PORTLAND PILOTS (17-26, 9-12 WCC)
WEEK 12 GAME NOTES
 
at Seattle U Redhawks (30-15, 11-7 WAC)
Dates: Tue-Wed, May 8-9, 2018
First Pitches: 1:30 PM/11:00 AM
Location: Bellevue, Wash.
Ballpark: Bannerwood Park
Video: WACSports.com/watch
Live Stats: Game 1 I  Game 2
Series: POR leads 78-73-1
2018: SU 9, POR 6 (March 13 in Portland, Ore.)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Tuesday • May 8 • 1:30 PM
POR: RHP Kevin Baker (0-0, 3.38)
SU: LHP Jarrod Billig (1-2, 5.09)
 
Wednesday • May 9 • 11:00 AM
POR: RHP Cameron Richman (0-0, 3.45)
SU: TBA
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots step out of conference for a two-game road trip to Bellevue, Wash., where they'll play the Seattle Redhawks on Tuesday and Wednesday at Bannerwood Park.
• First pitch on Tuesday was moved up to 1:30 p.m., and Wednesday's game will begin at 11 a.m.
• Portland then returns home to host the San Diego Toreros for a three-game West Coast Conference series at Joe Etzel Field, beginning on Friday.
• The series with USD are the final home games of 2018 for the Pilots.
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots had last week off to focus on final exams and graduation, but previously Portland dropped two of three at home against the Pacific Tigers during the weekend of April 27-29.
• During the opener on Friday, April 27, the Tigers scored the game's only run, which was unearned, in the top of the eighth inning to claim a 1-0 win.
• The Pilots got two runners on with only one out in the bottom of the ninth, but were unable to produce any runs.
• Portland starter Eli Morse went 8.0 innings allowing just six hits; he fanned six and didn't issue a walk.
• Pacific took Saturday's game 14-7 before the Pilots recovered to win the finale 7-4 on Sunday.
• The Pilots jumped out to an early lead with a five-run first inning, and Ryan Hoogerwerf provided some insurance with a solo homer in the eighth.
• Reliever Connor Knutson collected a three-inning save, his fifth stop on the year.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• 10 different Pilots have homered this year, led by Cody Hawken with seven.
• Hawken has stepped up his game against WCC foes, batting a team-high .351 during conference play; he's hitting .305 overall, which is easily a career-best and ranks second on the team.
• Sophomore outfielder Beau Brundage is currently batting .394, which leads the WCC by a wide margin and ranks 18th nationally; it's also No. 7 on Portland's single season record charts.
• He also leads the WCC in hits (67), hits per game (1.6), and on-base percentage (.469).
• Brundage has hitting streaks of 18 games, which was a career high, and 10 games this season.
• Eli Morse was masterful on the mound at LMU on Friday, April 20, collecting Portland's first complete-game win since 2015; the freshman K'd a career-high 11, and he yielded just five hits.
• In his last two starts, Morse has surrendered just one earned run, while fanning 17 in 17.0 innings pitched.
• The Pilots have already won four WCC series this season, which is the most won by the Pilots since also claiming four league sets in 2012.
• The series win over BYU (April 12-14) was the first for the Pilots over the Cougars since they joined the WCC, and Portland's 2-1 series win over Saint Mary's (March 16-18) was the Pilots' first against the Gaels since 2012.
• Sophomore right-handed reliever Connor Knutson nabbed Rawlings WCC Pitcher of the Week honors after producing a win and two saves during the week of April 8-15; Knutson's final line for the week included only two hits, both singles, in 4.0 scoreless innings, and he claimed five K's.
• Previously, Brundage was named Rawlings WCC Player of the Week on March 12 after hitting .563 with three doubles and seven RBI's during a four-game series at home with UC Irvine (Mar. 9-11).
• The Pilots rank second in the WCC in home runs (29) and are third in sacrifice flies (21), slugging percentage (.383), triples (8), and K's per 9.0 innings (8.3).
• Matt Kelly had a career-long 12-game hitting streak snapped recently.
• Portland's 11-9 comeback win at Santa Clara on March 29 marks the largest come-from-behind win during the modern era of UP baseball; the Pilots scored nine runs in the top of the eighth, with seven coming with two outs, to secure the win.
• The nine runs are tied for the most by a Pilot team in a single inning since Portland tallied 11 runs in the seventh inning of a 19-0 win versus UC Davis on March 24, 2006 at Joe Etzel Field.
• 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, five RBI performance on Feb. 24 against Saint Joseph's; no player in UP history has hit three home runs in a game.
• Portland played 20 of their first 24 games of 2018 at Joe Etzel Field.
• Junior right-hander Kevin Baker, who earned Second Team All-WCC in 2017, was voted to the 2018 All-WCC Preseason Team; he made his first appearance of the season last Wednesday night after recovering from an injury.
• 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); Loomis spent the previous 13 seasons as head coach at Pacific Lutheran, where he led the Lutes to 11 winning seasons and two NCAA Regional appearances.
 
ABOUT THE REDHAWKS
• The Seattle Redhawks, who dropped two of three at Sacramento State last weekend, are batting .293, while opponents are hitting just .257.
• Seven Redhawks are hitting better than .300, led by Justin Mazzone (.386) and Sean Sutton (.349); Sutton also has a team-high 43 RBI's, while Dalton Hurd is batting .341 with a team-best seven home runs.
• SU's staff ERA is 4.46.
• Donny Harrel is in his 8th year as head coach at Seattle U, who defeated the Pilots 9-6 in Portland on March 13.