Box Score

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Senior OF Craig Smith roped a two-out single up the middle to propel the Portland Pilots past the Seattle Redhawks in an afternoon nonconference baseball game at Joe Etzel Field. Tied 1-1 most of the game, the Pilots used a strong pitching effort from junior Zach Varce and junior Chris Dennis to keep the win within reach. The junior righties combined to rack up 19 strikeouts surpassing the previous school record of 16, a record set in 1967 and then matched in 1990.

Varce fanned 14 Redhawks (0-4) in 8.0 innings of work, but left with a no decision. Seattle’s lone run came after a lead-off double to Mike Malland in the top of the third, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI groundout. Varce settled down, however, retiring the final 18 batters he faced. By striking out the side in the seventh and eighth, Varce finished with 14 punch-outs on the afternoon, tying him for the third most in school history for a single game.

Dennis (1-0) picked up right where Varce left off, recording five strike-outs in 2.0 innings of work en route to his first victory as a Pilot. In three appearances so far, Dennis has a win and two saves in seven innings of work to compliment his 11 strikeouts and 1.29 ERA.

Seattle also benefited from a strong performance from their starter as Arlo Evasick went 6.1 innings, allowing six hits and an unearned run. The Pilots (4-0) threatened to push runs across all game and loaded the bases against Redhawk reliever Bryan Dalton (0-1) in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Dalton danced out of danger recording his only strike-out of the afternoon to take the game to extra innings.

After a 1-2-3 top of the tenth, senior C.J. Cullen singled to left to lead off the bottom of the inning. He would advance to second on a sacrifice from senior C Rocky Gale before scoring on Smith’s first pitch single.

Portland stranded 16 runners on the afternoon while the Redhawks left just three runners on base.

The series continues with a double header tomorrow starting at 11:00am.