Dates: Friday-Sunday, April 1-3, 2011

Location: Omaha, Neb.

Stadium: CU Sports Complex (1,000)

Live Audio: koilam1180.com

Live Stats: GoCreighton.com

Series: POR leads 1-0

Last Meeting: POR 7, CU 6 - Feb. 20, 2000 @ Phoenix, Ariz.

 

POR: RHP Owen Jones (2-2, 3.99)

CU: LHP Ty Blach (4-0, 2.16)

 

POR: RHP Kyle Kraus (2-1, 4.78)

CU: RHP Jonas Dufek (3-0, 1.98)

 

POR: RHP Chris Johnson (1-1, 4.76)

CU: RHP Greg Hellhake (2-1, 4.64)

 

The Portland Pilots (10-11), who have played just five games at home so far this season, travel to Omaha, Neb., this week for a three-game series against the Creighton Bluejays (17-5) at the CU Sports Complex. Friday’s series opener is set for 2:00 p.m. (PST), while first pitch is slated for 12:00 p.m. on Saturday and 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.

 

The Pilots enjoyed the comforts of their own home last week by taking a pair of games from the Seattle Redhawks at Joe Etzel Field. The Pilots won the first game, which stretched from Thursday into Friday due to rain, by a 5-0 margin. Owen Jones allowed just three hits during 6.0 scoreless innings of relief to pick up the ‘W’. The Pilots scored four unearned runs during the seventh inning to put the game out of reach.

The second game was all Pilots as Portland dropped a nine-spot in the bottom of the second inning en route to an 11-3 win. Turner Gill had two hits and an RBI during the second as Portland sent 13 hitters to the plate. UP out-hit SU 14-3 and reliever Brent Miller got the win after tossing a flawless 4.0 innings. He didn’t surrender a hit or a walk, while striking out two.

On Tuesday, the Pilots scored four runs in the top of the first inning at Washington before the Huskies rallied for a 5-4 win in 10 innings. Matt Mardesich drilled a three-run blast during the first inning to give UP the early lead.

 

The Bluejays have won seven of their last nine games and are now hitting .278 as a team on the season. Most recently, Creighton defeated North Dakota State 3-2 at home on Monday.

The Bluejays feature six players hitting better than .300 and are led by senior OF Trever Adams, who is batting a robust .372. Adams also leads the team with five homers and 21 RBI’s. Creighton’s team earned run average is an impressive 3.40, while sophomore LHP Ty Blach is 4-0 with an ERA of 2.16.

Ed Servais is in his eighth season leading the Creighton baseball program and he currently holds a .630 winning percentage. The Bluejays, who went 27-25 last year and 9-12 in the Missouri Valley Conference, have reached the NCAA post-season three times during Servais’ tenure.

 

The Pilots defeated the Blue Jays 7-6 back in 2000 during the only previous meeting between UP and CU. The game was played in Phoenix, Ariz.

 

Following Portland’s win over Hawai’i on Thursday, March 10, the Pilots were evacuated from the team hotel 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 nearby 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 the next day after the tsunami warning had been cancelled, and the Pilots and Bows continued their series uninterrupted.

 

So far this season, freshman Turner Gill has looked like anything but as he’s settled in at the plate and currently leads the team and ranks fourth in the WCC with a .339 batting average. The outfielder from Madras, Ore., had a hit during each of his first five collegiate games, and he’s registered Portland’s only four-hit game of the spring. At Air Force on March 19, Gill was 4-for-4 at the dish with a pair of doubles, an RBI and a run scored. He currently has 13 RBI’s, 11 runs, seven doubles, a home run and a slugging percentage of .500.

 

Speaking of looking comfortable at the plate, senior Kevin Armijo is right at home as he’s notched at least one hit in 12 straight games for Portland’s longest hitting streak this season. Armijo, who has seen time at first base, third base and designated hitter, has a hit during 17 of his 19 games played, and he’s second on the team with a batting average of .328, which is almost .100 points higher than his career average entering the season. He also has three doubles, a triple, a home run, 12 RBI’s and an on-base percentage of .411.

 

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 two runs in 19.2 innings (0.92 ERA), while recording 21 strikeouts. He’s holding opposing hitters to a remarkably low .127 batting average.

 

Head coach Chris Sperry has already reached one career milestone this season and he’s on the verge of securing another. The second game of a double header at Air Force on March 19 was the 700th game at the helm of the Pilots for Sperry, who is in his 14th year as head coach. Sperry, who starred for the Pilots as a catcher in the later 1980’s, is UP’s third winningest coach all-time with 265 career wins. He is now just seven wins shy of surpassing former UP coach Terry Pollreisz, whom Sperry replaced, for second on the all-time wins list. A native of Brush Prairie, Wash., Sperry played for coach Pollreisz before taking over as head coach in 1998.

 

Senior 3B Matt Mardesich, who led the Pilots with eight home runs last season, has continued his power surge this year with three long flies. A native of Portland, Mardesich drilled a three-run homer at Washington on Tuesday and now leads the team with 16 RBI’s. His 18 runs scored, eight doubles, 44 total bases, .543 slugging percentage also lead the team, while his .309 batting average ranks fourth.

 

Portland has already suffered a couple of setbacks this year health-wise as junior C Beau Fraser and sophomore OF Nick Armenta are both expected to miss the entire season due to injuries. Fraser is set to undergo shoulder surgery and will seek a medical hardship season after appearing in 12 games. Armenta was trying to work his way back from an off-season leg injury before hanging it up for the year.

Last year, Fraser easily led the team with 45 RBI’s, while belting seven home runs and registering a .316 batting average. Armenta landed on the WCC’s All-Freshman team and earned all-conference honorable mention after hitting .310 during league play. He was perfect in the field with a 1.000 fielding percentage and he registered 63 putouts and three assists.

 

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.

 

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