Box Score
PORTLAND, Ore. --- Junior OF Garrett Queen homered for the third consecutive game and senior Rocky Gale launched his first home run of the season but the Portland Pilots managed just two other hits in the game as the Cardiac Kids saw their rally fall just short. St. Mary’s Patrick Wisdom and Troy Channing hit back-to-back mammoth home runs in the fifth inning to lead the Gaels to a 5-4 West Coast Conference victory Sunday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field over the Pilots.
Portland’s offense struggled to get anything going early against the Gaels (10-17-1, 1-2 WCC) as Kyle Barraclough shut down the resurgent Pilot’s offense for most of the game. Portland (20-7, 5-1 WCC), however, managed to keep the game close with two out home runs from Queen and Gale in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively. Barraclough (3-3) finished with six strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work, allowing four runs on four hits.
Queen, who saw his 12-game hit streak snapped earlier in the week, doubled his career home run total by homering in each game against St. Mary’s. With two outs and a runner on first, Queen sent a 2-1 fastball over the right field wall. The junior outfielder leads the Pilots with a .383 average and now owns a share in the team lead for home runs.
Sophomore Owen Jones (2-1) allowed four runs in 4.1 innings of work while striking out three. The righty entered with a 0.48 ERA but the two Gael’s home runs pushes that ERA to a 1.96. Scott Burris, J.R. Bunda, Chris Dennis combined to pitch the last 4.2 innings striking two and allowing just three hits.
Dylan Chavez pitched a scoreless inning of relief while Alex Schmarzo finished the Pilots in the ninth for his second save of the season. Mikey Reynolds had three of the Gaels nine hits while Brenden Kalfus and Markus Melgosa each added two. Portland finished with just four hits and had three errors compared to just one error for the Gaels.
Portland continues their seven game homestand with a nonconference game against the Washington Huskies. Probable pitchers are to-be-announced while the first pitch is scheduled for 3:00pm. Portland is now 11-2 at home, their best home start dating back to 1955 when the school started tracking such records.
