Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill that walked back the voter-passed Measure 110. The measure, which decriminalized some controlled substances in 2021, has faced criticism amid large amounts of overdoses across the state.
BY TAREK ANTHONY • DESIGNED BY ADALEAH CARMANOn April 1, Gov. Tina Kotek signed House Bill 4002, which walks back Oregon’s three year-old drug reform initiative, Ballot Measure 110. Measure 110 was initially passed with approximately 58.5% support from Oregon voters in November 2020 and went into effect in February 2021.
The measure reclassified drug possession laws in Oregon, changing the personal possession of controlled substances including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E violation punishable with a small fine. The fine was dismissable if the individual sought treatment within 45 days of receiving the citation.
Under HB 4002, individuals charged with possession will now face misdemeanor drug charges, punishable with jail time.
Je Amaechi, the reimagining community safety manager at Unite Oregon, said that public perception of Measure 110 is being used as a “scapegoat” to avoid addressing the broader national addiction crisis.
crime as a result [of Measure 110],” Parosa said. “Since [Measure 110’s] implementation, we’ve had property crimes rising, including car thefts, and burglaries … we can say that we absolutely have seen crime rates increase.”
A major goal of Measure 110 was to provide treatment options as an alternative to jail; however, Perlow said that LCDA has little legal authority to force individuals to remain in treatment programs. Amaechi said that while incarcerating people on drug charges may improve public perception of the addiction crisis, it does not actually correct it.
“People know that there’s a drug crisis because they go outside and see it, but if everybody’s arrested and put behind bars … that’s not in front of people’s faces, so in their mind it is out of sight out of mind,” Amachei said. “But it’s not actually correcting the issue. In fact, it might in a lot of ways make it worse.”
on this year’s night market. (Kemper Flood/ Emerald)
“[Measure 110] is definitely a scapegoat,” Amaechi said. “This is not an Oregon issue, this is not something that is stemming directly from Measure 110, it is a nationwide problem.”
Ahead of the February 2024 legislative session debating the future of 110, Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said he was hopeful for reform on the bill but did not want a full repeal.
“There’s often a direct correlation between significant substance abuse disorder and criminal behavior,” Skinner said. “What [they’d] originally hoped [that Measure 110 would] accomplish is not accomplishing those intended outcomes.”
In a December 2023 interview with the Daily Emerald, Lane County District Attorney Patricia Perlow and Lane County Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Parosa said they also did not want a full reversal of Measure 110. However, Parosa said she thought it had contributed to a rise in violent and non-violent crimes in Lane County.
“[Lane County] had higher levels of violent
HB 4002 gives county prosecutors and law enforcement the option of operating a deflection program. A deflection program would permit drug offenders to be referred into a behavioral health program, as an alternative to jail.
UO student Ciaran Moses originally voted yes on Measure 110, but said he is glad to see it reformed.
“I was somebody who voted yes on the measure. I thought it could be executed really well. But I also just think that Oregon was not set up [and] didn’t have the resources [or] instruction in place to carry out such an ambitious law,” Moses said. “I think there’s an ideal future where something like that [110] could be put back in place but [not] in the immediate future.”
Amaechi acknowledged that Measure 110 had imperfections, but said that HB 4002 ignores the voter-backed scientific approach towards addressing addiction.
“What [HB] 4002 is doing is basically ignoring the science and saying that rather than treating this [addiction] as a public health issue, which is what the voters intended to do, we’re going to treat this as a crime,” Amaechi said.
OPINION: Eugene’s house show scene has exploded in creativity in recent years as it prepares for the coming spring season
BY MADDY MOORE • DESIGNED BY GABRIELA MARTINEZ
Spring is bound to wake up all the house show venues by bringing blooming flowers, warm weather and late sunsets. With the new temperatures and sunshine, bands are expected to pop up alongside them, boosting the spring wave of Eugene’s music scene. Recognized bands around the University of Oregon campus are starting to come out of winter with new material, such as Mommy with its debut album “Villard Street.”
As just another person lost in a house show crowd, it seems like everywhere I go there’s a new group in Eugene. It almost feels like I stumble upon new songs and bands every week, especially in the last month as the cold and rain have eased up. With spring term coming up, there will be lots more happening in the music scene on campus and around Eugene.
Even though I, along with many other UO students, have been in Eugene for around four years, the music scene goes back so much further than I ever knew. Since the 1850s, Eugene has hosted band after band and has thrived as a hot spot in the northwest for people to come and make music together.
“I always kind of heard stories and legends of the Eugene music scene,” Kayla Krueger, a guitarist in the band GrrlBand, said. Krueger, originally from Portland, heard from former co-workers about which bands to look out for in Eugene once she moved here. The recommendations included the bands Novacane and Laundry.
After the COVID-19 pandemic shut live music down, artists came together in Eugene again and house show attendees got drawn back to their beloved shows. The scene, especially large and popular due to UO’s presence in the city, often feels like a collective of friends and familiar faces. According to Krueger, the music scene and community are “one giant group of people that all have similar interests.”
“When you put people like that together in the same environment consistently, something’s gonna happen and people are gonna start breaking off and doing their own projects,” she said.
The current wave of Eugene music takes on a more dreamy sound compared to music in Portland. The unique styles in Eugene come from the various bands and their approaches to producing and performing.
“It feels like the past four years have been building up to where we are now as a band, but also where all of our friends are now as bands, and what new bands are emerging,” Krueger said.
With spring weather, house shows can be held outside, and new bands will start emerging. Krueger says that the warmer, sunnier weather will encourage people to host more shows and give people more reason to celebrate and enjoy music together.
Although the pandemic was a large setback for people everywhere to make or listen to music outside their own homes, the Eugene scene was able to bounce back with its own unique styles and friendships among musicians.
“Eugene has a really strong music legacy, the hippie culture is really strong here,” Krueger said. “I think that weird hippie counterculture is definitely still alive and well in Eugene. [It] creates the perfect foundation for music to succeed and for music to be born.”
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Hoffman will begin in June for the 2024-25 academic year, assuming the role after Evan Reynolds
BY LIZZY SOLORZANO DESIGNED BY EVA ANDREWSThe Emerald Media Group Board of Directors has selected Tristin Hoffman to be the 2024-25 editor-in-chief of the Daily Emerald. She will take office this June.
Hoffman is a current junior majoring in journalism with a minor in law. She started her journalism career by joining her high school paper at the suggestion of a friend. Over time, she took on the role of editor-in-chief and led her team through the challenges of the pandemic. Hoffman realized she wanted to join the Emerald after being inspired by the investigative reporting from other student publications. She was a writer on the opinion desk before joining the Emerald’s news desk during her sophomore year. She spoke with the then-news editor, who encouraged her to pursue the position of news editor, which she eventually secured.
“What’s fun is the reporting process for me,” Hoffman said. “Just the overall process of how to best report on the story differently from other organizations or other reporters — it’s like being competitive with yourself and others. I love the challenge of trying to think outside of the box.”
Pursuing that passion for investigative reporting, Hoffman started an investigations team with a handful of reporters she believed “showed a lot of promise with the way they had a critical eye” for news. Because the team was new, it was a learning process for everyone, especially for Hoffman. Transitioning into the position as an investigative news editor meant adapting to new responsibilities, she said, which differed from her other role as news editor. Instead of getting news out as soon as possible, she knew she had to be strategic about surfacing that information.
“It’s playing the long game. It’s not getting that quick hit — it’s sitting down and thinking about the ethics behind journalism a lot more,” Hoffman said. “It’s just a lot of thinking about the impact you have as a journalist for the world.”
The current editor-in-chief, Evan Reynolds, reflected on his time and struggles as a former interim news editor with a small news team. As editor-in-chief, he wanted to revitalize the news desk to regularly produce breaking stories that students could immediately turn to while actively engaging with the community.
“To my amazement, it has surpassed my wildest expectations in the past year,” Reynolds said. “We’re regularly producing news stories and hearing about things. We launched an investigative team which was super exciting, and with that, you see Tristin already delivering results before she could even step into the editor-in-chief role. That’s something that wouldn’t have been possible without that initiative.”
Hoffman has a goal of increasing recognition of the Emerald on campus, and she believes leveraging social media is key. She plans to collaborate with social media editors to foster creativity and ensure a wide variety of content.
She aspires to cultivate a sense of community within and outside the newsroom. Inside, she plans to organize game nights and increase her presence in the office to engage more people in conversation and collaboration. Beyond the newsroom, she hopes to strengthen partnerships with BIPOC student clubs, not only to diversify the publication’s content but also to motivate them to participate as writers and amplify their voices.
Hoffman also hopes to inspire reporters from all sections of the newsroom to embrace new challenges, like tackling news reporting or making public records requests that can enhance their articles. She feels that these skills are valuable, and her goal is to empower reporters to broaden their skill sets and feel confident in facing any task that comes their way.
“You’re the most impactful when you inspire people in this job. It takes someone who’s really passionate and committed,”Reynolds said. “I’m glad that the person who is taking over next year is someone who I know can and will do the job to the best of her ability, and that’s Tristin.” Reynolds witnessed Hoffman’s efforts to enhance the news desk, creating a vibrant culture with a cohesive team spirit. He believes she will bring this contribution to the broader newsroom upon assuming the position.
“It’s a longstanding tradition with life and being EIC that you come into the Emerald or life ready to learn, then you experience everything and then you reflect on what you’ve learned, and ultimately you teach others,” Hoffman said.
“That’s where I’m at in the process, and it’s cool to be at that point where I’m teaching others but I’m still learning too.”
Reynolds said he is grateful to have worked with an amazing team this year. Every year, an editor-in-chief takes on the job and makes their own mark. However, Reynolds and Hoffman each said that the Emerald is not solely determined by who holds the position of editor-in-chief. At the end of the day, the level of commitment and effort each staff member puts into it determines its success. If they are dedicated and strive for its success, the team will thrive collectively.
“I hope the staff at the Emerald recognizes the great work they’re doing,” Hoffman said.
“Everyone’s doing such a great job, and I hope that people realize that they’re on their way to great careers of storytelling and hearing other people.”
UO BIPOC club leaders share what to expect for their upcoming collaborative night market later this spring
The BIPOC student clubs Asian and Pacific American Student Union, Mecha and the Hispanic Public Relations Student Association’s group Unidos, are collaborating to host a night market on campus in late May.
APASU hosts an annual night market during the spring term. Mecha and Unidos had ideas for their own markets during the same term but decided that collaborating would be the best way to showcase cultural diversity in one event.
Each club serves its purpose in contributing to cultural awareness. APASU celebrates Asian and Pacific American culture. Mecha was originally a Chicano-led organization created during the movement toward educational rights. It has since branched into different clubs like Muxeres to reach a wider audience outside Mexican heritage to include those with Latin American backgrounds. Unidos is UO’s chapter of HPRSA with a student-led firm that builds community in working with real clientele to practice what they learn in class and apply it to their work with clients.
“The night market is great because it allows opportunities for multicultural organizations to come together and celebrate each other,” Unidos Co-President Samantha Lomelli said. “I think that the night market offers a space and time for culture to flourish, be highlighted, recognized and celebrated with everybody in the community.”
The night market expects to have food vendors, artisans and performers. Students from each club will be volunteering to work with the vendors to help things run smoothly. Traditionally, at APASU’s night markets, the club invites food vendors offering Asian cuisine. With Mecha and Unidos representing Hispanic and Latinx backgrounds, the members aim to diversify the vendors with the inclusion of Hispanic foods.
“Originally, Mecha wanted to have a mercadito [little market] because we felt like we haven’t done anything with Latin American vendors,” Mecha External Director Maria Gaspar said. “As conversations went on, that’s when I got a hold of Unidos, a smaller club on campus. I felt it would benefit both of us to collaborate and bring in more Latinx people.”
The clubs also plan to invite local artisans who specialize in crafting items reflective of their cultures. Gaspar is coordinating Mecha’s invitations to performers within the Hispanic and Latinx community to showcase a cultural dance live in front of the audience later in the evening. The clubs also plan to provide activities. This provides attendees with a diverse array of cultural experiences, ranging from food to art.
While plans are not yet set in stone, the club members are working together to ensure the night market’s success, with hopes that everyone leaves with a greater sense of cultural awareness than when they arrive — as that is the basis of the event.
“I think it’s important that we don’t just stick with Latinx organizations,” Gaspar said. “It’s important that we branch out and push students to create connections among other ethnic groups. I think there’s value in that. With us all being BIPOC, I think it’s also important for us to build community.”
The night market marks the first time these clubs have worked together on such an event. Members from all clubs are hoping for the event’s exposure to attract students to join and engage, recognizing that each club has something to offer everyone in the campus community.
“The reason I thought this was a good idea is because we haven’t been collaborating much with other organizations like this. Maybe in tabling events here and there,” Gaspar said. “We don’t really have connection with other cultural groups, and that’s something important to do because we can be more aware of their culture and they can be more aware of ours, so it’s a mutual gain.”
Gaspar said this event will play on each club’s strengths so each club involved is utilized effectively. APASU will coordinate food vendors with Asian cuisine, Mecha will
coordinate with performers displaying cultural dances and Unidos will contribute to creating the publicity of the event.
The clubs’ board members believe that this event will be beneficial to all students on campus because it serves as a cultural celebration for everyone to get involved in and immerse themselves in culture, if only for one night.
“Especially if you’re not exposed to this kind of culture every day, it’s a great way to dip your toes and try new things,” Lomelli said.
While the club members are excited for the event itself, they believe an event like this provides value to all students interested in joining clubs.
“I think it’s always a good starting place,” said Logan DeBusk, the internal outreach coordinator at APASU. “I think it can be intimidating to join a club where people already know each other and have their friends. So when it’s a big event like this, people can be better introduced to them.”
Due to the night market being a cultural event hosted by cultural clubs, the clubs are actively looking for students who are still trying to find a space on campus that relates to their identity.
“I would highlight the multicultural aspect that APASU likes to emphasize,” Lomelli said. “They like to immerse you in their culture with their music and entertainment and as much fun as that is, it’s definitely educational. It has a great sense of community and celebration.”
When DeBusk started his college experience, it was a large campus event centered around Asian culture that caught his attention, sparking his interest in the Asian clubs available for him to join on campus.
“Having that separate community where I can talk about my own experiences that we can all relate to has been very nice,” he said. “At the event, everyone can show up and explore the different clubs to see where they fit in best.
DeBusk emphasizes the cultural significance of events like the night market within an academic setting, highlighting their importance in showcasing BIPOC students that there are spaces where individuals can find community and representation with other students who share similar academic and cultural experiences.
“It’s especially important to work with people our age who are connected to the school and also part of cultural identity-based organizations,” Faiire Platt, the other copresident of Unidos, said in commenting on Unidos’s publicity work for the event. “It’s nice to know that what we practice as students and what we practice as a club is really paying off because we’re helping people with things they don’t account for when we’re trained to account for those things, and it feels like real-world practice.”
Platt values this event greatly as the co-president for Unidos because the night market offers the ideal opportunity to do something that lies at the heart of Unidos, which is combining culture and public relations skills.
Jaimes hopes that other clubs will be inspired by the collaboration involved in organizing this event, encouraging them to host more events like the night market to display different cultures in one setting.
“I think this is a great starting point. It’s a great place for other clubs to see that we can cross-culturally collaborate,” Jaimes said. “Just because you don’t come from the same backgrounds, doesn’t mean you can’t put on something cool.”
Members from each club work diligently to finalize the details to make this event a success so that everyone can derive value from it in different ways, such as gaining cultural knowledge, enjoying diverse foods, joining clubs, or forming new friendships.
“I know it’s going to be super fun,” Lomelli said. “It’s a great celebration so everyone should come in a good mood, be ready to have fun and get excited for it.”
HERE’S WHAT THE OREGON ROWING EXPERIENCE IS ALL ABOUT — AND WHAT TRAINING IS LIKE FOR THE TEAM
With so many different athletics available for students to participate in during college, it’s easy to forget that rowing was the first-ever collegiate sport in the United States. It all started in 1852 with the first race between Yale and Harvard, and the sport has grown ever since. Oregon is no different from the rest, bringing rowing into its athletic portfolio and receiving national notoriety in 1972 from Sports Illustrated.
training heavily, Monday through Friday, to get ready for the spring racing season. Each day, the team will have morning practices that start at 5:45 a.m. on the dot.
in the best shape that we can, physiologically, to be able to pump out the best numbers that we can.”
Oregon rowing consists of a men’s and women’s team that compete, practice and train during all three seasons under their head coach Zach Hedeen, and assistant coach Emily Kraschel. During the complete season, the teams do longdistance or head racing in the fall, training and conditioning in the winter and sprint racing in the spring. Head racing consists of a 5,000-meter time trial for women’s and a 6,000-meter time trial for men’s. Sprint racing is a classic 2,000-meter that is seen in the Olympics.
“Depending on the season, we’re either on land training on the stationery or on the water out at Dexter Lake,” Sydney Weddle, a sophomore rower on the women’s team, said. “Then on Saturdays, it switches off in the fall and spring for water practices, but we’re usually at Dexter and if the weather allows it.”
Due to it being the winter part of the rowing
“My alarm goes off at 5 a.m. and I’ll get to training for our quick warm-up and we follow that with 50 minutes of whatever our coach has set up on the rowing machines. Then we’ll do 50 more minutes of out-in-the-world running, biking or other sorts of cardio with stretching after,” Kyle Knapp-Pattee, a sophomore on the men’s rowing team, said. “We also have lifts two days a week, one being synchronously and the other asynchronously.”
Since the team is mentored under head coach Hedeen, who was a human physiology major at UO, he takes a very scientific approach to training that effectively gets rowers to their peak performance with different heart rate zones.
“We’ll start with the heart rate zone that we want to do for the day, and then supplement that with each zone of exercises,” Weddle said. “So it’s always one heart rate with a designated zone. So when it’s time for testing on ergs, that way we’re
Even though the time commitment and training can seem hard at first, the Oregon rowing team is a welcoming and extremely supportive group of students and mentors.
“I would say there are maybe five or so students on our team right now, maybe fewer, that have rowed in high school,” Weddle said. “We’re all new to it basically.”
For these rowers, waking up early and going through hard workouts in preparation for races has brought the team so close-knit they consider each other as family.
“It’s a comfortable feeling — being excited to see them every morning and spend time with people you love. It’s the best way to start your day,” Knapp-Pattee said.
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Big changes are coming for Oregon women’s soccer.
The Ducks finished the 2023 season with a 0-16-3 record. A winless fall season meant that seismic changes were necessary. A team that was too young has added a handful of players with postseason experience.
Oregon is bringing in eight transfers for the 2024 season. A refreshed roster means it’s time to gain familiarity with a new Ducks squad.
The first of the most recently announced transfers is a forward coming from Virginia Tech. Taylor Bryan is a fifth-year who’s previously played in the NCAA Tournament, so she’ll bring plenty of experience to a young Oregon frontline.
Haley McWhirter is another player coming in with NCAA Tournament experience. The senior midfielder began her collegiate career with East Carolina before transferring to Mississippi State. Now that she has a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances under her
Cameron Bourne and Lauren Kenny are a couple of the forwards that she’ll play alongside.
The Ducks lost Ajanae Respass, Ryann Reynolds and Kaitlyn Paculba to the transfer portal this off-season. Six forwards return from 2023 and only three of them have seen the field for Oregon. Bryan brings a boost to the offense with the exit of some of the Ducks’ main goal contributors. She recorded seven goals and three assists for 17 points in her time with the Hokies.
While Bryan only tallied two goals in 2023, they were both game-winners. Oregon struggled to produce any sort of offense last season. It only scored nine goals in the entirety of the season and was held scoreless in 13 games. To bring in a player who isn’t just capable of scoring, but is able to do so when it matters the most should be music to the ears of the Oregon faithful.
The defense was arguably the most cohesive position for the Ducks in 2023. That’s not saying much, as it conceded 48 goals, which is more than five times what Oregon scored. Anna Emperador and Anna Phillips, two of the Ducks starting defenders last season, transferred. A backline that already needed some changes now has big boots to fill.
Lucy Green is the latest defender to commit to Oregon via the transfer portal. Green played for Ole Miss for three years — and redshirted another — and helped them to the NCAA Tournament twice. She scored two goals and an assist for the Rebels as a defender. Green is another player that will get Ducks’ fans excited, as she was a key part of Ole Miss’ best postseason showing in program history.
Sydney Cradle, Makoto Nezu, Sydney Hennessey and Lexi Lerwick are the other four transfer defenders that were announced in January. Like the rest of the players on this list, Cradle, Nezu and Hennessey all have NCAA Tournament experience. Nezu even won a national championship with Santa Clara in 2020 and played all 110 minutes in the championship game.
belt, she’ll play for her third team in four years. McWhirter totaled 14 goals, nine assists and 47 points in 64 games between her two previous schools.
Jayd Sprague is the other midfielder who will be joining the squad. Sprague played two years at the University of San Francisco before transferring to the University of Idaho for her next two seasons. She’s scored six career goals to go along with an assist. Sprague was Big Sky all-conference in both her seasons with Idaho and helped the Vandals to the NCAA Tournament by winning their conference tournament.
Nezu and Cradle will both be fifth-years, while Hennessey will be a redshirt senior. Lerwick will be a redshirt sophomore.
Recruiting more experienced players appears to have been an emphasis for the Ducks following the 2023 season. Oregon had 15 freshmen last season, which was second among Power Five programs. It will only have three freshmen — one being a true freshman — in the spring season. Instead, the Ducks will have eight players who will be in their fourth or fifth season in the fall after just having one in 2023.
The brand-new team will require time to develop chemistry. With the exception of Bryan, McWhirter, Sprague and Green, the rest of the roster will be available for the five-game spring exhibition season.
Oregon has a ways to go to contend for conference titles and NCAA Tournament berths, but with the addition of experienced veterans, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
After a slow start, the Ducks are beginning to showcase their offensive prowess
The Oregon Ducks softball team currently boasts a 20-12 overall record and a 7-4 record in conference play. The Ducks currently sit fourth in the Pac-12 behind the Stanford Cardinal, Washington Huskies and UCLA Bruins. After starting the season ranked as the No. 13 team in the country, Oregon has been in and out of the Top 25 rankings almost on a weekly basis, not being ranked higher than No. 20 since the beginning of conference play.
The Pac-12 has shown early in this season that it will be one of the top conferences in softball. The conference currently has five teams ranked in the latest AP Top 25. The Cardinal, Huskies and Bruins are ranked No. 6, 8 and 14 respectively and the Cal Golden Bears and the Ducks rank No. 19 and 21 respectively.
Oregon has not had an easy conference slate so far this season. The Ducks won their first three series of the season against the Cal Golden Bears, the Utah Utes and the Arizona State Sun Devils with a combined record of 7-2 through those games. However, UCLA was the first team to beat Oregon in a series where the Bruins won the first two games before the final game of the series was canceled.
“The [Pac-12] is tough,” head coach Melyssa Lombardi said after the series opening win against the Sun Devils. “So every time we win we celebrate.”
Despite the recent series loss, the start of the conference season has seen a renewed Oregon team, and a better looking offense. A non-conference record of 13-8 is not a bad record on the surface.
However, the Ducks only faced one team that was ranked at the time
— the Clemson Tigers who were ranked as the No. 5 team when the two matched up — and had many games against lower quality teams that led to easy wins.
For the early part of the season, the offense seemed to be a major source of concern for Oregon. The Ducks regularly struggled to keep up in games where their defense could not contain the opposing team. However, this trend has seemed to change in recent weeks. Since beginning Pac-12 play, Oregon has been able to collect a fair amount of comeback victories. This included the first two games of the series where the Ducks allowed a pair of runs in the first inning before coming back to win.
Some of this can be attributed to Emma Kauf’s improved play. After a slow start to the season, Kauf has recorded a .310 batting average in conference play. In addition to her improved ability to get on base, she has also added three home runs in Pac-12 play.
“I just think she’s settled in,” Lombardi said about Kauf after the team’s recent win over Arizona State. “I think we forget, she’s a veteran, but this is her first year here. So it’s
BY JOE MOORE DESIGNED BY EVA ANDREWSnew and sometimes it can take you a little bit longer to settle in.”
Kauf’s emergence has added to an already impressive Oregon batting rotation. Kai Luschar — who generally leads off the batting order for the Ducks — has a .427 batting average so far this season which ranks third in the Pac12. She has also stolen 18 bases: good for second in the conference. In addition, Ariel Carlson also leads the Pac-12 in RBIs with 37 on the season, and is tied for second in the conference with nine home runs.
Oregon’s offensive improvements have seen it take its place among the best teams in the conference. The Ducks lead the Pac-12 in total runs in conference games and sit near the top of the conference in most hitting statistics. Their improvement has seen them make an almost complete transformation from the team that began the season with too many preventable losses.
Despite the Pac-12 being a very tough conference this season, Oregon has already played a couple of the top teams in the Golden Bears and the Bruins. The Ducks have won just two of their five games against those teams, but have proven that they can keep up. After being shut out four times in their nonconference slate, Oregon has not been shut out yet in Pac12 Conference play.
In fact, the Ducks have yet to score less than three runs in a game against a Pac-12 opponent.
As the season wears on, the Oregon offense looks like it will only continue to get better. For a Ducks team that is looking to improve on their impressive year last season, this trend is a good sign as they continue their season with hopes of returning to a Super Regional.
