PORTLAND PILOTS (8-12, 2-1 WCC)
WEEK 6 GAME NOTES
 
vs. San Francisco Dons (12-8, 3-0 WCC)
Dates: Fri-Sun, March 23-25, 2018
First Pitches: 6 PM/3 PM/12 PM
Location: Portland, Ore.
Ballpark: Joe Etzel Field
Video: TheW.tv
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Series: USF leads 60-30
2017: USF 4-0, USF 12-2, POR 4-1 (April 13-15 at San Francisco)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Friday • March 23 • 6 PM
POR: RHP Eli Morse (2-2, 3.56)
USF: RHP Thomas Ponticelli (3-0, 2.08)
 
Saturday • March 24 • 3 PM
POR: LHP Corbin Powers (3-2, 4.91)
USF: RHP Riley Ornido (4-0, 1.15)
 
Sunday • March 25 • 12 PM
POR: RHP Camden Muller (1-0, 4.23)
USF: RHP Landen Bourassa (3-1, 3.64)
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots are seeking their second straight West Coast Conference series win when they welcome the San Francisco Dons to Joe Etzel Field for three games this weekend.
• Friday's opener is set for 6 p.m., and the game is being featured by the WCC and Stadium as part of the "Friday Night Baseball" series.
• First pitch on Saturday is set for 3 p.m., while Sunday's finale will begin at 12 p.m.
• The Dons are 3-0 in the league after a home sweep of Pacific last week.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots opened play in the WCC by taking two of three from the Saint Mary's Gaels at Joe Etzel Field; Portland won Friday's opener 7-4, Saint Mary's took Saturday's contest 6-2, and the Pilots claimed a walk-off, 4-2 win on Sunday.
• During Friday's win, Dutton Elske collected four RBI's, which included a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning.
• The early scoring backed a sharp performance from freshman Eli Morse, who scattered eight hits over 6.2 innings while allowing three earned runs; Morse has pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last four starts.
• On Sunday, Camden Muller and Connor Knutson combined to limit the Gaels to just four hits, while a pair of RBI's from Matt Kelly helped the Pilots take a 2-2 game to the ninth.
• In the final frame with a runner on first base, Tate Budnick stepped up to the plate and launched a game-winning, two-run homer to left, handing the Pilots their first series win over Saint Mary's since 2012.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• This is the first time since 2012 that the Pilots have been better than .500 in the WCC after the opening weekend of league play.
• Sophomore outfielder Beau Brundage nabbed Rawlings WCC Player of the Week after hitting .563 with three doubles and seven RBI's during a four-game series at home with UC Irvine (Mar. 9-11).
• Brundage, who is second in the conference with a .397 batting average, recently had a career-long 18-game hitting streak come to an end; he's also second in the WCC in hits (31).
• The Pilots are second in the WCC in both home runs (14) and triples (4).
• Jace McKinney, a junior transfer, had a hit in his first seven games as a Pilot, and he's second in the WCC with two triples.
• Ryan Kim nearly became the first Portland player in program history to hit for the cycle on Feb. 24 against Saint Joseph's, but the sophomore outfielder fell a single shy; after going 3-for-3 to begin the day, Kim drew a walk during his final at-bat.
• Daniel Lopez joined a long list of Pilots to hit two home runs in a game during a 3-for-5, eight RBI performance on Feb. 24 against Saint Joseph's; no player in UP history has hit three home runs in a game.
• Portland plays 20 of their first 24 games of 2018 at Joe Etzel Field.
• Headlining UP's 20 returners is junior infielder Matt Kelly, who led the team with a .292 batting average last season; junior outfielder Cody Hawken led the Pilots with 27 RBI's as a sophomore, and senior Ryan Hoogerwerf hit a team-best seven HR's in 2017.
• Junior right-hander Kevin Baker, who earned Second Team All-WCC in 2017, was voted to the 2018 All-WCC Preseason Team; he's currently unavailable as he recovers from an injury.
• Last spring Baker ranked 27th nationally and was third in the WCC in K's per 9.0 innings (11.41); he also had the Pilots' lone complete game of the season, and his 3.03 ERA was fifth in the conference; his career-high 13 K's at Pacific (April 30) tied for the third most in a game ever for the Pilots.
• 2018 marks the third year for head coach Geoff Loomis, a Portland baseball alum and UP Athletics Hall of Fame member who still holds the UP program career record for batting average (.376).
• Portland's game against Seattle on March 22 last season was the 600th in the coaching career of Loomis, who previously spent 13 seasons as head coach at Pacific Lutheran, where he led the Lutes to 11 winning seasons and two NCAA Regional appearances.
• Pitching coach Connor Lambert, who spent the past seven seasons as the associate head coach/pitching coach for the Corvallis Knights, is in his first year at Portland; he came to UP from the University of Utah, were he was the director of operations.
• Some tidbits from the 2017 season:
    - The 16-inning game against Pepperdine at Joe Etzel Field on April 9 was the longest game for the Pilots since also playing a 16-inning contest in 2008 vs. Northern Illinois.
    - The capacity crowd of 1,300 to watch the Pilots and No. 1 Oregon State on April 4 was the largest in Joe Etzel Field history; the previous high was 1,092, which also came against Oregon State in 2016.
    - The 23-19 loss at BYU on May 11 featured the most combined runs in one game in the 94-year history of the UP baseball program, and it's the most runs ever scored by the Pilots during a loss.
 
ABOUT THE GAELS
• The San Francisco Dons are a balanced club, hitting .271 while combining for a staff ERA of 3.41.
• Nationally, they rank 14th in doubles (48), while the pitching staff is 22nd in WHIP (1.18) and are 28th in hits allowed (7.33).
• Sophomore RHP Riley Ornido is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.15, and he's third in the country in both fewest hits allowed (3.16) and WHIP (0.57).
• Redshirt-senior Michael Perri is batting a team-high .342 with three HR's, 17 RBI's, and eight doubles; junior Jonathan Allen is hitting .341, and he leads the WCC with nine doubles.
• Three-time WCC Coach of the Year Nino Giarratano is in his 20th season as head coach of the Dons.