Dates: Friday-Sunday, March 18-20, 2011

Location: Air Force Academy, Colo.

Stadium: Falcon Field (1,000)

Live Stats: GoAirForceFalcons.com

Series: First Meeting

 

POR: RHP Chris Johnson (1-0, 5.06)

AF: RHP Evan Abrecht (4-0, 4.30)

 

POR: RHP Owen Jones (1-1, 5.19)

AF: RHP Sean Carley (1-2, 2.25)

 

POR: RHP Kyle Kraus (2-0, 3.42)

AF: LHP Ben Bertelson (0-2, 7.71)

 

POR: RHP Matt McCallister (0-1, 5.19)

AF: LHP Michael Ceci (1-3, 3.98)

 

The Portland Pilots (8-6) head back on the road this week as they travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., for a four-game series against the Air Force Falcons (7-10) at Falcon Field. The four-game set begins with a 1:00 p.m. (PT) game on Friday before the two teams square off for a double header on Saturday, which is scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. start. First pitch for Sunday’s series finale is at 11:00 a.m.

 

Portland’s stay last week in Hawai’i was momentarily disrupted by a Tsunami warning before the Pilots and Hawai’i Rainbows split their four-game series. On Thursday night, Portland sophomore RHP Chris Johnson tossed 7.0 innings of two-hit ball and the Pilots scored three runs in the ninth inning en route to a 5-1 victory. Senior 2B Riley Henricks notched two RBI’s during the win. Portland then bounced back from a 5-3 loss on Friday with a 10-7 comeback win on Saturday. UP scored nine runs during the final three innings en route to the win. The Bows then blasted a walk-off solo home run in the 10th inning to claim Sunday’s series finale 6-5. Senior 3B Matt Mardesich had four RBI’s in the loss.

 

The Falcons have dropped three of their last four games, with their only win coming at home against Creighton on Wednesday. Air Force defeated the Jays 2-1 before Creighton returned the favor with an 11-9 victory in the second game of a double header.

Air Force is batting .279 as a team and is led by freshman OF Patrick Lobo’s .395 average. Five Falcons are batting better than .300, while three players have two home runs apiece. Senior OF Nathan Carter has a team-high 14 RBI’s. The staff ERA is 4.93, while junior RHP Evan Abrecht is a team-best 4-0.

The Falcons went 13-42 overall last season and finished sixth in the Mountain West Conference with a 3-20 league mark. Interim head coach Mike Kazlausky is in his first season at the helm of Air Force after previously spending six seasons as an assistant coach.

 

This will be the first meetings ever between the Pilots and the Falcons. Air Force will travel to Portland next season for a three-game series at Joe Etzel Field.

 

Following Portland’s win over Hawai’i on Thursday night, the Pilots were evacuated from the team hotel last due to a tsunami warning. The tsunami warning was issued following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake off northeastern Japan, forcing the team to stay at the house of J.R. Bunda, a UP sophomore pitcher from Wahiawa. Some members of the team also stayed at a small church near the Bunda’s house.

The team was allowed to return to its hotel today after the tsunami warning had been cancelled, and the Pilots and Bows continued their series uninterrupted.

 

The second game of Saturday’s double header at Air Force will mark the 700th game at the helm of the Pilots for head coach Chris Sperry. Sperry, who starred for the Pilots as a catcher in the later 1980’s, is UP’s third winningest coach all-time with 263 career wins. He is just eight wins shy of matching former UP coach Terry Pollreisz, whom Sperry replaced, for second on the all-time wins list. Sperry played for coach Pollreisz before taking over as head coach in 1998.

 

Sophomore 1B Brian Fratalli has led the team in batting for most of the young season and is currently second with a .368 average during his year as a regular in the line-up. It comes as little surprise then that the Huntington Beach, Calif., native has been consistently tallying multi-hit games this year. Through the first 12 games (10 starts), Fratalli has registered four multi-hit games with three three-hit games.

Fratalli has also drawn six walks to give him a .467 on-base percentage.

 

Junior RHP Kyle Kraus ranks first in school history in fewest BB/9 at a 1.50 mark, but he has also strung together a prolonged run of avoiding the long ball. Kraus allowed five home runs last season in 109.0 innings and did not allow a home run in his final 11 starts, spanning 78.0 innings. After not allowing a home run in 25.1 innings pitched this season, the native of West Linn, Ore., allowed his first home run of the year last Sunday during the seventh inning at Hawai’i. That ended his impressive streak at 105.1 consecutive homerless innings.

 

Senior 2B Riley Henricks continues to enjoy a fine hitting career on The Bluff. After tying a single-season school record last year with seven triples, Henricks entered the 2011 season with a .314 career average (194-for-617). So far this season, Henricks has posted the fourth highest average on the team with a .321 mark and a team-high 30 total bases. His .566 slugging percentage is the second highest on the team.

Henricks has also clubbed four doubles and three home runs, driving in eight and scoring 10 times. Part of Henricks’ success can be attributed to his keen batter’s eye as the Mukilteo, Wash., native has drawn a team-high nine walks, helping him to an impressive .429 on-base percentage.

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 and currently is six-for-six in save opportunities. Dennis has allowed just one run in 14.0 innings (0.64 ERA), allowing five hits and five walks while recording 14 strikeouts. He’s holding opposing hitters to a .111 batting average.

 

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’s 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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Fans can now follow the Portland Pilots like never before. Just visit Twitter (@PortlandPilots), facebook (facebook.com/PortlandPilots) and YouTube (youtube.com/UPPurplePride) for access to everything Pilots.

 

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.