The Rose City Invitational
March 20-22, 2009 • Portland, Ore. • PGE Park (19,566)
Friday, March 20
Washington vs. Hawaii - 12:00 PM
Hawaii vs. Portland - 3:30 PM
Oregon vs. Portland (TV: CSN) - 7:00 PM
Saturday, March 21
Oregon vs. Washington (TV: CSN) - 11:00 AM
Hawaii vs. Oregon - 2:30 PM
Washington vs. Portland - 6:00 PM
Sunday, March 22
No. 3 vs. No. 4 - 12:00 PM
No. 1 vs. No. 2 - 3:30 PM
Live Audio (for UP games) and Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
This Week in Pilots Baseball...
The Portland Pilots (11-7) welcome the Oregon Ducks (8-8), the Washington Huskies (6-9) and the Hawaii Rainbows (10-6) to town for the 2009 Rose City Invitational at PGE Park in downtown Portland. The eight-game, three-day tourney begins with a game between Washington and Hawaii on Friday at 12:00 p.m. The Pilots will follow with a game against Hawaii at 3:30 p.m. and a match-up with the Ducks at 7:00 p.m. Friday night’s game against the Ducks will be broadcast live on Comcast SportsNet (Ch. 37).
Saturday’s schedule begins with an Oregon-Washington tilt at 11:00 a.m. The Ducks then face Hawaii at 2:30 p.m. before the Pilots and Huskies conclude the day at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday features two more games (12:00 p.m./3:30 p.m.), which will be determined by the results of the first two days.
UP PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS: vs. UH - Mark Triolo (Sr., RHP); vs. UO - Scott Burris (So., LHP); vs. UW - K. Kraus (Fr., RHP); vs. TBA - TBA
Catch All of the Action Live
Portland will provide a free audio broadcast for all four UP games this weekend at portlandpilots.com. Simply click on the ‘Multimedia” tab at the top of UP’s main athletics website. Portlandpilots.com will also provide live, in-game statistics for all games at the Rose City Invitational.
Tickets Still Available for the Rose City Invite
Single-day tickets, which will be honored for the entire day, are available for $10 for adults and $7 for youth (high school and younger) and UP students. Tournament-long tickets, which are good all three days, can be purchased for $20 for adults and $15 for youth and UP students.
Fans can purchase tickets at all Ticketmaster locations, online at www.ticketmaster.com, the UP box office or by calling 1-800-745-3000.
A Brief Look Back
After taking three straight at home from UC Davis, the Pilots went an even 3-3 at the Pepsi/Johnny Quick Classic last week in Fresno, Calif. Against the Aggies (March 6-7), Riley Henricks went 6-for-11 with five RBI’s as the Pilots won 4-2, 10-9 and 5-3 at Joe Etzel Field. UP hit .305 as a team, while holding the UC Davis hitters to a .262 average.
Portland got off to a rough start in Fresno, losing their first three games. No. 24 and tournament host Fresno State topped the Pilots 7-0 on Monday before UP suffered back-to-back 9-7 losses to Buffalo and Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In a rematch with Fresno State on Thursday, Portland freshman RHP Kyle Kraus picked up his first career complete game as the Pilots won 4-2. Kraus scattered five hits, while striking out five and walking one. Henricks knocked in all four runs.
The Pilots used the momentum from the FSU game to top Buffalo and Bakersfield to claim second place at the tourney. Both Craig Smith and Bryant Kraus hit a home run and knocked in four runs during a 19-6 win over the Bulls on Friday, while Chase Powell blasted a tie-breaking three-run home run in the top of the ninth to help the Pilots defeat the Roadrunners 10-6 on Saturday.
The Pilots hit .335 during the week and drilled nine home runs. Cort Carpenter hit .583, Powell had an average of .500 and Henricks hit .458.
About Oregon
The Ducks, who reinstated baseball after a 28-year absence, are 8-8 this season. Oregon split a four-game series with Nevada last weekend in Reno, Nev.
Senior outfielder Caleb Tommasini leads Oregon in hitting with a .322 average. Sophomore catcher Mitch Karraker has knocked in a team-high nine RBI’s, while junior OF/INF Jett Hart has belted a team-best three home runs. The Ducks are batting .255 as a team. On the hill, junior RHP Erik Stavert is 3-1 with a 2.73 ERA. The team ERA is 3.52, while opposing hitters are batting .261. George Horton, who spent 11 seasons at the helm of national power Cal State Fullerton and led the Titans to the 2004 National Championship, is in his first season as head coach of UO.
This is the first meeting between Oregon and Portland since 1981. The Ducks won that meeting 9-7 in Portland and own a 72-20 advantage in the all-time series.
PROBABLES: vs. UP - Tyler Anderson (Fr., RHP); vs. UW - Erik Stavert (Jr., RHP); vs. UH - Bennett Whitmore (Jr., LHP); vs. TBA - Madison Boer (Fr., RHP)
About Washington
The Huskies, who won four out of five the week before last, were swept by San Francisco last weekend in San Francisco.
Sophomore C/INF Pierce Rankin has been Washington’s best hitter so far with a team-high .404 batting average. He also has two home runs and 12 RBI’s. Junior OF Kyle Conley is batting .317 with team highs of seven homers and 16 runs knocked in. UW is batting .282 as a team. The Husky pitching staff has combined for a 3.58 ERA, while holding opposing hitters to a .252 average. Six pitchers have picked up Washington’s six wins. 24 letterwinners and six starters are back from a team that went 33-22 last season. Ken Knutson is in his 17th season as head coach at UW.
The Huskies claimed all four meetings with UP last season and lead the all-time series 86-44-1.
PROBABLES: vs. UH - Adrian Gomez (So., LHP); vs. UO - Ben Guidos (So.. LHP); vs. UP - Brian Pearl (Jr., RHP); vs. TBA - Andrew Kittredge (Fr., RHP)
About Hawaii
The Rainbows have won seven straight games, which includes a four-game sweep of LMU at home last weekend.
Junior 3B Vinnie Catricala is batting a team-high .362, while freshman UTL Kolten Wong leads the team with four home runs and junior INF Kevin Macdonald has knocked in a team-best 16 runs. Hawaii has a team batting average of .252 and a team ERA of 3.88. Junior RHP Harrison Kuroda is 3-0, while sophomore LHP Sam Spangler is 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA. The Rainbows went 29-31 last season and returned 17 letterwinners and six starters. Head coach Mike Trapasso is in his eighth season at the helm of the UH baseball program.
Portland has won the only two previous meetings with Hawaii. Last season, the Pilots defeated the Rainbows 15-8 in Surprise, Ariz.
PROBABLES: vs. UW - Jayson Kramer (Sr., RHP); vs. UP - Jared Alexander (Sr., RHP); vs. UO - Matt Sisto (Fr., RHP); vs. TBA - TBA
A Brief Look Ahead
The Pilots have one more non-conference game before diving into the West Coast Conference. On Tuesday, March 25 Portland is set to host the Lewis & Clark Pioneers at Joe Etzel Field at 3:00 p.m.
The Pilots then face their first WCC opponent of 2009 with a three-game series against the Saint Mary’s Gaels in Moraga, Calif. The Pilots and Gaels are set to play at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, March 27 and at 1:00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
That’s Offensive
The Pilots are off to torrid start at the plate, batting a league-high .316 as a team. Portland also leads the WCC in hits (192), doubles (46) and home runs (19), while ranking third in runs scored with 116.
Individually, there are four Pilots in the top 11 in batting average. Freshman OF Garrett Queen (.429) ranks sixth, senior OF Bryant Kraus (.424) is seventh, senior 1B/DH Chase Powell (.412) is eighth and senior 1B/DH Cort Carpenter (.395) ranks 11th. Kraus also ranks second in the conference with 48 total bases, is third with 28 hits and 19 RBI’s and ranks fourth with 19 runs scored. Freshman SS Kris Kauppila leads the WCC with 12 doubles and is fourth in both total bases (42) and runs scored (19).
Kraus in the House
Senior OF Bryant Kraus, who led the Pilots last year with a .313 batting average, has picked up right where he left off. Kraus has a hit in 16 of 18 games this season and is batting .424 to lead the team once again. He also has team highs of 28 hits, four home runs, 19 RBI’s, 48 total bases, and a .552 on-base percentage. He has two games this year with four RBI’s and has five multi-RBI games overall. He also has a team-high nine multi-hit games.
During an 8-3 win at BYU on Feb. 27, Kraus went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a homer and four RBI’s. He matched his four RBI, one home run performance during a 19-6 win over Buffalo on March 13.
Leading Off
Freshman SS Kris Kauppila wasted little time getting acclimated to NCAA DI baseball, going yard in his first collegiate at-bat. After the Pilots retired the Utah Valley Wolverines in order in the top half of their season opener on Feb. 20, Kauppila led off the bottom half of the inning with a blast that hit the scoreboard beyond the left-field fence. The Glendale, Calif., native finished the weekend 5-for-11 (.455) with two RBI’s, a home run, a double and three runs scored as the Pilots took two of three from the Wolverines. He’s currently hitting .329 with two home runs, nine RBI’s and conference-high 12 doubles.
Not to be Out-Done
Portland’s other newcomers are making some noise this season as well. Sophomore transfer Craig Smith, an outfielder, is batting .354 with four doubles, eight RBI’s, two homers and 14 runs scored. During a 19-6 win over Buffalo on March 13, Smith went 4-for-6 with a home run, a double and four RBI’s.
Redshirt-freshman OF Garrett Queen is batting .429 and is a perfect 3-for-3 on stolen bases, while freshman C/DH Beau Fraser is hitting .339.
On the hill, freshman right-hander Kyle Kraus has been masterful. Against 24th-ranked Fresno State on March 12 in Fresno, Kraus picked up the complete-game win. During UP’s 4-2 victory, Kraus scattered six hits and struck out five. He is 2-1 this season, has an ERA of 2.93, is holding opposing hitters to a .261 average and has 15 strikeouts during a team-high 27.2 innings.
Sophomore RHP Brent Miller has two saves and is holding opposing hitters to a .207 mark.
King of the Hill
Sophomore LHP Scott Burris has flourished in his new roll as a starter, going 3-0 so far on the young season. In four starts, Burris has allowed just seven earned runs in 26.1 innings for a staff-best ERA of 2.39. He’s also holding opposing hitters to a .185 average. He has two games of at least seven innings pitched and has yet to allow more than three earned runs or five hits during a start.
Last season, Burris tied for second on the team with 26 appearances, all out of the bullpen. He finished with two saves, a 1-3 record and an ERA of 4.36, while holding opposing hitters to a .260 average. He averaged 8.2 strikeouts and 1.9 walks per nine innings for a team-best strikeout-walk ratio of 4.3.
The Two-Headed Monster
Seniors Chase Powell and Cort Carpenter have been splitting time this season at both first base and the designated hitter spot with impressive results. Powell is batting .412 (14-for-34) with two home runs, five doubles and nine RBI’s. Against Cal State Bakersfield on March 14, Powell broke a 6-6 tie in the top of the ninth inning with a three-run home run. The Pilots went on to win 10-6. Powell hit .500 during the six games in Fresno.
Carpenter hit .583 (7-for-12) at the Pepsi/Johnny Quick Classic and is batting .395 (15-for-38) overall. He leads the Pilots with a .763 slugging percentage, is tied for the team high with four home runs and ranks second with 17 RBI’s.
2009 WCC Preseason Poll
San Diego and Pepperdine were picked as favorites to win this year’s WCC regular season title in the 2009 preseason baseball poll, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. The Portland Pilots were selected to finish eighth. San Diego and Pepperdine both received 45 points, with the Toreros receiving four first place votes to three for the Waves. Gonzaga received the last remaining first place vote.
