QuickTake:

Oregon’s head groundskeeper studies the best in the business, tracks every weather shift and pours his pride into the field’s most important patch of dirt.

There are many things Justin Arp considers dear to him in his phone’s camera roll. But on a Friday afternoon in early April, the one thing the Oregon baseball groundskeeper wanted to show off wasn’t his family. 

It was a baseball mound. 

“When I say it’s a piece of art, it’s a piece of art,” Arp said as he pulled up a photo from the Miami Marlins’ park. 

Editor’s note: People are the heart of Lane County — which is why, each week, Lookout Eugene-Springfield will profile someone who is working behind the scenes to make our community better. If you have suggestions on others we should profile, send us an email.

Name: Justin Arp

Age: 37

Job title: Groundskeeper, PK Park  

To be clear, the photo Arp displayed wasn’t even the main mound of the Major League stadium. It was the bullpen mound, which Arp marveled at for its meticulous condition and angles. 

“Holy smokes, man,” the 37-year-old from Redding, California, said. “I can spend time on things, but I don’t think I could spend enough time to get it that precise and perfect.”

A man can try, though.

Arp has been honing his craft at the University of Oregon for 12 years, beginning as a laborer and moving to the softball grounds crew before taking over at PK Park last season.

Softball was great, Arp said, except for one thing.

“I like working on the mound better than the flat dirt,” he said. “It’s a little more of a challenge. There’s more angles. It’s more of a work of art than just making flat dirt. 

“It’s all a work of art.”

He and his crew usually arrive at the stadium six hours before first pitch. They hose PK Park’s synthetic turf if it’s hot and tarp it if it’s wet. There’s no grass to mow, but the layer of rubber and sand that sits beneath the fake blades needs to be dragged before every game. 

“If you can imagine, it’s like a giant sandbox,” Arp said. “You’re always regrading this thing.” 

After a surprising amount of sunshine during the season’s first two months, Arp was glued to his weather app April 10, while monitoring an incoming storm. First pitch, originally slated for 5 p.m., moved up to 3 p.m. and eventually faced a near two-hour delay when showers began in the sixth inning.

It was more than 12 hours at the ballpark before Arp got to go home to his wife and two kids after Oregon’s 7-6 win over Nebraska.

“She’s not a huge baseball fan,” he said.

Being a head groundskeeper for a college team isn’t glamorous like it is in the pros. There are no coordinated dances by the infield crew here. 

There are some perks, though. Arp recently showed off the massive ring he was given for being a part of Oregon’s 2025 Big Ten Championship staff. He had to post the picture, he said, because he didn’t know where he’d actually wear the thing. 

“Maybe at the baseball donor banquet,” he said. “Just to pull it out, let it get some air.” 

The community is also a plus. Arp has known Oregon baseball coach Mark Wasikowski since the coach was an assistant on George Horton’s staff in the early Oregon days. He’s also found a host of open ears online. 

Arp said he’ll spend time scouring the internet for groundskeeping tips and bounce ideas off his peers on X. 

“I’m always trying to find new practices,” he said. “So much of this job is messing up and knowing not to do it again.” 

And while he might not have grass to mow at PK Park, Arp begins every day with his own canvas.

“Every part of the game starts on the mound. That’s my baby,” he said. “That thing has to be pristine.”

Tyson Alger covered the Ducks for The Oregonian and The Athletic before branching out on his own to create and run The I-5 Corridor. He brings more than a decade of experience on the University of Oregon sports beat. He has covered everything from Marcus Mariota’s Heisman Trophy-winning season to the Ducks’ first year in the Big 10.