The Ducks have been here before. They’ve been at the start of a new school year, diving into fall practic es in preparation for the spring. But what separates this year’s squad is the confidence and experience they carry from their previous exploits.
Prior to last year, the Oregon baseball team hadn’t hosted a regional since 2013. They’ve now been in the NCAA Tournament each of the last two seasons. They know what success tastes like, and they’re eager for more of it.
Oregon began fall practices on Sept. 15 with a group that head coach Mark Wasikowski said is bigger and stronger than past teams. Coming off a tough regional loss in June, the Ducks are plunging headfirst back into the action. It’s with this mixture of veteran presence and young physicality that Oregon is hoping to make its deepest run yet.
“You’ve got guys that know what it’s like to be in postseason play,” Wasikowski said. “There’s also a certain level of hungriness now where they’ve tasted success, and now they want more.”
In past years, the Ducks have made it clear that their goal was to get to Omaha. This year, they’re not focused on Omaha — at least not yet. Their sights are set on improving and taking it one day at a time, a process they believe will get them to the biggest stage in college baseball.
“You get so caught up in ‘Let’s get to Omaha. Let’s win a national championship,’” outfielder Tanner Smith, who’s back for his fifth season, said. “But this
year, I think it’s incredible how we really fine tuned it to take it one day at a time, and just winning each day.”
An immediate difference was the access to the weight room, which is back to the way it was before COVID-19. This year’s players are back on the full weight structure and the full meal plan, which gives them an edge before classes start.
“We’re only a few days into fall camp, and it’s been
awesome,” Wasikowski said. “It’s been a lot of fun being around the guys. The guys that have laid the foundation have done a really nice job. So it does feel like we’re further ahead than we have been so far in the years at Oregon.”
Oregon’s fall roster features 20 new players. But an abundance of freshmen certainly doesn’t mean a lack of size — just look at 6-foot-9 pitcher Dylan McShane, 6-foot-6 infielder Dominic Hellman or the 6-foot-2,
muscular infielder Drew Smith.
With this mix of veterans and young talent, along with the refined and complete facilities, the Ducks are cranking everything into gear.
“We’ve got everyone ready to lift,” senior infield er Gavin Grant said. “The music’s blaring. It’s a fun atmosphere to be in with all these new guys.”
Smith has also noticed an extra sense of zeal in this group.
“I don’t think PK Park’s ever been this vibrant, this positive,” Smith said. “The emotions that are going into this fall — it’s something new to me, and it’s awe some to be a part of.”
Smith rejoins this Oregon squad as a true veteran of the program. Now in his fifth year, he’s chasing alltime school records, particularly those set by Gabe Matthews and J.J. Altobelli. He said he’s in regular contact with Matthews and has joked with him about surpassing his numbers.
His ultimate focus, though, is on the team’s accom plishments, not his own individual accolades.
“The [record] I really want to break is the most wins, and the furthest we’ve ever gone,” Smith said. “That’s what’s important to me, and that’s what I want to do.”
The roster features depth that aims to replace the likes of Josh Kasevich, Anthony Hall, Brennan Milone
and Adam Maier, all of whom were drafted by MLB teams this summer. The bullpen also lost both its lefties in Kolby Somers and Rio Britton. However, there are four left-handed pitchers on the new roster, all freshmen.
Wasikowski remarked at the evenness of the posi tion battles all around the field. Less than a week into fall camp, the competition is already red hot between young and old players alike.
“It’s awesome to watch out there,” Wasikowski said. “It isn’t like we’ve got one guy at one spot, then we got four guys at another. Everybody, whether they’re old players and have played a bunch in the past, or whether they’re new players — boy, there’s some battles going on out there.”
A particular area of uncertainty is the pitching ro tation. The Ducks lost Maier for most of last season, but now they won’t have him at all. Isaac Ayon will likely lead the way after his first full year of start ing experience. He had an uneven 2021 campaign, showing signs of dominance but struggling badly at other times.
“As a freshman, the game definitely sped up on me,” Ayon said. “I think last year, getting the expe rience as a starter, matured me as a pitcher and it slowed the game down a ton.”
Ayon, whose bread and butter is his sinker-slider mix, said he’s been working on a cutter with the help of former MLB All-Star pitcher Tyson Ross. While he said he’s still searching for consistency, he expects to be comfortable with it by the spring, adding a verti cal pitch to complement his horizontal slider.
After Ayon will likely be Jace Stoffal and RJ Gor don. Stoffal had a delayed start to his 2021, and he looked shaky before settling in at the end of the year. Gordon has had glimpses of success, but he’s per formed better out of the bullpen. Overall, pitching looks to be more of a question mark than the lineup, which retains Smith, Grant and Drew Cowley, along with adding outfield transfer Owen Diodati.
With fall practices back to their pre-COVID-19 normal capacity, Oregon will be holding scrimmages open to the public. The 15 game schedule began Oct. 1 before the Stanford football game, and one of the games will be held before the UCLA football game on Oct. 22.
“Those are great opportunities for our guys to play in front of fans, even though it isn’t probably a super rowdy environment,” Wasikowski said. “It’s going to be a social tailgating type of an environment where fans can come and watch — fantastic.”
The Ducks have ramped things back into gear, but there’s still a ways to go before they jump into spring competitions. With experience and physicality on their side, they know what they need to do to accom plish the lofty goals they’ve set for themselves. The grind has officially begun.
“Practice is one thing,” Wasikowksi said. “Who can do it when the lights come on?”
I DON’T THINK PK PARK’S EVER BEEN THIS VIBRANT, THIS POSITIVE. THE EMOTIONS THAT ARE GOING INTO THIS FALL — IT’S SOMETHING NEW TO ME, AND IT’S AWESOME TO BE A PART OF.”Tanner Smith, Oregon Ducks outfielder
Beatrice Byrd is an opinion columnist for the Daily Emerald. She is a first year student studying journalism at UO. She believes in the power of fair and edu cated opinions that come from a desire to help strengthen communities.
Opinion: After student behavior at the BYU game, UO’s claimed commitment to diversity and inclusion are becoming elusive.
BY BEATRICE BYRD • TWITTER @BEATRICEBYRD31
“We value our diversity and seek to foster equity and inclusion in a welcoming, safe and respectful community,” UO’s mission statement reads. To me, this means that, upon entering campus grounds, I will be met with others who respect the dimensions of my identity. The words themselves are powerful; the contradicting actions of our student body are spoken louder.
I’m not a big fan of football. My first in-person Ducks game occurred only recently when UO played Brigham Young University. Despite my aversion to the sport, I was excited to experience the energy adoring fans bring to Autzen Stadium. This was mis represented at the game I attended.
I’m not here to discuss the profane student chant ing at the BYU game. It seems unnecessary to issue another apology that simply states the obvious: UO doesn’t condone these actions because they go against our written morals. The clarification on what the university stands for is unnecessary; inclusivity on college campuses is an obvious ethical standard. Lectures about morality are not enough to ensure just actions, and that is where the university fails in its liberal approach.
Trevor Petersen, an alumnus of BYU and a current resident of Klamath Falls, Oregon, attended the BYU game. He was accompanied by his brother, his friends and his two sons.
During the game, the UO fans behind him were manageable. Yelling and chanting could be heard from this section of the stadium, but it was language expected from any fans. It wasn’t until after the game that Petersen and his sons experienced the derogato ry chants from UO students. UO had already won by a large margin.
“My only experience with it was when I was walk ing to the car with my sons,” Petersen said. “I heard someone yell it out the car window: ‘Eff the Mormons!’”
Petersen’s youngest son is 8 years old.
“I live in this state, and my brother lives very close to Eugene,” Petersen said. “We’re members of these communities, and so it was hard to hear people in my home state, or close to my home community, dislik ing me, maybe for my faith.”
I have been to many UO events. It seems as if the words “diversity and inclusion” are laced into every opening statement as if to convince students, once again, that we are absolved from any past bigotries we have committed.
This is effective to an extent, given any press release could pick out these statements and applaud such a compassionate approach to academics. But outside of the walls of lectured equity, contradictory events ensue.
“This isn’t just about that game; these are com munity members [who] we are chanting this about,” Petersen said. “There are members of that same faith on this UO football team.”
He continued talking about the lack of inclusion felt by surrounding fans.
“There were recruits [who] were thinking about going to UO who left the game early because they didn’t feel comfortable there,” Petersen said. “Like they weren’t welcomed or wanted.”
A high school quarterback recruit, who is Mormon, left at halftime with his family because of the chants. While he said it didn’t remove Oregon as an option, it still had an impact on him.
This is not the first time bigoted behavior has been demonstrated by the UO community. In 2016, a current UO professor participated in blackface at an off-campus Halloween party, and another obvious statement against offensive behaviors was issued. The university continues to discuss these topics with vague apologies that hold no valuable solutions for the future.
In response to biased events, the university has a history of creating programs such as the UO African
American Workshop and Lecture series. However, these policies are adapted only after the prejudice event has occurred. They are enacted as an after thought more than as a meaningful effort.
Sporting events can be a location to set the frame work for the university’s practice of inclusion. At the BYU game, it turned into an outlet for deconstructing and attacking the dimensions of someone’s identity. It’s one thing to say sports fans get riled up about collegiate competition; the reality is that abusive language could unknowingly target any individual, regardless of the original competitive intent.
Petersen did not hold resentment for the opposing team’s relentless chanting. Instead, he graciously took it as a call-to-action. He embodied what UO students should learn to exhibit: understanding.
“It wasn’t what I was hoping my 8-year-old son would hear on the way through town, but I think it was deeper than that,” Petersen said. “For me, it was a chance to self-reflect.”
Petersen talked about his own internal gazing, asking, “Am I being very cautious as a fan or as a community member to respect, appreciate and value all the diversity in my community?”
Petersen’s values rest on an increase of empathy and social awareness; this is something our student body should start mimicking.
There is a limit to how much I can preach about understanding one another before my words — along with the university’s — become nothing more than abstract. Our call-to-action lies in the participation of the liberal morals we claim to uphold. The future calls for a necessary change. Our silent, motionless actions, disguised as apologies, don’t correct the wrongs we have committed. Only concrete actions can change the future course of our hollow, sor row-filled statements.
