FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • WEdNEsday, sEpTEmBEr 21, 2022
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL
Ducks hoping to
have players back
Oregon coach Dan
Lanning is optimistic the
Ducks will have running
back Byron Cardwell Jr.
and linebacker Justin
Flowe back on the field
for this week’s game at
Washington State.
Cardwell and Flowe
each went through pre-
game warmups and were
in full uniform for last
week’s win over BYU, but
did not play due to un-
specified injuries.
“They were both able
to practice today,” Lan-
ning said Monday night. “I
wouldn’t sit here and say
they’re both 100% yet,
but I’m hopeful that both
of them can help us this
next weekend.”
No. 15 Oregon (2-1)
relied on Bucky Irving,
Noah Whittington, Jordan
James and Sean Dollars at
running back last week,
while Jackson LaDuke
made his second consecu-
tive start in place of Flowe.
The timing of offensive
lineman Steven Jones’ re-
turn is less clear. He wasn’t
at practice last Tuesday or
Wednesday and wore a
walking boot on his left
foot while patrolling the
sideline against BYU.
“Hopeful that we can
get him back,” Lanning
said. “I don’t know that I
have a direct timeline on
him right now.”
Ryan Walk returned to
the startling lineup against
BYU and Marcus Harper II
and Jackson Powers-John-
son each played significant
reps at guard the past two
games as well.
— The Oregonian
BASEBALL
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WNBA
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
EMERGING
THREAT
Amanda Loman/AP
Tre’Shaun Harrison is looking like
a No. 1 receiving option for the Beavers
Dodgers’ Maury
Wills dies at 89
LOS ANGELES —
Maury Wills, who intim-
idated pitchers with his
base-stealing prowess
as a shortstop for the
Los Angeles Dodgers on
three World Series cham-
pionship teams, has died.
He was 89.
Wills died Monday
night at home in Sedona,
Arizona, the team said
Tuesday after being in-
formed by family mem-
bers. No cause of death
was given.
Wills played on World
Series title teams in 1959,
’63 and ’65 during his first
eight seasons with the
Dodgers. He also played
for Pittsburgh and Mon-
treal before returning to
the Dodgers from 1969-
72, when he retired.
During his 14-year
career, Wills batted .281
with 2,134 hits and 586
stolen bases in 1,942
games.
Wills broke Ty Cobb’s
single-season record for
stolen bases with his 97th
swipe on Sept. 23, 1962.
That season he became
the first player to steal
more than 100 bases.
The Dodgers honored
Wills with a moment of
silence before the opener
of their doubleheader
against the Arizona Dia-
mondbacks on Tuesday
and showed his career
highlights on the stadium
video boards. The team
will wear a patch in mem-
ory of Wills for the rest of
this season.
Wills had a stint as a
manager, guiding the Se-
attle Mariners from 1980-
81, going 26-56 with a
winning percentage of
.317.
He was the National
League Most Valuable
Player in 1962, the same
year he was MVP of the
All-Star Game played in
his hometown of Wash-
ington, D.C.
— Associated Press
BY NICK DASCHEL • The Oregonian
N
ot since 2019 has Oregon State
had a dedicated No. 1 receiver.
But one is about to emerge in
senior Tre’Shaun Harrison.
Gary Kazanjian/AP
Oregon State wide receiver Tre’Shaun Harrison runs past Fresno State
defensive back Cam Lockridge during the second half in Fresno, Cali-
fornia, on Sept. 10.
Harrison caught eight passes for 133 yards and a
touchdown during the first half of Saturday’s 68-28 win
over Montana State. The kickstart to Harrison’s sea-
son came the previous week during the fourth quarter,
when he led the Beavers with three big receptions —
including a circus-like 17-yard touchdown play — in
rallying OSU past Fresno State.
Isaiah Hodgins was a security blanket for Ore-
gon State’s quarterbacks in 2018 and 2019. Harrison
isn’t there yet, but he is beginning to look the part. It
hasn’t come without overcoming some issues. The se-
nior transfer from Florida State had some early season
drops, and a couple personal foul penalties.
Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith says he ap-
preciates Harrison’s rebound. “It didn’t exactly go right
for the first couple of games. He kept battling and there
was a belief in him. It showed on Saturday.”
See Harrison / A7
MLB
With Griner
in jail, top
players skip
Russia in
offseason
BY DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
SYDNEY — Brittney Gri-
ner’s highly publicized legal
woes in Russia and the coun-
try’s invasion of Ukraine has
the top WNBA players opting
to take their talents elsewhere
this offseason.
For the past few decades,
Russia has been the preferred
offseason destination for
WNBA players to compete
because of the high salaries
that can exceed $1 million
— nearly quadruple the base
salary of top WNBA players
— and the resources and ame-
nities teams offered them.
That all has come to an
abrupt end.
“Honestly my time in
Russia has been wonderful,
but especially with BG still
wrongfully detained there,
nobody’s going to go there
until she’s home,” said Bre-
anna Stewart, a Griner team-
mate on the Russian team that
paid the duo millions. “I think
that, you know, now, people
want to go overseas and if the
money is not much different,
they want to be in a better
place.”
Griner was arrested in Feb-
ruary, then detained and later
convicted on drug possession
charges amid Russia’s inva-
sion of Ukraine. Griner was
sentenced last month to nine
years in prison.
Now, Stewart and other
WNBA All-Stars, including
Jonquel Jones and Court-
ney Vandersloot — who also
have made millions of dol-
lars playing in Russia — are
going elsewhere this winter.
All three played for Ekaterin-
burg, the same Russian team
as Griner.
That club won five Euro-
League titles in the past eight
seasons and has been domi-
nant for nearly two decades
with former greats DeLisha
Milton Jones and Diana Taur-
asi playing there.
Nearly a dozen WNBA
players competed in Russia
last winter and none of them
are heading back this year.
After the World Cup tour-
nament, Stewart is going to
Turkey to play for Fenerbahçe.
Top players can make a few
hundred thousand dollars
playing in Turkey, much less
than their Russian salaries.
Playing in Turkey also allows
Stewart to be closer to her
wife’s family in Spain.
“You want to have a better
lifestyle, a better off-the-court
experience, and just continue
to appreciate other countries,”
Stewart said.
See Offseason / A6
Ty France, Mariners profit from improved swing
BY RYAN DIVISH
The Seattle Times
ANAHEIM, Calif. — As
a large group of media stood
waiting for him in front of a
navy backdrop arrayed with
Mariners logos, Ty France, ever
the team comedian, looked at
the group and remarked, “Oh,
this is way too many people.”
Knowing France likes the
give and take, he was told,
“Well, if you wouldn’t have
played well then nobody would
be waiting to talk to you.”
Without hesitation, France
smirked and replied, “I’ve
been doing a really good job
of that lately.”
Never afraid of self-depre-
cation, the humor was easier
for France following a game
Monday where the Mariners
won 9-1 and he drove in four
of those runs with an RBI
double in his first at-bat and a
Alex Gallardo/AP
Seattle Mariners’ Ty France hits a three-run home run against the
Los Angeles Angels during the seventh inning of a baseball game in
Anaheim, California, on Monday.
three-run homer in his fourth
at-bat while being on base for
Carlos Santana’s game-chang-
ing grand slam.
“It felt good,” France said.
“There were a couple of mi-
nor adjustments we made set-
up-wise and swing-wise, and
it kind of paid off.”
The changes likely wouldn’t
be noticeable if you weren’t
looking for them. But assis-
tant hitting coach Jarret De-
Hart was studying video of
France’s at-bats earlier in the
season and of late.
He noticed a few differ-
ences.
“He saw I was a little too
narrow with my legs and it
was causing me to kind of
like drop my back shoulder,”
France said. “My front half
was going, but my upper half
was staying back. I had to
sync that up, and then it was
just kind of working on the
direction with my hands.”
France took the changes
into the indoor cages and
could feel the difference while
hitting off the high-velocity
pitching machine.
“I was backspinning fast-
balls off the machine,” France
said. “I just kind of realized,
‘OK, I’m in a better spot.’”
See France / A7
Lindsey Wasson/AP
Seattle Storm forward Breanna
Stewart (30) reacts after hitting
a three-point basket during the
first half of Game 4 in the semifi-
nals against the Las Vegas Aces
Sept. 6 in Seattle. “Honestly my
time in Russia has been wonder-
ful, but especially with (Brittney
Griner) still wrongfully detained
there, nobody’s going to go there
until she’s home,” Stewart says.