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“HINDSIGHT IS 2020”

A YEAR OF COVID-19 AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

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OPINION

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IN-PERSON COMMENCEMENT? PG 8

OLYMPIC TRIALS AFTER COMMENCEMENT PG 9

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FOOD -PACKAGING WASTE Junior Leah Borden is addressing the issue of coffee cup waste in her class on sustainable food packaging. BY NIKA BARTOO-SMITH • TWITTER @BARTOONIKA When buying a cup of coffee, people often walk away with a disposable cup that will be used once and then thrown away. Few people consider the short lifespan of that coffee cup and the amount of waste being generated. Leah Borden has a solution — at least for the coffee sleeves that keep drinks warm. Borden, a junior studying product design at the University of Oregon, grew up creating art, but she worried about the likeliness of an art career. For her, design served as a less risky option. “In high school, I did IB art which was both fun, but also technical and historical,” Borden said. “During that time, that’s kind of when I explored different things I could do as a career with art. And in my head, for some reason art was still too risky.” Borden is now the president of UO’s chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America. Pre-pandemic, IDSA toured design studios, talked to designers, reviewed portfolios and hosted workshops for participants. During the pandemic, all of their events are virtual, so their hands-on opportunities are limited. Currently, Borden is taking a class that is working on sustainable take-out packaging. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, each person generated 4.51 pounds of solid waste as of 2017. A majority of this waste comes from food and food packaging. Borden is designing one way to tackle the waste that comes from coffee sleeves: using recycled paper with seeds embedded so the sleeves can not only be composted, but planted to add greenery to the ecosystem. “Sustainability means making something not just to make it, but kind of for a greater purpose and sourcing those materials with greater thought to how they’ll be used through their whole lifetime and eventually not used,” Borden said.

She is currently refining the coffee sleeve model and designing a compostable cup and lid to go with it. She hopes to eventually sell the design. Borden discussed how sustainability is both necessary and desired by consumers. She also touched on the fact that privilege and sustainability are linked, especially in the fashion industry. Borden hopes to intern somewhere this summer that values sustainability and potentially combats fast fashion, the creation of clothes at the cost of ethical treatment of workers. The term also refers to clothes that are only relevant for one season and then thrown out, creating huge amounts of waste. Fast fashion is oftentimes a cheaper option than sustainably designed clothing. “Sometimes the only thing you can afford is something that’s inexpensive,” Borden said. “So I think sustainability has to come after the needs of people in general. It can’t always be their first thought.” For Borden, her work in sustainable design is a form of activism. “In the design field, I think activism is kind of just, analyzing both your product and the people around your product and how it’s going to interact with those people,” Borden said. “That’s like people who are creating it, people who are buying it.” She suggested that this could mean “a system redesign,” prioritizing sustainability in all aspects of the design process. Borden is currently interning at Marley’s Monsters, a shop in Eugene that sells handmade sustainable goods. It offers a variety of kitchen products, beauty products, household goods and baby care items. The shop emphasizes zero waste as well as locally made goods. Borden’s goal after graduation is to work somewhere that values sustainability. She likes the idea of working in material design and hopes that wherever she ends up, it is an ethical company that supports her activism.

Leah Borden is a product design major working on a project that would help eliminate waste from take-out packaging. (Summer Surgent-Gough/Emerald)

Around OR REGIONAL AND STATE NEWS OREGON SOCCER PULLS OFF HUGE UPSET: In its third game of the year, Oregon soccer handed No. 3 Stanford its first in-conference loss since 2016 — the Ducks’ first-ever win over the program. In their first conference game under new head coach Graeme Abel, the Ducks beat Stanford 2-1. Eden Hardy and Ally Cook scored for the Ducks. The win is the second time the program has been a top-three team. – SHANE HOFFMANN COVID-19 VACCINATION TO OPEN FOR ALL JULY 1: Oregon residents 16 and older will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by July 1, The Oregonian reported Friday. Public health officials announced that residents 45 and older with underlying health conditions will be eligible by March 29. Residents ages 16 to 44 with underlying conditions will be eligible by May 1, and all residents ages 45 and older by June 1. – COLE SINANIAN

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I AM MORE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: Three Portland teens who received Stand for Children’s annual $16,000 Beat The Odds scholarships in 2018 founded I Am MORE, an arts-based youth development organization. Beats The Odds scholarships support students who graduate high school despite obstacles like food insecurity, homelessness, violence or bullying. I Am MORE is now training hundreds of students, parents and educators on trauma-informed social-emotional practices. – SARAH-MAE McCULLOUGH

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Black-owned eateries in Eugene Beyond Black History Month, continue supporting Black-owned businesses through these local restaurants, food trucks and coffee shops. BY EM CHAN• TWITTER @CATCHUPTOEMILY Tony Brown has owned and operated Tony’s BBQ for over 20 years. Tony’s BBQ is open for business and enforcing safety precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The restaurant can be found on Highway 99 in Eugene, Ore., Feb. 24, 2021. (Madi Mather/Emerald)

Black History Month brings awareness not just to the Black activists and leaders who have had an impact on the country, but to the individuals and organizations in our local communities as well. It may just be one month long, but supporting Blackowned initiatives must be something we do year-round in order to make a difference. One of the overlooked spheres of Black influence is in the food industry, so I set out to find the Black-owned eateries in Eugene. From superb soul food to traditional African food and more, here are the businesses you can support.

Equiano Coffee Since 2013, Equiano has been selling specialty coffee that’s roasted in Eugene. Its coffee beans are single-variety and sustainably sourced from small farms in Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Vietnam and beyond. Okon Udosenata, owner and coffee roaster, has won numerous awards for his coffee roasting. The location also has a tasting room for patrons to try different roasts, but due to COVID-19 restrictions this space remains closed. You can buy coffee grounds online and in-person.

BBQ by Tony Tony’s has been serving Texas-style barbeque in Eugene since 1997 and continues to serve the classics. The restaurant has won dozens of awards for its amazing signature dishes. From beef brisket, tri-tip and pulled pork to BBQ chicken meals or sandwiches, there’s something hearty on the menu for any meat eater. If you’re just looking for its signature sauce, you can purchase a one-gallon jug of it.

IRIE Jamaican Kitchen As the only Jamaican food offered in Eugene, Irie’s flavorful dishes are something you shouldn’t skip. It is family owned and operated, and you can find its food at the Saturday Market, its cart on 13th Avenue or you can order catering. The food is flavorful and a great value with large and filling servings. One of the restaurant’s standout offerings are its fried plantains, which are sweet and melt perfectly in your mouth.

Makeda’s Cuisine Eugene’s first Ethiopian and Eritrean food truck is Makeda’s Cuisine, a humble

cart that opened up in October. Paolos and Eden Kid, the food truck’s owners, wanted to introduce the community to Ethiopian and Eritrean food. Ethiopian and Eritrean food are very similar, with only a few ingredient differences due to varied climates between the two countries. If you’ve tried Addis Eithiopian, you’ll definitely enjoy the slight differences that Makeda’s offers — plus, Makeda’s serves sambusas: crispy, triangular shaped, fried pastry pockets filled with savory filling.

Noisette Pastry Kitchen Noisette Pastry Kitchen is a classic stop for anyone with a hankering for bread or pastries for breakfast. Known for its breakfast pastries, the restaurant usually sells out of them before noon. Noisette sources many of its ingredients locally and serves and sells Equiano coffee as well. From bread and traditional European pastries to custom order cakes, Noisette has something sweet (or savory!) for any and everyone.

Once Famous Grill Situated in the BeerGarden, Once Famous Grill has been run by Keith Lewis, former Ducks football and NFL player, since 2016. Serving food with “a southern flair,” staples of the food truck include deep fried seafood and sandwiches. From classics like surf & turf, deep fried shrimp and catfish, to foot-long philly cheesesteak, cheeseburgers and more, you’ll definitely be hooked on the high quality and large proportions of every order.

Stewart’s Soul Fusion This soul fusion food truck opened in mid-August, serving both classic soul food with — you guessed it — a twist. The eatery has a rotating selection of barbeque sandwiches and traditional soul food including mac & cheese, candy yams and cornbread. It has “Soul Sundays” every weekend when they serve Soul Plates, with patrons choosing one protein and two sides. For right now, some other eateries have chosen to remain closed because of the pandemic. These include the Taco Intrusion food truck, One Bad Dawg food truck and Straight Outta Soul Food, which is in the process of renovating its brick and mortar. One Bad Dawg is hoping to reopen in the spring if conditions have improved, while Taco Intrusion and Straight Outta Soul remain closed indefinitely.

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COVER

A LOOK AT UO’S COVID-19 RESPONSE, A YEAR INTO THE PANDEMIC UO FACULTY, ADMINISTRATORS AND STUDENTS SHARE SUCCESSES, MISTAKES AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM A YEAR OF DEALING WITH COVID-19 ON CAMPUS BY SALLY SEGAR • TWITTER @SALLYSEGAR

(National Cancer Institute/Unsplash)

“We need to get ready.” Andre Le Duc, the University of Oregon’s chief resilience officer, emailed his colleagues back in Eugene on Jan. 25, 2020. He was reviewing the incident management program at University of California, San Francisco, when the people he was meant to speak with — several lead infectious disease experts — were called away to deal with a new global virus. Three days later, Le Duc came back to Eugene and began preparing UO to tackle the same virus. A week before, the U.S. had reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, nearly a month after Wuhan, China, first reported a cluster of pneumonia cases. The World Health Organization announced the name COVID-19 on Feb. 11, 2020, and the new virus quickly spread across the globe. Over a year later, as of Feb. 28, 2021, the world has seen over 113 million cases and nearly 2.5 million deaths from the coronavirus, according to WHO. COVID-19 has undoubtedly made its mark on our community. Lane County has seen over 10,000 cases and 126 deaths from the virus, and the University of Oregon has had 1,499 students and employees test positive since June 2020, according to UO’s COVID-19 case tracking website. Back in January 2020, when COVID-19 had not yet reached Oregon, UO suspended all university travel to China and started working to bring the few UO students there back to the U.S. UO President Michael Schill at the time said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “has classified the potential public health threat as ‘high’ and notes that the current global spread of the virus is likely to cause a pandemic.” Later that day, the Oregon Health Authority announced Oregon’s first COVID-19 case. There have been 154,878 cases and 2,206 deaths across Oregon since, at the time of print, according to the agency. UO moved winter term final exams and the first three weeks of spring term to Zoom. One week later, UO elected for an entirely remote spring term. In April, Schill planned to have students return to campus for an in-person fall term. The school considered options like limiting the number of people in residence halls and offices, intensely cleaning PA G E 6

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university buildings and testing students and response branch. From his experience working employees. within IMT, Clark said UO’s response to the virus has But the pandemic continued through the summer, followed a public health-oriented approach. and UO announced in August that most of fall “They have taken a very proactive and measured term would be remote, though first-year students response using science as the basis of their decisionwould still live in the dorms while being tested for making,” he said. “While no response to this COVID-19. Winter and spring terms would also be pandemic has been perfect, I feel very confident in primarily remote, though with some hybrid options. the leadership we have at the university.” In Schill’s message announcing that spring term Clark said university administration has been would mix remote, online and in-person classes, he responsive to IPRE’s work, and UO has taken his shared his confidence in returning to predominantly research and used it to identify necessary resources in-person classes in fall 2021. to scale up its testing and contact tracing efforts. The Le Duc, head of the IMT, has been leading the institute has also identified target spots on campus university’s response and in the community to the pandemic. for COVID-19 messaging. Before the pandemic, Ellen Peters is I don’t know of any other the team consisted of the director of UO’s about 35 individuals Center for Science university around the country who met monthly, Communication where people have been as reviewed plans and Research and an practiced exercises expert on science willing to listen to faculty for planned and communication. Early on expertise about things that unplanned scenarios in the pandemic, Peters together, including observed that the UO matter.” commencement and communications team the Olympic trials. wasn’t trained in science ELLEN PETERS Currently, the IMT communication, and she CENTER FOR SCIENCE RESEARCH includes almost didn’t really like their COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR 250 faculty from COVID-19 messaging. disciplines across the So, with the university. university’s blessing, Because the core she organized a IMT team members trust each other and train team of faculty from across UO colleges to come together, UO saved a lot of time at the start, Le Duc up with high-level strategic advice for the UO said. The members have muscle memory that allows communications team. This group, which she calls them to activate quickly to address the community’s the Faculty Engagement Team, eventually set up needs. a weekly consulting hour for groups working with “It doesn’t matter how much money you have, how coronavirus communications. UO used the team’s many resources,” Le Duc said in an interview. “You advice pretty extensively, Peters said. can never buy time. So you always want to be looking “I don’t know of any other university around the at how agile you can be, how fast you can move to country where people have been as willing to listen to really maximize your time.” faculty expertise about things that matter,” she said. Benjamin Clark, an associate professor of public Melissa Graboyes, a professor of African and administration at UO and co-executive director of medical history at UO, has been involved with Peters’ UO’s Institute for Policy Research and Engagement, engagement team. Graboyes doesn’t think UO has has been working within the IMT’s community meaningfully integrated its faculty expertise and

COVER

(Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash)

input throughout the pandemic. SEIU union leadership addressing risks to employees In late February 2020, Graboyes was on leave in working on campus. She also ran an anonymous Milan, Italy, one of the first regions outside of China survey of over 2,300 UO community members in with recognized sustained community transmission June, finding mixed opinions and expectations for the of COVID-19. Because of her early experience with fall 2020 term. quarantine measures, she felt that everyone in the “I think that is a really alarming way for a university U.S. was “massively underestimating the threat and to be run in the midst of a really difficult time, where massively underestimating the impact it was going to you want to be grounded in good, clear, transparent have on all aspects of life.” conversation and communication,” she said. “It feels In an open letter to Le Duc and the UO community, very shortsighted to me.” she and two other UO professors in Italy at the time Graboyes sees other areas where the university urged the university in March to shift to online can improve on its COVID-19 response, including classes ahead of expanding UO’s diagnosed cases in Monitoring and the Eugene area. Assessment Program I think that is a really alarming Graboyes said for testing, preparing she was met for a vaccine way for a university to be run in with resistance initiative, working the midst of a really difficult time, by university to communicate administration for more effectively where you want to be grounded starting a public about the virus and in good, clear, transparent conversation having a more open conversation and communication, about the virus, conversation with and even now, she the community. it feels very shortsighted to me.” doesn’t think UO Graboyes and is considering all Peters both want to MELISSA GRABOYES faculty input. see UO specifically PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN AND MEDICAL HISTORY “Sometimes when target messages we did give feedback to people who are on the university’s hesitant about response — and I count myself in this category — we getting the vaccine. were criticized for it, and [they] said that we were not Peters said she wants to see UO set up a way for being team players and we should keep our criticisms people to get vaccinated on campus if the vaccine to ourselves,” Graboyes said. supply gets large enough. The trio wrote a general letter to the Oregon Addy Alfred, secretary of Student Health Advocacy and Eugene communities on March 12 about how for ASUO, said she also wants to see UO offer they should prepare for the virus, and Graboyes vaccinations to students. Alfred appreciates that UO independently wrote a letter to UO leadership and offers testing for the community but would like to see

them encourage students to get tested. The university is working with Lane County to help plan mass vaccination sites, Le Duc said, which will include one site at the Lane County Fairgrounds, one at Lane Community College and one at Autzen Stadium. UO is also working to establish a “vaccine corps” of students to work at those sites. Looking back, “hindsight is 2020,” Le Duc said. He wishes UO could have moved faster and pushed its community partners — including Lane County Public Health — to integrate sooner, but since the IMT activated in January, there wasn’t much room to go faster, he said. Le Duc said the IMT is constantly looking to review what it did well and what it could improve. He’s especially proud of UO’s ability to move from just an idea to a fully operational testing laboratory — the MAP lab — in just six months. This type of facility could take up to two years normally, he said. Le Duc also wants to improve peer-to-peer communication about the virus within the UO community. “An email, a message, an article isn’t enough,” he said. “We need actual engagement.” Alfred said UO has kept students informed about COVID-19, especially early in the pandemic, but students often neglect to read emails and updates from the university. She’d like to see UO develop messages that students are more likely to read — even communication from professors would help, she said. Alfred said she cut UO a lot of slack last spring in terms of moving slow or waiting to make decisions regarding remote learning. Peters agrees that there isn’t much anyone could do with such imperfect information. “Have they always gone as fast as I wanted them to? No,” Peters said. “Do I see ways that they might have been able to go faster? I don’t know.”

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OPINION

IS AN IN-PERSON COMMENCEMENT POSSIBLE? BY EMILY BORCHARDT AND BAZIL STERLING

On Feb. 9, the University of Oregon made the final call to make 2021 graduation commencement a virtual event. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, some students see the switch as a necessary precaution. But, with UO still hosting the 2021 U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials, some doubt all other alternatives were considered before making the final decision.

BORCHARDT: IF OLYMPIC TRIALS CAN HAPPEN, SO CAN COMMENCEMENT Hearing UO’s 2021 commencement ceremony was going to be a virtual event felt like a slap in the face. I, as well as my fellow classmates, have worked ridiculously hard to earn our degrees while facing multiple challenges during our last year of college. We were thrown into online classes with little to no time to prepare for that drastic change — yet we still finished. It was devastating to lose our senior year to a pandemic, but it’s even more disheartening to know that our commencement ceremony, the event we’ve all been looking forward to, has been lost too. I believe that COVID-19 is a serious issue, and we must do everything in our power to protect the health of ourselves and others. However, I also believe it’s possible for UO to organize a COVID-19-safe commencement ceremony. UO isn’t hiding the fact that it’s able to host large events. The newly constructed Hayward Field will host the 2021 U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials. While it still hasn’t been confirmed if guests will be allowed to attend, athletes — from all around the world — will attend regardless. If UO has the resources to make this in-person event possible, it should have the resources for an in-person commencement ceremony. So why is our ceremony such an unattainable task? The answer is simple: money. UO won’t nearly make as much revenue from the commencement ceremony as they will from hosting the Olympic trials.

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The 2021 graduating class consists of roughly 7,500 students. Autzen Stadium is able to accomodate 54,000 people and Hayward Field is able to accommodate nearly 25,000 people. Knowing these two stadiums are able to accommodate that many people, along with the fact that the commencement ceremony was already split up by department, I can’t help but feel devastated. It seems it would be fairly easy to distance students by six or more feet apart. And if our friends and families couldn’t be accommodated because of distancing guidelines, the ceremony could’ve been live streamed so they could watch us walk from the safety of their homes. UO is yet again sending a clear message that it will always put profit over students, and the students that didn’t believe that before clearly see that now.

Emily Borchardt is an opinion columnist at the Emerald. She primarily writes about racism, classism and sexism within the UO as well as providing solutions to these pressing issues. Follow her Twitter @emilyfborcha

STERLING: VIRTUAL GRADUATION IS THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR THE WRONG REASONS Last year, UO announced that the class of 2020 would join forces with the class of 2021 to create UO’s largest ever graduation ceremony. In classic UO fashion, this was an empty promise. At the time of this announcement in April 2020, the pandemic was only beginning to take shape as the most devastating event in modern history; there were zero assurances of a vaccine arriving in the next year. Similarly, in June 2020, UO boldly announced that fall term was shifting back to in-person learning, influencing students to remain enrolled and to sign leases in Eugene. Of course, early 2020 perceptions toward COVID-19 are a far cry from the knowledge we have today. Regardless, it was irresponsible for UO to confidently announce anything when nothing was, or is, guaranteed. Ultimately, UO made the correct decision to cancel in-person graduation for the class of 2021. Since the cancellation of last years’ graduation ceremonies, the pandemic has worsened exponentially. While UO should’ve exerted all possible modes of in-person graduation, ensuring safety for students and their families should always be the primary concern for a university of this size. Avoiding large, in-person gatherings is a surefire way to restrict the movement of COVID-19. Hosting an in-person graduation, that would potentially

attract thousands of people to Eugene, would be irresponsible. Graduating students, like myself, who have given UO tens of thousands of dollars have to understand that it has zero obligation to give back to its students by carefully organizing COVID-19-safe graduation plans. Given UO’s unwillingness to expend energy on non-lucrative issues, the easiest choice for the school was to relegate the 2021 graduation ceremony to a virtual format. While I can’t argue against a decision that will prevent the spread of the virus, I can argue that UO’s primary reason for doing so was not just to protect its students — but rather to avoid the hassle of organizing an event that they will not financially profit from.

Bazil Sterling is a columnist for the Emerald’s opinion desk. He specializes in sports discourse and reminding you that athletics matter more than your education. Follow his Twitter @razzle_bazil

NEWS

UO TO HOLD OLYMPIC TRIALS 6 DAYS AFTER VIRTUAL COMMENCEMENT The university faced backlash after announcing yet another virtual graduation ceremony, all while gearing up for in-person Olympic trials at Hayward Field. BY JOANNA MANN • TWITTER @JOANNA_MANN_ For the second consecutive year, the University of Oregon will conduct its commencement ceremony virtually. The decision came after several months of planning meetings and uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 vaccine distribution and changing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Vice President for Student Life Kevin Marbury. “Even with the idea that there could be a vaccine available later on, it was just not practical,” Marbury said. “We looked at the situation we find ourselves in right now in terms of limits on sizes of gatherings, and we just decided this was probably not the best way for us to proceed in terms of in-person commencement activity.” Marbury said an average graduating class is about 5,000 people, and about 35,000 friends and family attend the commencement ceremony. These numbers greatly surpass Oregon state limitations on gathering sizes, which Marbury said was the main factor guiding the decision to make commencement virtual. Many schools, including the University of Washington, have found that a hybrid commencement ceremony combining live and virtual elements can work out well. Marbury said his team explored the possibility of smaller, departmental in-person ceremonies with families watching virtually, but decided it would not be feasible for larger schools like the Lundquist College of Business, which can have nearly a thousand graduating students in any given year. “You can quickly see how it becomes very, very impractical for us to try to identify a way to actually get folks to have a meaningful experience in person,” Marbury said. “The practicality of being able to do graduation ceremonies outside in smaller venues was still going to be problematic, if not impossible, especially considering the limitations that we have as it relates to the gathering piece.” Despite going through with the decision to conduct commencement virtually on June 12, the university will continue to host the in-person U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Track and Field in June at Hayward Field. “That’s an obligation that we signed many years ago,” Marbury said. “So if they’re able to safely hold the event, we’re obligated to honor that contract.” The Hayward Field renovation cost an estimated $200 million, according to The Oregonian, and the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials brought in an estimated $37 million to the surrounding community, according to Travel Lane County. CEO of TrackTown USA Michael Reilly said he does not yet have specifics on the COVID-19 protocols for the event, but he expects the safety plan will include wearing masks, social distancing, regular sanitation and testing athletes. He said it will be “quite some time” before there is an answer on whether or not spectators will be permitted to the event at Hayward because health officials are mainly focusing on events that take place in winter and spring. “The university absolutely is part of our integrated team building these safety protocols,” Reilly said. “The university rents the facility, so our contract will specify the requirements, and one of the policies will be working very closely in hand with the university, USA Track and Field, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Lane County and the Oregon Health Authority to develop the policies and the plans.” According to someone familiar with the matter, the UO Foundation returned Hayward Field to the university in June 2020. The university has full ownership of the property and manages it as well. The UO Foundation is a nonprofit that receives, invests and distributes private gifts made to UO. UO social media accounts faced backlash from students, particularly graduating seniors, after the school announced the decision Feb. 9. Students called for the university to cancel the in-person Olympic trials if it was going to cancel in person

READ A POINT/COUNTERPOINT ABOUT COMMENCEMENT ON PG. 8

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commencement. Graduating senior Ethan Shafer said he had been expecting a virtual commencement, but the decision to also go through with the Olympic trials felt like a “slap in the face.” “How can you say that you’re trying to keep people safe, and that you’re making this huge decision to cancel graduation for the second year in a row, but then also not even address what’s happening with the Olympic trials?” Shafer said. “The university has not said anything. They won’t even address something that everyone is really pissed off about.” Shafer has worked several places on campus, including in the dorms as a resident assistant, and at ASUO and UO Conference Services. He said these jobs helped him understand how the university handles certain situations, but he believes the university could have done a better job with commencement. “I know why the university would think that it would be too hard to get ready after these graduation ceremonies for the Olympic trials sanitation-wise and getting students out of the dorms,” Shafer said. “But I still think that that isn’t necessarily an excuse.”

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Oregon bats falter in 4-2 loss against Seattle AFTER TAKING THE FIRST TWO GAMES OF THEIR SEASON, THE OREGON OFFENSE STRUGGLED IN THEIR THIRD GAME AS THEY FELL TO 2-1 ON THE YOUNG SEASON. BY MOJO HILL • TWITTER @MOJOHILL22 Following two victories to start their season, the Oregon Ducks continued their four-game series against Seattle with game three at PK Park on Saturday. After dazzling with a 0.84 ERA in 21 1/3 innings last year, junior Brett Walker got the start for the Ducks. The Redhawks hit the ground running as a leadoff walk, a double and a single led to two runs in the top of the first. The Ducks responded, as Aaron Zavala and Josh Kasevich continued their early hot streaks with back-toback singles. Tanner Smith brought home Zavala with a sacrifice fly, but Nick Bellafronto, in his first start as a Duck, left Kasevich stranded at second. Walker gave up a one-out single

in the second inning, and the runner stole second and advanced to third on a balk. Each team’s starting pitcher balked in the first two innings. Walker worked out of it though, with a strikeout and a hard liner caught by first baseman Gabe Matthews. Anthony Hall led off the bottom of the second with a single and ended up scoring the tying run on the third balk of the game. Walker settled down in the third, giving up just a two-out single. Texas Christian University transfer Caleb Sloan relieved him in the fourth and allowed a home run to his first batter to put the Redhawks ahead 3-2. Tanner Smith bunted for a hit and advanced to second on an error

in the bottom of the third, but was left stranded. Anthony Hall had a baserunning blunder in the fourth getting doubled off first, as the Ducks offense quieted down. Decker Stedman replaced Sloan after one inning. After pitching a perfect fifth, he walked the first two in the fifth and was taken out for Hunter Breault, who allowed an inherited runner to score on a single but struck out the next two while utilizing his nasty slider. Breault pitched a scoreless seventh as well. The Ducks threatened with two baserunners in each of the sixth and seventh, but left them all stranded. Kolby Somers pitched two hitless innings to hold the deficit at two going into the bottom of the ninth, as the

Ducks looked to replicate Thursday night’s magic. With one out in the ninth, freshman Tyler Ganus pinch-hit and walked in his first collegiate plate appearance. A.J. Miller pinch-hit as the tying run but struck out, and Zavala hit a sharp grounder that was scooped up by the second baseman to end the game by a score of 4-2. For the third straight game, the Ducks got some solid pitching performances, but the bats ultimately let them down in this one. “I just thought we didn’t hit very well at all today,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “A lot of lazy fly ball outs… the bottom line is we just didn’t hit well enough to win tonight.”

Ducks first baseman Gabe Matthews (12) gets off the bag as the pitch is released. Oregon Ducks baseballl takes on Milwaukee at PK Park in Eugene, Ore., on Feb. 29, 2020. (DL Young/ Emerald)

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Ducks pitcher Robert Ahlstrom (16) throws during warm ups. Oregon Ducks baseballl takes on Milwaukee at PK Park in Eugene, Ore., on Feb. 29, 2020. (DL Young/ Emerald)

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Oregon Ducks baseballl takes on Milwaukee at PK Park in Eugene, Ore., on Feb. 29, 2020. (DL Young/ Emerald)

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