THIS WEEK: The University of Portland baseball team begins West Coast Conference play on the road against the University of San Francisco on March 19-21. The Pilots and Dons are set for a 2:00 p.m. first pitch on Friday, March 19 and 1:00 p.m. starts on both Saturday and Sunday.

A QUICK LOOK AT PORTLAND: The Pilots (3-13) took fourth place in the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic, a six-team tournament in Fresno, Calif. last week. Portland won its first game of the year in the tourney opener against Monmouth (14-8) in eight innings. The Pilots also beat Dallas Baptist (4-0) and Chicago State (11-2), while falling to host Fresno State (12-2), Brigham Young (5-4) and then Dallas Baptist (7-2) in the third place game. Highlights included Gustaf Little’s perfect 5-for-5 day against Monmouth and Matthew Peters complete game shutout win over Dallas Baptist. Mike McRae hit three more home runs to improve his season total to a team-best five, while Nik Kosach raised his batting average to .351 after going 8-for-20 in the six-game set.

The win over Monmouth marked the end to the longest losing streak in school history, snapping the 22-game skid that dated back to last season.

Chris Sperry embarks on his seventh season as Portland's head coach with a 113-216-1 (.344) career record. He is the third winningest head coach in Pilot history. Sperry returns six position player starters and 17 letterwinners overall to the 2004 roster. Almost the entire pitching staff returns, as all five primary starters from last season are back as well as three relievers. Ten newcomers should provide a boost both on the mound and at the plate.

The 2003 Pilots finished with a 9-45-1 overall record, 4-25-1 in WCC action, taking fourth place of the West Division in the WCC. Kory Casto had a stellar junior season and took home all-WCC second-team honors. Casto was drafted in the third round of the MLB amateur draft (87th overall) to become the highest drafted WCC player last season. Brock Griffin concluded his four-year career in style, batting a career-high .282 for the season. Griffin was rewarded with a free agent contract with the Seattle Mariners.

In a vote of the league's eight head coaches, the Pilots are picked to finish in fourth-place of the WCC-West, and eighth place overall.

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO: The Dons (7-11) played their first 18 games of the season on the road before returning to Benedetti Diamond for their home-opener on Tuesday, March 16, beginning a two-game series against Lafayette College. San Francisco is 0-6 in one-run games and 0-2 in extra inning contests. The Dons participated alongside Portland at the Rawlings/Oakland A’s Spring Training Tournament earlier this season and have played three of the same Pilot opponents. The Dons fell 9-1 to Washington State and also lost by a narrow 2-1 margin to Nevada at the A’s Tournament. USF also travelled to Pacific (Calif.) for a three-game series, taking two-of-three from the Tigers.

The Dons bat .267 as a team and have a 3.99 combined earned-run average. Individually, USF has five players hitting above .300, paced by Chris Genung’s .394 clip and 12 runs driven in. Genung has 28 hits including four doubles and two home runs. Armand Gaerlan is the leading run-producer for USF with 18 RBI. Gaerlan is hitting .329 and also has four doubles and a pair of homers. On the mound, Derek Tate (1-2) has made five starts with a 2.03 ERA in a team-high 40 innings pitched. Tate has USF’s only complete game to go along with 27 strikeouts. Kevin Rose (2-2) leads the Dons’ hurlers with 36 strikeouts in 34.2 innings. Rose has a 3.63 ERA in his seven starts.

San Francisco leads the all-time series over Portland with a 26-16 record, holding a 22-10 edge in WCC contests. Last season, the Pilots took two-of-three games at Pilot Stadium, but were swept by the Dons at Benedetti Diamond.

QUOTING HEAD COACH CHRIS SPERRY: “We came back feeling like a much better club after the Fresno tournament. The bats definitely broke out, we got some good pitching performances and we played well in all but one of the six games. We’ve been competitive most of the season, indicative by having five of our losses in one-run games. It’s nice to be in those games and to see continued improvement as we enter conference play.”

LITTLE NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Portland second baseman Gustaf Little was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week after leading the Pilots to their first three wins of the 2004 season at the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic in Fresno last week. The sophomore from Portland, Ore. batted .423 (11-for-26) with a home run and four runs scored, while driving in five runs as the Pilots posted a 3-3 mark.

Little collected a hit in five of the six Portland games, going 5-for-5 in Portland’s win over Monmouth, and had a .500 on-base percentage through the six contests. He hit his second home run of the season against Dallas Baptist in the third place game of the tournament and did not commit an error while playing all six games at second base. Little becomes the first Portland player to claim Player of the Week honors this season. He has raised his batting average to .340 on the season and has yet to commit an error in 12 games.

SOME NOTABLE EARLY-SEASON TRENDS: The Pilots are 0-5 in one-run games this season and are winless (0-8) when held to three runs or less. Portland is 0-6 when the opposing team scores first, and 1-10 when tied or trailing after the seventh inning.

AVERAGES ON THE RISE: Entering the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic, Portland was batting just .212 as a team through the first 10 games of the season. The Pilot bats came to life in Fresno as the team tallied season-highs of 13 runs and 21 hits in the tourney-opener against Monmouth. The sticks continued to produce in the other five games as Portland hit .325 en route to a fourth place finish. The output increased the team’s batting average 41 points to .258.

PETERS TOSSES FOUR-HITTER: Sophomore right-hander Matthew Peters earned his first win of the season with a four-hit shutout against Dallas Baptist at the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic. Peters walked only one batter, and faced just 30 batters for the game lowering his ERA to 1.97 on the season. The Las Vegas, Nev. native got out of his only jam of the game in the sixth inning as the Patriots had runners at second and third with two outs, but he forced a weak popout to second ending the threat. Peters has logged 32 innings in his four starts, racking up 12 strikeouts and holding the opposition to just a .212 batting average.

KUTZ GOES THE DISTANCE IN NEXT START: Freshman right-hander Given Kutz followed up Peters’ shutout with a complete game performance of his own. Kutz allowed two runs on nine hits and struck out five batters in Portland’s 11-2 win over Chicago State. He did it on two days’ rest after tossing 3.2 innings against Monmouth on March 8. The back-to-back complete games were the first since Kyle Corra and Eric Hull both went the distance in consecutive wins over Loyola Marymount on March 31 and April 1, 2001.

MCRAE GOIN’ YARD: Junior Mike McRae hit five home runs in a seven-game span between the Banana Belt Tournament and Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic. After hitting bombs in consecutive outings against Lewis-Clark State and Washington State in Lewiston, Idaho, McRae hit three more homers in Fresno against Monmouth, Dallas Baptist and Chicago State. His five home runs are tops on the Pilot roster along with nine runs scored, he is tied for the team RBI lead with nine runs driven in.

KOSACH HOT AT THE PLATE: Nik Kosach has raised his batting average to a team-best .351 after another productive week at the plate. The sophomore has consistently found ways to reach base with a .481 on-base percentage. Kosach is the only Pilot with more than 10 walks (11) and he also leads Portland with three sacrifice flies. In Fresno, Kosach had three consecutive multi-hit games. He proved his worth as a utility fielder as well, throwing out two runners attempting to steal in his first start behind the plate against Chicago State. The left-handed batting Kosach has played 12 games in left field and another as the designated hitter.

INJURY UPDATE: Junior catcher Joe Watson will be available this weekend against San Francisco after missing the last two weeks following a concussion from being hit in the head by a pitch against Lewis & Clark College on Sat. Feb. 21. Watson did not play at the Banana Belt Tournament or the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic.

PACK YOUR BAGS: Portland will be doing lots of travelling this season as 33 games on the Pilot schedule are either on the road or at neutral sites. Portland has already participated in Phoenix, Ariz. at the Rawlings Oakland A’s Tournament, the Banana Belt Tournament (Lewiston, Idaho) and the Pepsi Johnny/Quik Classic (Fresno, Calif.) before the conference season begins. With the opening of WCC play, the Pilots are again on the road with a three-game set at San Francisco.

HEAD COACH CHRIS SPERRY: Entering his seventh season, Sperry is the 21st head coach in school history. In six seasons, Sperry has a 113-216-1 (.344) career overall record and a 64-112 (.364) career WCC record. He has the third-most wins in school history and recorded his 100th career victory with an 8-5 win over San Diego on May 12, 2002 in San Diego, Calif.

Sperry is a member of the Lefty Gomez committee of the ABCA, which annually gives an award for outstanding achievement in college baseball.

PILOTS ON THE INTERNET: The University of Portland baseball team will have live stats via the internet for all home games during the 2004 season. Check out the Pilot games at: http://www.portlandpilots.com/livestats/baseball/xlive.htm.

WEEKLY/REGULAR-SEASON POST-GAME INTERVIEWS: Members of the media who wish to interview Head Coach Chris Sperry should contact Jason Brough, baseball SID at (503) 943-7439. Interviews with the athletes should also be arranged through Jason Brough.

Head Coach Chris Sperry and Portland players will be available for interviews outside the Portland dug out following a 10 minute cooling off period. The Portland sports information staff will gather interview requests immediately following the game. Box scores will be provided and faxed upon request.