Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski as the Oregon Ducks face the Portland Pilots in a college baseball game April 14, 2021, at Joe Etzel Field.

EUGENE — Oregon baseball is going to look different on the field in more ways than one this season.

The Ducks will have an entirely new pitching rotation and several new starters in the field as well. They’ll also be playing at a renovated PK Park, which had its FieldTurf replaced, the fences brought in slightly in the power alleys, a new videoboard installed in left field and the fence height made uniform throughout the park this offseason.

“It’s coming along nicely,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “There’s brand new turf out there. There’s graphics all over the place. They just are beginning the videoboard and scoreboard. All of the changes and the updates and all of that stuff should be complete by the beginning of the season, first home game. Everything is on pace. It looks amazing.”

The walls in left- and right-center have been moved in between 10 and 15 feet and the fence is now 6-1/2 feet tall across the entire outfield, compared to the previously shorter wall in front of the Oregon bullpen in right field.

The hope is those changes will create more offense in the pitcher-friendly ballpark, specifically allowing more opportunities for triples since there will be fewer ground-rule doubles.

“It’s going to allow outfielders to make more athletic plays, maybe rob some home runs,” Wasikowski said. “It’ll also allow for the ball that goes over an outfielder’s head, instead of bouncing over the fence that we saw a lot of times, especially in right field with our short porch, I think what we’re going to see now and what we’ve seen so far in the early going is that ball bounces and hits the fence.

“More triples in the ballpark or scoring a guy from first base on a ball that goes to the wall. That’s a pretty exciting piece of the baseball game, the three-base play is the most exciting play in the game. To limit that is something we tried to get rid of, we tried to maximize that and I think we’ll be able to do that.”

The players like the renovations and naturally hitters and pitchers have different perspectives on the changing dimensions in the outfield.

“It’s going to take some time to get used to because the old park was a little bigger obviously,” outfielder Anthony Hall said. “I’m more excited for the offensive part. I think it’ll help us a little bit, especially me.”

Hall hit .286 with 11 doubles, a triple, six home runs and 36 RBIs last season and was also one of UO’s best defensive outfielders.

The changes certainly won’t turn PK Park into a bandbox but the extreme edge for pitchers, particularly in the early spring, will be lessened.

“That just means I’m going to have to keep the ball low and at the knees and lower than that,” pitcher Isaac Ayon said. “Other than that it feels beautiful. I’m glad we got a renovation. We couldn’t be happier.”

The new turf will also impact the infield. Older FieldTurf fields had more rubber and ground balls would take bigger hops, whereas newer technology includes cork and coconut husks that are much closer to natural dirt infields.

“It’s awesome,” shortstop Josh Kasevich said. “I think the coolest part for me is the infield. Kind of a different material. I think actually it’s coconut shavings on the infield so it plays kind of like dirt. Get some more true hops and plays really nice.”

The Ducks began team practices Friday, Feb. 4.

The season opener at San Diego is Feb. 18, and the home opener against St. John’s is Feb. 25.