Complete Release I
Game Central
Pilots (3-0) vs Concordia (4-5)
February 25 and 27 • Portland, Ore. • Joe Etzel Field (1,000)
Series: UP leads 32-2-1 • Live Audio/Stats: portlandpilots.com
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Pilots (3-0) vs George Fox (7-0)
February 26 • Portland, Ore. • Joe Etzel Field (1,000)
Series: UP leads 19-5 • Live Stats: portlandpilots.com
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday, February 25 - 2:00 p.m.
POR - Owen Jones (R, Jr., 0-0, 5.06)
CU- Larsen Kohler (R, Jr., 0-1, 7.11)
Saturday, February 26 - 2:00 p.m.
POR - Kyle Kraus (R, Jr., 1-0, 0.00)
GF- TBA
Sunday, February 27 - 2:00 p.m
POR - Chris Johnson (R, So., 0-0, 13.50)
CU- TBA
*(R/L, Yr., W-L, ERA)
This Week in Pilots Baseball...
The Portland Pilots (3-0) host the Concordia Cavaliers (4-5) and George Fox Bruins (7-0) this weekend to open the 2011 home schedule. The Pilots and Cavaliers start things off on Friday. George Fox then comes to The Bluff on Saturday before Concordia returns for a Sunday affair. All three games have a scheduled start time of 2:00 p.m at Joe Etzel Field.
A Brief Look Back
The Pilots opened the 2011 season on the road with a three game sweep of the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Senior Scott Burris picked up the win in the 6-5 opener with the help of a pinch hit RBI double from senior Kramer Scott in the ninth. Freshman Turner Gill hit his first career home run and Matt Mardesich doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning on Saturday to make a winner of junior Kyle Kraus. Kraus spun 7.0 innings. Junior C Beau Fraser launched a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning to help the Pilots overcome a six-run deficit and pick up the sweep. Senior stopper Chris Dennis, who simultaneously set the school record for single-season and career saves last season with 14, picked up the save in all three contests.
About Concordia
Rob Vance is in his 11th year at the helm for Concordia and his squad is led by Riley Tubbs, Tommy Whalen, and Sean Myrom. Tubbs has five of his team-high 14 hits are extra base hits and he leads the team in runs scored with eight. Tubbs' nine RBI are tied for the team-high, which he shares with Whalen. Whalen is hitting .343 (12-for-35) on the young season with three doubles and one home run. The offensive attack does not stop there as Myrom also posts a .343 average (12-for-35) with five extra base hits, seven RBI, seven runs scored, and a team-high .629 slugging percentage. He has also only struck out once so far in his 35 at-bats.
Pilots/Cavaliers Series
The Pilots have won 32 of the 35 games between the programs.
About George Fox
The Bruins are off to a hot start this season with a team batting average of .368 and a team ERA of 3.29. Marty Hunter, in his third season coaching George Fox, has seen his program outscore opponents 54 to 29 to open the season. Eight of nine starters are hitting .300 or higher with five players hitting a clip of .400-plus. Taylor Hunter leads the team with 18 hits in 33 at-bats (.545). Sam Stahl has a team-high eight RBI while Dan Winterstein leads the Bruins in runs scored (12) and walks (5). Andrew Snyder has allowed one ER in 14.0 innings (0.64 ERA) as one of three pitchers with a 2-0 record. Brian Davis (11.1 IP, 2 ER, 1.59 ERA) and Brian Ranta (15.0 IP, 4 ER, 2.40 ERA) also have a 2-0 record.
Pilots/Bruins Series
The Pilots took both games against George Fox at Joe Etzel field last season to expand the all-time series lead to 19-5.
It's Closing Time
Portland senior closer Chris Dennis was named to the initial watch list for the seventh annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball. Dennis, who is the all-time career leader in saves at UP, has also been named to the NCBWA Pre-Season All-American First Team and to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American Second Team.
After saving 14 games last year for the Pilots, Dennis opened the 2011 season with three straight saves against Middle Tennessee State.
The Catcher Can Hit Too
Junior Beau Fraser assumes the role of filling the shoes of Rocky Gale, who graduated and was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 2010 draft. Fraser paced the Pilots in RBI last season with 45, belting seven home runs en route to a slugging percentage of .486. He also drew 17 walks to help post a respectable on-base percentage of .370.
The 6-1 junior from Aptos, Calif., went 5-for-14 (.357) the first weekend of the season, driving in four runs and hitting a decisive three-run home run in the series finale to give the Pilots a three-game sweep of Middle Tennessee State.
WCC Position Player of the Week
Portland senior 2B Riley Henricks was named West Coast Conference Position Player of the Week on Monday after hitting .545 (6-for-11) in the Pilots' season-opening weekend sweep of Middle Tennessee. Henricks, a 5-11 second baseman from Mukilteo, Wash., scored three runs, had two RBI's, had a double, four walks and was successful on his only stolen base attempt on his way to garnering the honors.
Welcome to GameCentral
New for 2010-11 is UP's GameCentral, a free internet portal that combines free audio and livestats in one location, making following the Pilots easier and more accessible than ever before. All home games will be available through the free service, which is also available on your iPhone, iPad, or iTouch. To access GameCentral, simply visit PortlandPilots.com.
Reliving History
Portland is enjoying one of its finest seasons in program history. At 34-18, the 2010 Pilots squad finished second only to the 1980 squad that finished with 36 wins. It was also the fifth 30-win season in program history and the Pilots first winning season since going 26-23-1 in 1992.
Portland's 14 league wins are the most WCC wins since tallying 16 in 2002, when the Pilots played a 30-game league schedule.
The Pilots won 11 straight games at one point last season to match the program's second longest winning streak, which also occurred in 1980. The 1958 team set the program record with 14 straight victories. UP also strung together an eight-game winning streak earlier in the season.
With a remarkable season, the Pilots earned a No. 22 ranking by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper for two weeks during the 2010 season, the first time UP had been ranked since the 1980 campaign. Seven Pilots earned all-conference recognition, which is the program's most to earn all-conference recognition since UP joined the WCC for baseball in 1996 and catcher Rocky Gale earned WCC Defensive Player of the Year honors after the Pilots pitching staff posted an ERA of 3.42, the fifth best in the nation.
Sophomore pitcher Kyle Kraus went 10-3, becoming just the second pitcher in program history to reach double-digits in victories; he matched Ted Devore's program record for wins during a season, which came in 1989 when Devore went 10-6.
Junior pitcher Chris Dennis recorded 14 saves to establish not only a new UP single-season record, but also a career record, and tied for third in the nation; he landed on the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-America Second Team, the Louisville Slugger All-America Third Team and was one of five finalists for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award.
Senior C.J. Cullen became the first UP baseball player to land on the CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team
WCC Pre-Season Poll and All-WCC
Portland's senior 2B Riley Henricks, RHP Kyle Kraus, and RHP Chris Dennis were selected to the 2011 Preseason All-West Coast Conference Team and San Diego was picked as the favorite to win this year's WCC regular season title in the preseason baseball poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches. The Pilots were selected to finish fourth but received one first-place vote.
