. That’s why they came to the University of Oregon. To play baseball. So, to take the opportunity to play baseball away from them for anything other than weather-related or some sort of act of God or any of those clauses that are in those contracts, I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s repulsive and, for me, the student athletes suffer when that happens.”

Oregon just took two games from Saint Mary’s. That makes the Ducks 6-3 on midweek games this season. Those are games that, regardless of outcome or impact on BPI, Wasikowski wants to maintain.

“I don’t fault the coaches, I fault the fact that the system isn’t right,” Wasikowski said. “And until they get their arms around it and have the courage to make some changes to that, no, we’re not gonna cancel games. We’re gonna play the games that are on our schedule because I really respect the team that we just got done playing. They’re a good team. They’re trying to win a league championship. Then, tonight, all the way down to the last pitch of the game, you have Tanner Bradley in the last inning. You see how good Tanner Bradley is, and without the opportunity to play that game tonight, he doesn’t get a chance to pitch and show how good he really is. So, I’m a big proponent of playing baseball.”

Oregon wraps up the season series against Washington and Iowa. There, the Ducks look to build momentum for the postseason and round out their resume. They have no midweek games remaining.

Hannah Grace Mayfield / CW

Nick Saban addresses graduates during a special commencement ceremony which featured remarks from President Donald Trump on May 1, 2025.

Former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban is reportedly adding a new title to his resume after retiring from coaching following the 2023-24 season.

The now ESPN television personality will co-chair President Donald Trump’s commission on college sports, according to The Athletic. He is expected to serve in this role alongside billionaire businessman and Texas Tech University board chair Cody Campbell according to Yahoo Sports.

Yahoo Sports reported that the commission is expected to look at the rocky landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal and the debate of college athlete employment and payment through “name, image and likeness” deals, also known as NIL deals. Since 2021, the NCAA has allowed players to profit off of NIL, and it is set to begin allowing college athletes to participate in revenue sharing this fall following the settlement of lawsuits brought forth by former athletes.

This comes after Trump reportedly met with Saban last Thursday when the two were in Tuscaloosa to speak at a special commencement ceremony. People familiar with the meeting told the Wall Street Journal that Saban discussed his concern about NIL with Trump and that he “believed the influx of money had damaged college sports.”

Trump reportedly agreed with Saban and said that he would look into creating an executive order. Saban also proposed “reforming” NIL due to it causing an uneven playing field.

Saban did not immediately respond to request for comment. 

Saban has previously been an advocate for regulating college sports, including speaking out against the current NIL and transfer portal structure. Although he insisted it was not a factor in his retirement when speaking to ESPN, he did mention it being an issue after making the move to step down as head coach.

“Now, I think everybody is frustrated about it. We had an SEC conference call, 14 coaches on there, and there’s not one guy you can talk to who really understands what’s happening in college football and thinks that it’s not an issue,” he said.

Saban also discussed college athletics when he visited Capitol Hill last March, just months after leaving his role at Alabama. He testified at a roundtable discussion hosted by Texas senator Ted Cruz, advocating for revenue-sharing in college athletics and discussing issues with NIL and the transfer portal.

“I’m for student-athletes being able to share in some of this revenue,” Saban said. “I think the No. 1 solution to all this is if we could have some kind of revenue sharing proposition that did not make student-athletes employees.”

He added that he believes that revenue-sharing could be the long-term solution, and that it could create a better quality of life for student-athletes. 

“You could still emphasize development, personal, academic, brand, and athletic development, with a system like that,” Saban said. “And it would be equal in all institutions. Somebody couldn’t go out and raise more money at one school to create a competitive advantage over another.”

I assumed that UVA Basketball would get a decent payday out of its appearance in the 2025 Greenbrier Tip-Off, which was announced this week.

Turns out, not.

Not even close.

I know because, of course, I FOIA’d the University of Virginia to get a copy of the contract.

The FOIA folks over there are onto me now. They’re charging me $9.20 for “Collection and/or Ingestion” and “Review.”

Guess they’re trying to get me to limit the number of FOIA requests I’m making by making me pay $9.20 for somebody to push a couple of buttons.

Cost of doing business to me.

I’ll get more than $9.20 of value out of this one.

ICYMI

The contract, between the University of Virginia and Intersport LLC, executed on March 14, gives UVA Athletics

• a signing bonus of $10,000 in “resort credits”
• a $133,375 travel stipend “for use on reasonable and traditional travel measures within the discretion of the Institution”
• 20 hotel rooms for three nights – to include “room and tax only and exclude any incidental charges”
• “the cost of breakfast, lunch, and dinner for up to thirty people at the Greenbrier Resort during Institution’s stay at the resort for Event.”

That’s it, as to what UVA gets for playing games at The Greenbrier on Nov. 21 and Nov. 23.

Left out of the press announcement is that there’s a third game, to be played at JPJ, on Nov. 17, “against an opponent determined by Intersport.”

And then there’s this line:

“Institution agrees to pay to Intersport thirty (30) days prior to the first game of the Tournament a fee of Ninety Thousand US Dollars ($90,000.00) (the ‘Tournament Fee’) for the game played at the Home Facility.”

I’d be curious to know if this is just a pass-through from Intersport to the school that will be the opponent for Nov. 17, or if UVA will also have to give another payout to the opponent.

Guess I’ll find out later, when we get word on who the opponent is, and I drop another $9.20 on a FOIA request.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – After Tarleton State took care of business on Thursday morning shutting out California Baptist 5-0, the Texans now have a date with the No. 24 Lopes of Grand Canyon Friday afternoon where the winner between the top-two seeds moves straight into the Championship Saturday afternoon.
 
The Purple and White are 2-1 vs. the squad from Phoenix this season after handing the Lopes their first home series loss since 2022 and first conference loss since 2023. Tarleton State also shutout GCU for just the second time this season as they did so in Game 1 of the series back in late March. The Texans are the only WAC program to not only hand the Lopes a loss but handed them two marking their only drops in the WAC. The Purple and White also account for a third of the rivals Purple and White’s total losses as Grand Canyon sits at 44-6 on the season overall.
 
“I feel like we are a good matchup for Grand Canyon,” said head coach Mark Cumpian. “If we go in and take care of business early, we can put ourselves exactly where we want to be. This team really wants it and I think we have all the pieces to get the job done.”
 
In the last 27 games the Texans have outscored their opponents 138-65 averaging over five- runs per game. Across the 27 matchups, Tarleton State has scored five or more runs 13 different times.
 
Germain and Hill have been a constant power throughout this season both ranking nationally in multiple categories. Germain is currently second in doubles in the nation with 22 on the season putting her just two away from tying the programs single season record and three away from setting the new mark to beat. With her 22 doubles through 50 games, she is tied for first in doubles per game in the nation and leads the WAC. With all the offensive power from Germain, she is the sixth toughest to strike out in the nation as she strikes out just once every 53 plate appearances. Germain sits 28th in the nation in batting average hitting .440 and sits No. 2 in the WAC. She is also 34th in hits with 70 and ranks second among the WAC.
 
The senior third baseman through 50 games leads the team in eight different categories including batting average (.440), OPS (1.226), runs (44), hits (70), doubles (22), total bases (115), slugging % (.723) and on-base % (.503).
 
Hill who has caught 18 base runners stealing which puts her eighth in the nation and leads all of the WAC. She also sits fifth in the WAC in batting average hitting .390. Hill sits in the No. 3 spot in the WAC in hits with 64 thus far.
 
The senior catcher through 54 games leads the team in RBI’s with 38 and games started with 54 while she ranks second-best in batting average (.390), OPS (1.073), at-bats (164), hits (64), total bases (99), slugging % (.604) and walks (26).
 
Shelby Schultz has been a hitter’s worse nightmare all season as she helped guide Tarleton State to their best Division I regular season record of 34-20. Shelby Schultz heads into postseason play with a record of 15-4, the second most wins in the conference. In the nation as of May, 6, she ranks 12th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.06), 25th in strikeouts per seven innings (8.6) and 27th in total strikeouts (162). Shelby Schultz leads the WAC in all three of those categories as well. The left-hander is also tied for first in the WAC in saves with three with fellow Texan and teammate Alexa Rehmeier.
 
Through 31 appearances and 20 starts for the freshman ace, Shelby Schultz has struck out a team and WAC leading 162 batters while tossing seven complete games. She has taken control of the circle for 131.1 IP while earning three saves and tossing a individual and combine shutout for two on the season. The Temple, Texas, native, is the first freshman rock slinger in program history since 2017 to strikeout 100 would be hitters and became the first freshman in program history to strikeout 150 in a single season. She ranks seventh so far in single season strikeout total in program history with more games left to go.
 
First pitch on Friday afternoon is set for 1 p.m. PT/3 p.m. CT. The series will air live on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available. Fans can also tune in to Tarletonsports.com/listenlive to hear the home call and all the action live from Kyle Crews. Tickets for those of Texan Nation looking to support the Purple and White are also available.
 
For the latest news on the Texans, follow Tarleton Softball on Facebook, Instagram and X @tarletonsoftball.