Box Score
BELLEVUE, Wash. --- The 26th-ranked Portland Pilots picked up their 10th straight win and win No. 30 on the season by blanking the Seattle Redhawks 6-0 in a non-conference baseball game at Bannerwood Park on Saturday afternoon. It was the second win of the day for the Pilots, who defeated the BYU Cougars 5-1 Saturday morning.
The Pilots are now 30-9 on the year, marking the fifth time in program history to win at least 30 games and the first time since finishing 31-19 in 1991.
The 10 straight wins is the longest winning streak since an 11-game string back in 1980. That 1980 squad also set a program record for wins in a season with 36.
Three Pilot pitchers combined to hold the SU (7-30) hitters to just six hits during Saturday’s shutout. Sophomore starter Owen Jones (4-1) was solid once again, allowing just three hits, while striking out three in 7.0 scoreless innings.
Relievers Matt McCallister, a freshman, and Chris Dennis, a junior, picked up where Jones left off and each tallied a scoreless inning of relief.
Max Whieldon (2-7) takes the loss for Seattle after getting charged with all six Portland runs, five of which were earned. He allowed 10 hits in 7.0 innings, walked one and struck out three. Two Seattle relievers held the UP bats in check during the final two innings.
Senior C Rocky Gale and junior 2B Riley Henricks each had three of Portland’s 12 hits. Senior C.J. Cullen had a pair of hits, including a home run, as did junior 3B Matt Mardesich, who went 6-for-11 with six RBI’s, four runs and a home run during Portland’s three wins in Bellevue. Sophomore SS Kris Kauppila knocked in two runs against the Redhawks.
The Pilots wasted little time getting on the board as Cullen’s solo homer came in the top in the top of the first inning. The two-out blast is his third on the year and gives him 17 two-out RBI’s this season.
Kauppila gave Portland two-more runs with two outs in the top of the second inning. His single to right field scored both Mardesich and Gale to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
The Pilots then added a little insurance with three runs in the top of the fifth. Sophomore DH Beau Fraser brought home one run with a sacrifice fly, Henricks scored on an error and Gale capped the scoring with an RBI single to center field.
Portland next sets its sights on the 17th-ranked Oregon Ducks. The Pilots are scheduled to travel to PK Park in Eugene, Ore., for a non-conference game against the Ducks at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The game will be shown live in the Portland metropolitan area on Comcast SportsNet (Channel 37).
The Pilots, who are 11-1 in the West Coast Conference, then welcome the first-place San Diego Toreros to Joe Etzel Field for a big three-game conference series next weekend. USD enters Sunday’s game at San Francisco sitting on top of the league standings with a perfect 11-0 conference mark.
