Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2011

First Pitch: 3:00 PM

Location: Portland, Ore.

Stadium: Joe Etzel Field (1,000)

Audio/Stats: PortlandPilots.com

Overall Series: ORE leads 73-25

Last Meeting: POR 5, ORE 3 (March 1, 2011 @ Eugene, Ore.)

 

Dates: Friday-Sunday, April 15-17, 2011

Location: Portland, Ore.

Stadium: Joe Etzel Field (1,000)

Audio/Stats: PortlandPilots.com

Overall Series: USF leads 47-22

Last Year: USF 10-3; USF 7-6; USF 4-2 (May 14-16, 2010 @ San Francisco, Calif.)

 

POR: RHP Matt McCallister (0-2, 5.93)

ORE: RHP Ryon Healy (0-0, 3.18)

 

POR: RHP Owen Jones (2-3, 5.83)

USF: LHP Matt Lujan (3-3, 3.93)

 

POR: RHP Kyle Kraus (2-3, 5.93)

USF: RHP Kyle Zimmer (2-3, 4.64)

 

POR: RHP Chris Johnson (2-1, 3.16)

USF: RHP Matt Hiserman (3-3, 3.86)

 

The Portland Pilots (12-16, 2-1 West Coast Conference) continue their extended stay at home this week by hosting the Oregon Ducks (15-14, 1-5 Pac-10) and San Francisco Dons (14-18, 1-2 WCC) at Joe Etzel Field. First on Wednesday, the Pilots are set to host the Ducks for a non-conference game at 3:00 p.m. The Dons then visit during the weekend for a three-game WCC series, which begins on Friday at 3:00 p.m. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

 

The Pilots opened play in the WCC last week by taking two of three from the Pepperdine Waves at Joe Etzel Field. The opener on Friday looked grim early as the Waves used three home runs to jump out to a 5-0 lead after three inning innings. The Pilots slowly climbed back before scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie it at 6-6. In the tenth, Riley Henricks led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored the game-winning run on yet another wild pitch.

The Pilots and Waves then split a double header on Saturday, with Pepperdine claiming the morning game 6-2. The second game belonged to Chris Johnson, who hurled his first career shutout during a 6-0 UP win. The righty scattered nine hits – all singles – while striking out eight and walking none. Turner Gill was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored during the win.

 

The Ducks have dropped seven of their last nine games. Last weekend in Eugene, Washington won two of three against the Ducks.

Freshman Aaron Jones has been Oregon’s most consistent hitter thus far, batting .319 with two home runs and 16 RBI’s. The Ducks are batting .232 as a team and boast a staff ERA of 2.79. Junior LHP Tyler Anderson is 4-1 with a sparkling ERA of 1.79. Opposing hitters are batting just .225 against the Ducks.

George Horton is in his third year as head coach of Oregon. Last year, Horton led the Ducks to an NCAA Regional in just the second year since the program’s reinstatement.

 

Oregon leads the all-time series 73-25, but the Pilots have taken five of six since UO revived the baseball program in 2009. The Ducks only win against the Pilots since reinstatement was a 4-2 victory at UP last year.

 

USF plays at San Jose State on Tuesday before heading to Portland. The Dons dropped two of three to Saint Mary’s at home last weekend.

Junior Adam Clear (.356) and senior Pete Lavin (.325) are the only two Dons hitting better than .300 as USF is hitting .254 as a team. San Francisco’s staff ERA is 3.93 and opposing hitters are batting .255. Sophomore left-handed reliever Elliott Waterman is a staff-best 3-0 with an ERA of 3.05.

USF head coach Nino Giarratano is in his 13th year at the helm of the Dons. Last year San Francisco was 28-28 and went 10-11 for a fourth-place finish in the WCC.

 

San Francisco claims a 47-22 advantage in the all-time series with the Pilots. USF has won eight of the last ten against UP, including a three-game sweep last season in San Francisco.

 

Saturday’s game against the Dons will provide fans a chance to support Harper’s Playground, which is a fund-raising effort to bring an inclusive playground to Arbor Lodge Park. Harper is a local five-year-old girl who was born with Emanuel Syndrome. Harper will help throw out the first pitch on Saturday, the team will wear t-shirts supporting the effort during pre-game warm-ups and a table will be set up near the front entrance, where fans can support the cause. To learn more about Harper’s Playground, please visit harpersplayground.com.

 

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 fifth in the WCC with a .348 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. During last weekend’s series win against Pepperdine, Gill was 6-for-12 with four RBI’s, three runs scored and a double.

 

He currently leads the team with 31 hits, 18 RBI’s, 10 doubles and a slugging percentage of .494. He also has one home run and is one of four Pilots with a sparkling 1.000 fielding percentage with at least 20 chances.

 

Junior OF Kramer Scott has turned it up at the plate and is now one of two regular players to be hitting better than .300 for the Pilots. A career .135 hitter entering the season, Scott is currently hitting .324 with a home run and 12 RBI’s. The long fly is his first as a Pilot, and his 12 RBI’s are nine more than he had during his first two years on The Bluff combined. The native of Edmonds, Wash., also has five doubles, a triple, two stolen bases and is a perfect 26-for-26 in the outfield.

 

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 March 29 and now leads the team with 31 hits, 19 runs, 18 RBI’s and 51 total bases. He’s second with nine doubles and a .481 slugging percentage and third with a .292 batting average.

 

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-seven in save opportunities. Dennis has allowed just four earned runs in 24.1 innings (1.48 ERA), while recording 26 strikeouts. He’s holding opposing hitters to a staff-best .159 batting average.

Dennis is Portland’s all-time career leader in saves with 20, and he set a single-season mark last year with his 14 stops.

 

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 267 career wins. He is now just five 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.

 

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 underwent shoulder surgery recently and will seek a medical hardship season after appearing in 12 games. Armenta was trying to work his way back from a 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.