Sports Editor Peter Hockaday peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com Friday, April 4,2003 -Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Best bet MLB: Anaheim at Oakland 5 p.m. Sunday, ESPN2 Ranked foes await Ducks in Bay Area _____ Adam Amato Emerald Erin Goodell and the No. 21 Ducks head south to California in search of snapping a three-game losing streak. Oregon softball heads south to battle Stanford and defending national champion California for three decisive games Softball Mindi Rice Sports Reporter Forecasts show signs of rain. A windy, damp trip to California may be just what the softball team needs to turn its season back to the winning trend the Ducks had in the preseason. The Ducks take on Pacific-10 Confer ence rivals Stanford and California in three games this weekend — facing the Cardinal today, and then playing Califor nia on Saturday and Sunday. After their 17th win against Oregon State in the team’s conference opener, \7Vx 01 M 7 n overall, 1-3 Pac-10) has lost three straight games for the first time this season. During the preseason, the Ducks won three tournament titles in five national tourna ments — beating ranked opponents alnnd flip wav Oregon has played three games in the last three weeks — during the team’s road trip to Arizona. The Ducks lost 2-0 to No. 12 Arizona State before losing 4-1 and 8-0 to No. 2 Arizona, collecting only eight hits on the weekend. “Playing on the road in the Pac-10 is so difficult,” head coach Kathy Arendsen said. “We’ll have to play better defense and we’ve got to hit the ball. If we’re only going to get eight hits in three games, we’re not going to be very successful. If we can only score one run in the games, I can guarantee we won’t be successful.” The Ducks have missed 11 games this season because of weather, including a snowed-out road trip to Colorado and an entire tournament canceled in Utah. They have played the least amount of games in the Pac-10 this season. Oregon and California faced off earlier this season, with the Golden Bears pulling out the 6-0 win in a preseason tournament championship game. Oregon ended the 2002 season with a 4-0 win at Stanford, but has not won at California since 2000, when the Ducks swept both schools on the road. Two Ducks have already won confer ence awards this season — freshman pitcher Amy Harris and sophomore sec ond baseman Erin Goodell. Harris won the season’s first Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week award on Feb. 10. The Eugene native picked up wins against two ranked teams the previous "Playing on the road in the Pac-10 is so difficult We'll have to play better defense and we've got to hit the ball." Kathy Arendsen Oregon head coach week, and currently leads the team in strikeouts — 83 — and ERA —0.90. Goodell was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week on Mar. 17 after her performance in the Ducks’ 10-2 win against Oregon State two days earli er. i ne Koseourg na tive hit two home runs — her entire home run total during the 2002 season — scored three runs and has picked up three runs batted in. Senior Andrea Vidlund has nine RBI this season, moving her career total to 88 and putting her at ninth on Oregon’s all time RBI list. The Ducks are currently seventh in the conference of eight. Oregon State is 0-4 in Pac-10 play to round out the Turn to Softball, page 10 Oregon tennis teams head south for sun, game victories The Oregon tennis teams look to end losing streaks this weekend in California and Arizona Tennis Ryan Heath Freelance Sports Reporter Sometimes a change of scenery is a good way to end a los ing streak. The Oregon men’s and women’s tennis teams hope that is the case this weekend as they head south for important matches against ranked opponents. The men, ranked 58th in the nation and coming off two straight Pacific-10 Conference losses, are in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday to take on No. 40 Arizona and visit Tempe on Saturday to battle No. 49 Arizona State. The Ducks have struggled on the road this year, going 2-4, but three of the four losses were against teams in the top-35 and the fourth was to Purdue, currently ranked 50th. Oregon sends the 92nd-ranked singles player in the nation, Manuel Kost, and the No. 42 doubles team of Sven Swinnen and Oded Teig to face an Arizona squad without a single player in the na tional rankings. The Wildcats have kept their high ranking in the polls with strong doubles and solid singles play from the bottom spots. The Sun Devils welcome the Ducks with No. 125 Pirn Van Mele in singles and the 21st ranked duo of Oliver Charroin and Turn to Tennis, page 10 Lorenzo takes second in Texas Santiago Lorenzo staged a comeback in a decathlon that almost crowned him champion Track and field Jesse Thomas Sports Reporter Even after three personal bests and an NCAA automatic qualifying mark, redshirt senior Santiago Lorenzo did all he could to state his case that he is back and better than ever. With the conclusion of the decathlon Thursday, Lorenzo I was 14 points shy of his second title at the 2(X)3 Clyde Lit terfield Texas Relays. Lorenzo walked away from Mike A. Myers Stadium with a 22-point personal best and an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 7,911 points. He fell short to Auburn junior Maurice Smith (7,925) after a charge in the final three events where Lorenzo made up 333 points. “It’s a little bittersweet,” Lorenzo said. “I can’t complain with a PR but I felt a little rusty.” Lorenzo’s other personal bests came in the 110 hurdles at 14.83 seconds and the discus, at 145-feet-8 inches. His other marks include 15-9 in the pole vault, 199-2 in the javelin and 4:32:58 in the 1,500 meters. After sitting in third place after day one and a sour finish in the 400 where he ran his slowest time in six years, Lorenzo got off on the right foot with a personal best opener of the 110 hurdles. Although Lorenzo’s 3,950-point day was capped early, Smith cushioned his lead by 112 points after winning the hurdles and throwing the event’s best mark in the discus. Lorenzo had been there before, with his best events still ahead. After clearing 15-9 in the pole vault, the eighth event, Lorenzo had rallied 196 points and earned 75 more with a 199-2 toss in the javelin. Emerald Santiago Lorenzo nearly won the decathalon at the Texas Relays. 1 was really proud ot the way I was able to step up on the third-attempt chances in the field events,” Lorenzo said. Turn to Track, page 10