As of Monday, the beginning of Oregon’s third week of spring football practice, the frontrunner of the quarterback competition is about as clear-cut as it was the first week: Not very.

After the team’s scrimmage Monday, head coach Mark Helfrich said the quarterbacks “just didn’t come out with any kind of urgency or leadership.” He described the quarterbacks’ play as “inconsistent” and said the consistency aspect hasn’t come into play for any of them.

“That is not uncommon of a competition-type situation, but that’s also where you’d like to kind of see someone step up, and I anticipate that happening.”

Helfrich said Dakota Prukop and Travis Jonsen are doing things “a little bit more consistently than the others.” He will not name a starter by the spring game on April 30, but said he would like to see one of the quarterbacks “take the bull by the horns” and “[run] the show in practice” in the weeks leading up.

“All the guys have shown glimmers of that, and that just goes back to their own comfort level and confidence in what they’re doing.”

Prukop has said repeatedly he will feel he’s done his job in spring camp if, by the end, he has built strong relationships with his teammates and has command of the offense. He said he’s not waiting around to become a leader.

“Guys and coaches are just looking for someone they can trust, and trust comes from doing your job,” Prukop said. “When they see a guy who’s consistently doing his job — every play, every down — then that’s who’s going to take over.”

The Ducks are in a unique situation in that the three quarterbacks presumably at the top of the depth chart — Prukop, Jonsen and Terry Wilson — have no playing experience at the Division I level. Those three have taken the majority of the repetitions behind center, while the two quarterbacks with playing experience — Jeff Lockie and Taylor Alie — have taken a back seat. Helfrich said Lockie and Alie have been playing the role of “half-mentor, half-wideout,” because drilling more than three quarterbacks at a time is “impossible.”

“That was a tough and easy decision to make — just trying to flush things and move forward.”

While Helfrich continues to search for leadership at the quarterback position, he said Royce Freeman and Charles Nelson, who are not “naturally vocal leaders,” have stepped into that role.

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Before USC faced Oregon Friday, 16 of the Trojans’ 32 games this season were decided by a single run. They were 8-8 in those games.

Now, they have a losing record in one-run games.

The Oregon Ducks (15-12, 5-5 Pac-12) emerged victorious, 4-3, in a back-and-forth battle with USC Friday at PK Park, thanks in large part to clutch plays from two freshmen.

Freshman shortstop Travis Moniot, who entered the game hitting .149, tied the game at 3-3 with a solo home run in the fifth inning. In the eighth, as a runner on first attempted a steal, Moniot broke toward second but reversed directions to make a back-handed play on a ground ball and throw a runner out at first and prevent a precarious, runners-on-the-corners situation.

“I feel like we’re starting to find our identity a little more,” Moniot said. “Coach Horton said we need to hit first instead of waiting for something to happen.”

Freshman outfielder Jake Bennett scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning on a play that began as a busted hit-and-run; the pitch was too high for Steven Packard to swing. As Bennett stole second, the catcher’s throw bounded past the shortstop and into center field. Bennett broke for third, and the center fielder tried to throw him out but sailed the ball into the visitor’s dugout, giving Bennett a free pass to home plate and the Ducks a 4-3 edge.

“I think it’s just the snowball effect,” Bennett said. “We’re starting to get things going right and then it seems like everyone’s getting a little more confident.”

Starting pitcher Matt Krook had another signature, “effectively wild” outing. He allowed three runs, all earned, on four hits, six walks and five strikeouts in 6.0 innings.

Matt Mercer relieved Krook to start the seventh inning and got into hot water after a pair of two-out singles, but Brac Warren took over for him and got the Ducks out of the frame unscathed.

Warren pitched a scoreless eighth and Stephen Nogosek shut down the ninth inning to secure the Ducks their third straight win.

“It feels good. It’s been awhile since we won on Friday,” Manager George Horton said. “It doesn’t make the rest of the series any easier; the prideful Trojans, I’m sure, will come back guns a-blazing. But to get off to a good start — we feel good about that.”

Oregon’s win streak would be at four games, but its game Wednesday against Portland was halted due to weather with the Ducks leading 3-1 in the ninth inning.

The Trojans struck first in the top of the first. Lead-off hitter Corey Dempster pulled a double down the third baseline and advanced to second for a double. He advanced to third on catcher Slade Heggen’s passed ball and scored while the Ducks turned a 5-4-3 double play.

The Ducks scored once in both the first and second innings to take a 2-1 lead. A.J. Balta blasted a triple down the right field line to score Austin Grebeck, who drew a lead-off walk, and put Oregon on the scoreboard. With two outs in the second, Heggen roped a triple and, following a walk, Grebeck drove him home with a line drive single to left-center field.

USC retook the lead on Frankie Rios’ two-run double to right-center in the fourth, but Moniot’s big fly came shortly thereafter.

Oregon takes on USC in game two Saturday at 2 p.m.

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Oregon baseball manager George Horton’s teams have embraced “small ball” throughout his long and prosperous coaching career. But in his 19th season as head coach, he and his coaching staff made the decision to move away from that strategy.

“It’s an intentional thing — we’re not trying to sacrifice as much,” Horton said.

Oregon’s offense, however, has struggled mightily. The team batting average (.217) and on-base percentage (.322) are the lowest in the conference and slugging percentage (.324) is second-lowest. All three are the lowest they’ve been in any season under Horton. The Ducks (14-12, 4-5) have scored the third-fewest runs per game (4.77) and currently sit in eighth place in the Pac-12 standings.

Small ball is an offensive approach that emphasizes “manufacturing runs” — moving runners into scoring position by means of sacrifice bunts and stolen bases. Its counterpart, the “take-and-rake” approach, underscores scoring runs in bunches by means of walks and extra base hits.

During Horton’s tenure, no Pac-12 team has played more small ball than Oregon. The Ducks’ “small ball index” — sacrifice bunts plus stolen base attempts per game — of 2.91 is the highest in the conference from 2009 to the present.

Thus far in 2016, the Ducks’ small ball index of 1.92 is the lowest it has been since 2009 (1.95), Horton’s first season at Oregon. The Ducks have averaged far more sacrifice bunts per game (1.27) than any team in the Pac-12 during that span, but the fourth-fewest (0.73) in 2016.

Prior to the start of the season, the Ducks were excited to move away from the strategy.

“That just means the coaches are going to trust us a little bit more,” Phil Craig-St. Louis told reporters at the beginning of the year. “With the pitching we have, I think we’ll be able to win some games just by swinging and not go back to the bunting that has been here for so many years.”

The change in approach is not a byproduct of his current players’ skill sets, which Horton said are not much different from those of past players. Rather, he and his coaching staff wanted to change the status quo.

“We don’t want to lead the nation in sacrifice bunts anymore,” he said.

Horton acknowledged Oregon’s shift away from small ball will inevitably lead to more double play balls because runners will advance to second less frequently due to fewer bunts and steals. He hopes it will lead to more multi-run innings, which he said are “momentum-breakers” for opponents.

“It’s not about hitting home runs, but it’s just lack of giving up outs as sacrifices. We’ll still base hit, bunt to move guys and all that. We’re trying that style to see if we can get the continuity to score more runs consistently.”

Conventional knowledge says small ball will lead to more consistent scoring than the take-and-rake approach. A 2005 analysis of Major League Baseball teams by Baseball Prospectus, however, determined “hitting approach has no effect on the consistency of runs scored.”

A regression analysis indicates that the Ducks tend to win more of their games in seasons when their small ball index is higher. If they are committed to moving away from small ball, they may need to recruit players who more closely fit the take-and-rake mould.

Oregon baseball’s small ball index each season has some correlation with its win percentage. (Kenny Jacoby/Emerald)

Oregon plays Portland Wednesday, then hosts a three-game series against USC this weekend. The Ducks hope their offensive outburst in Sunday’s series-clinching win over Pac-12 leader Cal serves as a “turning point” for the season.

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The NCAA Division I Council approved new rules at its April meeting on Friday, one of which requires schools to only conduct football camps and clinics at their own facilities, essentially banning “satellite camps.”

At the Ducks’ spring football practice on Friday, Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich said he was surprised by the sudden rule change, and that Oregon was “on the other side of that vote.”

“We’re in a place where we’d like to be able to go out and visit guys or have an opportunity for us to pay for it,” Helfrich said. “We’ll play the rules as they come, but it was surprising to have it happen that quickly.”

The proposal for the rule change came from the SEC in response to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s ambitious “Swarm Tour,” which was comprised of stops at nine different football camps in cities across the country, including some in SEC recruiting territory. The SEC complained about the potential recruiting advantages it would create for Harbaugh, despite it being commonplace for teams in the past decade. The SEC, as well as ACC, had previously banned their coaches from satellite camps, but said it would have lifted its ban if the proposal did not pass.

According to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, the SEC, ACC, Pac-12, Big 12, and Mountain West conferences voted against satellite camps, while the Big Ten, AAC, C-USA and MAC voted in favor of them.

ESPN’s Dan Murphy — and many others — wrote that the ban doesn’t hurt Harbaugh, but rather hurts the prospective student-athletes who depend on such camps to get noticed by coaches.

Washington State head coach Mike Leach expressed his dissent in regards to the rule change.

“It appears that the selfish interests of a few schools and conferences prevailed over the best interests of future potential student-athletes,” Leach told The Seattle Times. “The mission of the universities and athletic programs should be to provide future student-athletes with exposure to opportunities, not to limit them.

“Some universities and conferences are willing to sacrifice the interests of potential student-athletes for no better reasons than to selfishly monopolize their recruiting bases.”

Another new rule the Division I council passed deregulates electronic communication with prospective student-athletes who participate in football, cross country, track and field and swimming and diving.

Helfrich said the rule change will benefit Oregon, presumably because Oregon is far away from regions of the country that are established as recruiting hotbeds, but will be a nuisance for “blue chip” recruits — high school players who have proven themselves to be among the best at their positions.

“I think for us that will be easier,” Helfrich said. “If I’m Johnny Blue Chip, I’m not liking that very much. I’m getting a new phone.”

Helfrich said some programs will employ automated machines to send messages to prospective athletes “literally a thousand times a day.”

“Say you’re Royce Freeman coming out of high school, and you’re getting just inundated with 100 teams — the head coach, the recruiting coordinator, position coach and all those things — texting you on a daily basis, that can get very annoying very quickly.”

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An onslaught of crushed gappers and perfectly-placed bloop hits supplied the Ducks with six runs in the fifth inning, a lead they did not give back against Cal Sunday at PK Park. Despite a late surge from the Bears, Oregon added insurance runs in the sixth and went on to take the game, and the series, by score 11-5.

After dropping game one, 12-2, and giving up a record 21 hits on Friday, the Ducks won the next two games to claim their first series win since taking two of three against UC Santa Barbara March 6.

“It’s a turning point in our season, for sure,” Daniel Patzlaff said. “That was a tough loss [Friday] and we came out almost angry the next day and really wanted to get a series win.”

The win improves the Ducks’ record to 14-12 (4-5 Pac-12).

“I’m proud of them,” Horton said of his players. “This was a big series — and we have plenty more work in front of us — but getting this series was a great accomplishment.”

Oregon’s fifth inning explosion began with Patzlaff’s leadoff double down the right field line. Three straight singles from Travis Moniot, Austin Grebeck and Kyle Kasser scored Patzlaff and Moniot and gave the Ducks a 3-2 edge. A.J. Balta hit a flare to left that, somehow, found grass between the left fielder, shortstop, third baseman and foul line. It scored Grebeck while Balta advanced to second for an unlikely double. Kasser scored on Jake Bennett’s RBI groundout, Balta came home on Steven Packard’s two out, pinch hit double to right-center, and Tim Susnara added an RBI single with another floater over the third baseman’s head that scored Packard from second. Oregon led 7-2 by the end of the inning, in which 11 Ducks made plate appearances.

Cal answered back with three runs in the sixth. Reliever Kyle Robeniol allowed a single and a walk before Jack Karraker replaced him and lasted just one batter, whom he hit with a pitch to load the bases. Isaiah Carranza entered in his place with runners in scoring position. The runner on third tagged up and scored as A.J. Balta made a sliding catch on a foul ball to left, and Mitchell Kranson doubled to right to score a pair of runs, cutting Cal’s deficit to 7-5.

Oregon, though, rebutted with four runs in the bottom half of the inning. With bases loaded, Bennett hit a potential inning-ending double play ball to the second baseman, who tossed it to the shortstop. The shortstop would have nailed Bennett at first but instead sailed it past the first baseman as two runs came around to score on the throwing error. Patzlaff came through with a two-out, two-run single to right field to provide the Ducks a healthy 11-5 advantage.

Oregon utilized seven pitchers to secure the win. Starting pitcher David Peterson, who hadn’t pitched since March 20 due to arm tightness and a canceled game against Michigan State, threw three no-hit innings but walked two batters and drilled three. Matt Mercer entered in his relief and gave up a two-run triple to Devin Pearson in the fourth. Brac Warren shut the Bears down in the seventh and eighth, and Stephen Nogosek closed out the ninth. Oregon hit six batsmen in total, including Pearson three times, a feat Horton called “crummy.”

The Ducks finished with 15 hits, three of which came from Patzlaff. Grebeck, Balta and Moniot contributed two hits apiece.

“This might be a defining moment,” Horton said. “It’s certainly a start.”

Oregon will play a road game against Portland on Wednesday, April 13 and a home series against USC over the weekend.

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The No. 9 California Golden Bears hit safely 21 times Friday at PK Park, marking the most hits Oregon has given up to an opponent since the baseball program’s reinstatement in 2009.

Starting pitcher Cole Irvin threw the majority of his pitches for strikes, but Cal came out swinging early and often. By the sixth inning the Bears had built a comfortable lead and cruised the rest of the way to a 12-2 victory.

“Every mistake that [Irvin] made they crushed,” Manager George Horton said. “Against a team like them that’s obviously a very good hitting team — and we’ve seen some of them — we’ve got to command the ball a little more effectively in the zone and out of the zone.”

The shelling began with a five-run first inning for Cal. Three consecutive singles brought the first run home and a three-run home run to right field by Brenden Farney followed. With two outs, third baseman Daniel Patzlaff made a diving grab on a ground ball down the base line, but short-hopped Kyle Kasser at first base. The ball trickled into foul territory and Cal scored its fifth run from first on the single and throwing error.

Irvin’s day was done two batters — and two singles — into the sixth, a surprisingly long outing given he allowed 15 hits. The Bears added three runs, including a solo home run by Nick Halamandaris, in the fourth and fifth and had a six-run lead by the time Horton pulled Irvin from the game. Freshman Isaiah Carranza conceded an RBI-double and a two-run single in relief of Irvin, who ended up being charged with 10 runs — nine earned — as his ERA jumped from .240 to 3.69 and record fell to 2-3.

Horton said he takes part of the blame for Irvin’s rough outing because he called the pitches.

“I didn’t think I called a good game and we didn’t execute pitches as well as we should have,” Horton said.

Freshman Parker Kelly relieved Carranza in the seventh and gave up Cal’s 12th run on its 20th hit of the night in the eighth.

Freshman Jake Bennett’s performance was the silver lining on an otherwise ugly night. He came through in a big spot in the bottom of the first, cracking a two-run, opposite-field double over the outstretched glove of the left fielder with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. In the third, he stretched a two-out flare to no man’s land in left into a double on a full sprint from the batter’s box, but was stranded on second.

Bennett has been a mainstay in the line-up since breaking out for three RBIs, two singles and two walks against Washington on March 24. He hit third in the batting order the next two games and moved into the clean-up spot against Notre Dame, where he’s batted ever since. His .371 batting average ranks second on the team, as does his .463 on-base percentage.

“He’s been doing good,” Horton said. “Him and Kasser have certainly provided us a spark.”

Austin Grebeck notched a double and a single but all-in-all it was another poor day for the offense, which finished with six hits. Cal starting pitcher Ryan Mason tossed a complete game with eight strikeouts. Oregon’s first two batters of the game scored, but its next 31 did not.

The Ducks (12-12, 2-5 Pac-12) have now lost 10 of their last 15 games and sit at the bottom of the conference standings, while the Bears (19-7, 8-2) remain in first place.

“We only have ourselves to blame,” Horton said. “… It’s on me.”

The teams will square off again Saturday, 2 p.m. at PK Park.

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The No. 9 California Golden Bears hit safely 21 times Friday at PK Park, marking the most hits Oregon has given up to an opponent since the baseball program’s reinstatement in 2009.

Starting pitcher Cole Irvin threw the majority of his pitches for strikes, but Cal came out swinging early and often. By the sixth inning the Bears had built a comfortable lead and cruised the rest of the way to a 12-2 victory.

“Every mistake that [Irvin] made they crushed,” Manager George Horton said. “Against a team like them that’s obviously a very good hitting team — and we’ve seen some of them — we’ve got to command the ball a little more effectively in the zone and out of the zone.”

The shelling began with a five-run first inning for Cal. Three consecutive singles brought the first run home and a three-run home run to right field by Brenden Farney followed. With two outs, third baseman Daniel Patzlaff made a diving grab on a ground ball down the base line, but short-hopped Kyle Kasser at first base. The ball trickled into foul territory and Cal scored its fifth run from first on the single and throwing error.

Irvin’s day was done two batters — and two singles — into the sixth, a surprisingly long outing given he allowed 15 hits. The Bears added three runs, including a solo home run by Nick Halamandaris, in the fourth and fifth and had a six-run lead by the time Horton pulled Irvin from the game. Freshman Isaiah Carranza conceded an RBI-double and a two-run single in relief of Irvin, who ended up being charged with 10 runs — nine earned — as his ERA jumped from .240 to 3.69 and record fell to 2-3.

Horton said he takes part of the blame for Irvin’s rough outing because he called the pitches.

“I didn’t think I called a good game and we didn’t execute pitches as well as we should have,” Horton said.

Freshman Parker Kelly relieved Carranza in the seventh and gave up Cal’s 12th run on its 20th hit of the night in the eighth.

Freshman Jake Bennett’s performance was the silver lining on an otherwise ugly night. He came through in a big spot in the bottom of the first, cracking a two-run, opposite-field double over the outstretched glove of the left fielder with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. In the third, he stretched a two-out flare to no man’s land in left into a double on a full sprint from the batter’s box, but was stranded on second.

Bennett has been a mainstay in the line-up since breaking out for three RBIs, two singles and two walks against Washington on March 24. He hit third in the batting order the next two games and moved into the clean-up spot against Notre Dame, where he’s batted ever since. His .371 batting average ranks second on the team, as does his .463 on-base percentage.

“He’s been doing good,” Horton said. “Him and Kasser have certainly provided us a spark.”

Austin Grebeck notched a double and a single but all-in-all it was another poor day for the offense, which finished with six hits. Cal starting pitcher Ryan Mason tossed a complete game with eight strikeouts. Oregon’s first two batters of the game scored, but its next 31 did not.

The Ducks (12-12, 2-5 Pac-12) have now lost 10 of their last 15 games and sit at the bottom of the conference standings, while the Bears (19-7, 8-2) remain in first place.

“We only have ourselves to blame,” Horton said. “… It’s on me.”

The teams will square off again Saturday, 2 p.m. at PK Park.

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Oregon second baseman Kyle Kasser has flown under the radar for much of his baseball career. At 5-foot-10, 176 pounds, he is routinely one of the smallest players on the diamond. But since getting an opportunity to start, he has been the Ducks’ most reliable hitter.

On March 19 against Utah, manager George Horton started Kasser in the second spot of the batting order, in search of “a little spark” on offense. Up to that point, his team’s two-through-five hitters combined for a .181 batting average.

Kasser provided that spark. He broke out with three hits, a walk, two RBI and a run in five plate appearances. He started in the two-hole again on March 22 and has been a staple in the lineup ever since. He leads the team with a .400 batting average.

Patience has been key to Kasser’s success. He was barely recruited by college programs in high school despite hitting .434 and earning first-team All-League honors his senior year.

“Being small was definitely one of my downfalls,” he said. “I was always overlooked.”

As the end of his high school career neared, Kasser hadn’t been recruited to play anywhere, so he sent a highlight tape to “pretty much all schools, just trying to go anywhere.” Because of that, he received a few offers, including one from Horton.

“Kasser, as a baseball player, is a winner. He’s a scrappy guy that bunts, hit-and-runs, executes, walks,” Horton said. “It’s not ice skating for him — it’s not style points or anything else. He just finds a way to beat you.”

Kasser started one game as a freshman, but made the most of limited opportunities. In the first game of the 2015 Civil War series, the score was tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Horton called on Kasser to pinch hit.

With just six at-bats to his name, Kasser worked the count full and watched the payoff pitch run just off the outside corner of the plate: ball four. The runner on third scored and Oregon won 3-2 on his walk-off walk.

Kasser remembers that pivotal at-bat as one of his greatest baseball accomplishments. Now when he’s struggling at the plate, he thinks back on that moment to regain his confidence.

“It kind of came out of nowhere, really, but it definitely gave me some confidence and let me know basically that I can compete at this level,” Kasser said. “It was just one at-bat, but it kind of settled me in a little bit. I realized I belong here.”

Kasser said his teammates were surprised because he hadn’t contributed much prior to that at-bat.

“People kind of gave me a little more respect,” Kasser said. “I believe that I’m a hard worker and stuff, but to have that show on the field I think kind of opened some people’s eyes to see what I can do.”

In addition to batting average, Kasser is the team leader in on-base percentage (.514) and slugging percentage (.533).

“I’m not the biggest guy, so I have to win it with mentality,” Kasser said. “I have to be up there saying I’m the toughest person out there — you can’t beat me. I’m going to give you everything I have, and I’m going to beat you with that.”

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Dakota Prukop has never had weapons at his disposal like he does now.

He managed to pass for 5,584 in two seasons as the starting quarterback for Montana State without any legitimate receiving threats to throw to. None of his pass catchers accumulated more than 632 yards or caught more than 52 passes in a season.

Now, Prukop has Darren Carrington, Charles Nelson, Devon Allen and Dwayne Stanford — and those are just the proven guys. Touted underclassmen receivers Alex Ofodile, Kirk Merritt, Jalen Brown and Dillon Mitchell all look to make an impact.

“It’s a treat,” Prukop said about working with Oregon’s receivers. “I’ve caught myself a few times throwing a bad ball or not exactly throwing it where I’d like to, and the receiver goes and gets it, and I’m like, ‘Oh wow, I’m not used to that.’”

“In terms of turning a bad play into a good one, it just shocks me.”

Prukop prides himself on making consistent, high-percentage throws, which is ideal for a spread offense like Oregon’s that demands quick reads and decisions from its quarterback. With his new weapons at receiver, however, his concept of a high-percentage throw has changed.

In the past, for example, Prukop did not consider a receiver open if a defensive back tailed him closely on a flat route. But thanks to Oregon’s fast, talented receiving corps, that throw is now deemed high-percentage.

“With these guys, you can throw the ball and the receiver will go get it,” Prukop said.

Prukop said he is still adjusting to the speed of his receivers on deep routes. Quarterbacks coach Dave Yost said Prukop struggled with the deep ball in the first practice. Some of his long passes, Yost said, looked more like grenades that probably wouldn’t have killed anyone.

“We’ve got some fast guys on the outside,” Yost said. “We’ve just got throw it early and throw it far so they can run underneath and get it.”

“I’ve got to put those guys in better situations to make big plays,” Prukop said. “Instead of an under-thrown ball, let it hang out there and let them go get it.”

Prukop’s predecessor, Vernon Adams Jr., made a living throwing deep balls. Adams’ 10.2 yards per attempt was the second-highest in the FBS in 2015.

Prukop said he can throw a deep ball “extremely well.” His average attempt at Montana State was 9.2 yards, which would would have been seventh-highest in the FBS last year.

Former Oregon basketball player Dwayne Benjamin, who hinted at his return to football on Thursday, could find himself on the receiving end of some of Prukop’s deep passes this season. He was present during practice Monday, although Coach Mark Helfrich said he “didn’t do a lot” and was “just trying to get involved.” Benjamin is 6-foot-7 and was timed running a 4.5 40-yard dash.

Prukop hasn’t had the chance to throw to Benjamin yet.

“Im sure his head is spinning, putting in all this new stuff,” Prukop said of Benjamin, who has been out of football for four years. “I saw him out there running around and talking to [Carrington] quite a bit. It looks like they’re taking him right in.”

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— Three of the nine members of the women’s tennis team were dismissed from the program due to a “violation of team rules,” the Oregon athletic department confirmed Saturday. As a result, the team was forced to forfeit two singles matches in a 7-0 loss to Stanford Saturday. None of the three players competed when Oregon fell 7-0 to Cal Friday.

— A lack of offense doomed Oregon softball Sunday in a 4-1 loss to UCLA. The Bruins took the series with the win following a five-inning 16-6 win on Friday. Megan Kleist pitched a complete game in Oregon’s 6-5 win Saturday.

— Defensive lineman Torrodney Prevot told reporters at spring football practice Friday that learning to play a 4-3 defense under new defensive coordinator Brady Hoke is like “becoming a freshman again.” Nevertheless he’s encouraged. Prevot said to expect more sacks, tackles for loss and physicality from the Ducks defense, which ranked 116th in total defense in 2015.

— Oregon baseball’s record fell to 11-11 after a 6-3 loss to Notre Dame Thursday and 3-2, extra-innings loss to Michigan State Friday. The damage could have been worse, but the final two games of the series against the Spartans were canceled due to inclement weather.

— Men’s tennis honored its departing seniors with a 4-0 sweep of Utah Sunday. The team grabbed its first conference victory of the season Friday, a 4-0 sweep of Arizona.

— Two-time All-American Jeremy Elkaim won the 5000 at the Stanford Invitational Friday, and several others scored personal bests.

— Beach volleyball secured its first win of the season against Portland Sunday, after losing its season-opening matches to Stanford and Boise State.

— Oregon acrobatics and tumbling took place in the sport’s first-ever televised meet Thursday, but fell 282.025-280.180 to No. 1 Baylor.

— Men’s golf is one month and one regular season tournament away from championship season, and Coach Casey Martin said the team “just [hasn’t] quite found [its] flow yet.”

— Despite falling short of a Final Four bid, the men’s basketball team seems poised to build on its success, writes the Emerald‘s Hayden Kim.

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