Complete Schedule
PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Portland Pilots baseball team opens the 2010 season this weekend with three games at Joe Etzel Field. After opening against Concordia on Friday afternoon, the Pilots host George Fox on Saturday before taking on the Cavaliers again on Sunday. All three games are set for 2:00 p.m. on the UP campus.
Junior second baseman Riley Henricks and sophomore shortstop Kris Kauppila headline a group of 22 returning letterwinners and eight starters for Portland. Last season, the Pilots went 25-26, posting the most wins in a single season during head coach Chris Sperry’s 12-year tenure. Henricks and Kauppila both earned All-West Coast Conference Honorable Mention last season, after batting .344 and .336, respectively. Henricks had four homers and 31 RBI’s in 2009, while Kauppila belted four home runs, knocked in 21 runs, had 20 doubles and scored 46 runs.
Henricks and Kauppila, who both were freshman All-Americans, also landed on the WCC’s Preseason All-Conference Team.
The Pilots should be solid on the mound this year, with right-handers Zach Varce and Kyle Kraus and left-hander Scott Burris all returning. Last season, Varce, a junior, led the WCC with a 2.69 ERA and nine saves, while striking out a staff-best 62 in 60.1 innings pitched. He went 3-5 overall and held opposing hitters to a .249 average. Burris, also a junior, was 5-4 in 2009, while the sophomore Kraus won four games and posted an ERA of 4.00 during his first season on The Bluff.
Varce is one of 40 players to be named to the initial watch list for the sixth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball. Varce and Gonzaga’s Cody Martin were the only pitchers named from the WCC.
Following the weekend, the Pilots welcome the Seattle Redhawks to town for a four-game non-conference series next weekend. The Pilots and Redhawks open with a game at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26, play a double-header on Saturday and conclude the series on Sunday.
Portland opens play in the WCC on the road at Santa Clara on April 1.
