Beaver athletics final grades

Here are my reasons for the football and baseball grades.

For football, while the win at USC ending a decades long losing streak at the Coliseum, a win over Utah being part of a 6-0 home slate, and going to a bowl game for the first time in years were all great. The losses at California, Colorado, and the bowl game itself felt somewhat disappointing. Had the Beavers won one of those three games, I would have given them a B.

For baseball, much of it had to do with what the team was dealt with early on. Losing Pfennigs, Frisch, and Mundt, a bullpen that was out of sorts, and a bottom of the batting order that couldn't hit. This had the making of a mid-conference finish. However, the Beavers toughened up and overcame all this. Kmatz stepped up and saved the weekends. Brown, Lattery, and Ferrer stepped up and Verburg retooled and became effective late. And while the left side of the infield and the DH couldn't hit, I believe the rest of the lineup stepped up and carried the offense themselves. Had Melton not been a Pac-12 POY caliber player, there would be no Super Regional. The constant rebounds after a loss by winning the next game then more, especially against UCLA in the conference tournament, and Vanderbilt in the Regionals. The team in my view greatly overachieved considering what they were dealt with. Also they went 5-0 against o, and we badly needed to beat o, as OSU only had 1 win against them across all sports at that point (I was getting 2010-2011 flashbacks). And to send a message that last season wasn't a new trend with the new coaches at both programs.