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PORTLAND PILOTS (2-7) at #20 OREGON DUCKS (7-1)
Dates: Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015
First Pitch: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Eugene, Ore.
Field: PK Park (4,000)
Video/Stats: GoDucks.com
Series: ORE lead 86-26
2014: Oregon swept 4-0 (8-2 @UO, 15-10 @UO, 3-0 @UP, 3-2 @UP)
 
PORTLAND PILOTS (2-7) at WASHINGTON HUSKIES (5-3)
Dates: Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015
First Pitch: 5:00 p.m.
Location: Seattle, Wash.
Field: Husky Ballpark (2,200)
Video/Stats: GoHuskies.com
Series: UW leads 93-48-1
2014: UW 7, POR 6 (March 18 @ Tacoma, Wash.)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Tuesday • Feb. 24 • 6 PM
POR: RHP Billy Sahlinger (1-0, 1.12)
ORE: LHP Jacob Corn (0-0, 5.40)
 
Wednesday • Feb. 25 • 5 PM
POR: TBA
UW: TBA
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Portland Pilots play a pair of mid-week road games as they travel to both Oregon and Washington to face the Ducks and Huskies.
• First on Tuesday the Pilots will be in Eugene, Ore., for a 6 p.m. game against the No. 20 Ducks at PK Park; on Wednesday Portland will head north to Seattle, Wash., to battle the Huskies at 5 p.m. at Husky Ballpark.
• Portland will then return to The Bluff to host UC Davis at Joe Etzel Field this weekend; Friday's series opener will begin at 2 p.m., while first pitch is set for 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots avoided a sweep at Sacramento State by blanking the Hornets 2-0 on Sunday at Hornet Field.
• Sophomore right-hander Davis Tominaga went the distance on the mound for his first career complete game shutout; Tominaga scattered seven hits and struck out five.
• Kevin Farley provided the game-winning RBI's with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the ninth inning.
• Previously the Hornets won the first three games of the series by margins of 3-2, 7-2 and 12-2; the opener on Friday was tied 2-2 before Sacramento State scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland's game against Seattle on Feb. 17 was the 3,000th game in the history of the University of Portland baseball program, which dates back to 1923.
• That Seattle game was also the 900th game at the helm of the Pilots for head coach Chris Sperry, who began his coaching career in 1998.
• Portland's 15 hits in the 9-7 loss at UC Riverside on Feb. 15 were the most hits for the Pilots in a game since April 3, 2013; the Pilots followed that performance with 15 more hits during a 9-0 win over Seattle at Joe Etzel Field on Feb. 17.
• Portland hit two home runs during the win against Seattle, which was the first time to have two homers in the same game since a win over Kansas State on Feb. 20, 2014.
• Michael Lucarelli leads Portland hitters with a .375 after entering the season with a career batting average of .194; he also has team-bests of three doubles and a triple and he belted his first career home run last Saturday at Sacramento State.
• The Pilots went 11-41 last season and posted a 5-22 record in the West Coast Conference.
• Four of Portland's 11 wins last season came on walk-offs.
• Portland returns most of its roster from last year and headlining the returners offensively are senior Caleb Whalen (.265) and sophomore Davis Tominaga (.291).
• Whalen led the team last year with four home runs, three triples, 12 doubles and 22 RBI's.
• Whalen currently ranks third all-time at UP with 12 career triples, which is just two shy of Larry Farrell's (1958-61) all-time program career record of 14 triples.
• Whalen's six RBI's at Oregon on April 8 last year tied for the fourth most in a game in program history and it's the most RBI's by a Pilot since 2009, when Garrett Queen also drove in six against Hawai'i.
• Tominaga also pitches for the Pilots and he registered one of two complete-game wins by a UP freshman pitcher last season when he went the distance during a 9-1 win at Santa Clara on April 4.
• Portland returned 23 letterwinners, eight position starters and most of its pitchers from last season.
• The Pilots were picked to finish 10th in a pre-season poll of the WCC's 10 head coaches.
• Joe Etzel Field, Portland's home ballpark, received a new surface during the offseason, switching from natural grass to artificial AstroTurf; the Etz also received new fencing, bullpens and a scoreboard and the improvements mark the beginning of a three-phase, long-term upgrade to the facility.
• Sperry, a former standout catcher/infielder for the Pilots, entered the spring with 335 career wins in 17 years at the helm; he trails only long-time Portland coach Joe Etzel, who compiled 378 career wins in 21 seasons (1966-86).
• Joining Sperry once again on the bench are assistants Larry Casian (9th year), Tucker Brack (7th year) and Jeremy Beard (2nd year).
• Casian, a pitcher, spent parts of nine years in the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• The Ducks' lone loss came at Hawai'i on Feb. 15.
• Oregon is batting .278 as a team and has a 3.30 staff ERA; junior Phil Craig-St. Louis is batting .389, while junior Matt Eureste is hitting .387 with a homer and nine RBI's.
• George Horton is in his seventh year as head coach at Oregon and he's led the Ducks to three straight NCAA post-season appearances.
• After opening the season by sweeping Pacific, the Huskies lost three of four games last weekend at the Pac-12/Big-12 Tournament in Arizona.
• UW has a team batting average of .272 and a staff ERA of 4.31; junior Austin Rei is batting .412 with a home run and five RBI's.
• Reigning Pac-12 Coach of the Year Lindsay Meggs is in his seventh year at UW, which reached an NCAA Regional in 2014.