Dates: Friday-Sunday, May 13-15, 2011

Location: Portland, Ore.

Stadium: Joe Etzel Field (1,000)

Live Audio/Stats: PortlandPilots.com

Overall Series: GON leads 106-76

Last Year: POR 2-1; POR 6-2; POR 7-3 (May 28-30 @ Gonzaga)

 

POR: RHP Kyle Kraus (4-4, 4.60)

GON: LHP Ryan Carpenter (6-1, 2.65)

 

POR: RHP Owen Jones (4-5, 5.37)

GON: LHP Tyler Olson (6-3, 3.53)

 

POR: RHP Chris Johnson (2-4, 3.41)

GON: LHP Marco Gonzales (8-2, 2.69)

 

The Portland Pilots (17-25, 6-6 WCC) host the first-place Gonzaga Bulldogs (26-14-1, 9-3 WCC) this weekend for a three-game West Coast Conference series at Joe Etzel Field. Friday’s opener is set for 3 p.m., while first pitch on both Saturday and Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m.

 

The Pilots are coming off their third WCC series win of the season and second straight on the road as Portland won two of three against the Saint Mary’s Gaels last weekend in Moraga, Calif. The Pilots posted consecutive come-from-behind wins, 8-3 and 3-2, before the Gaels took the finale 1-0. During Friday’s 8-3 win, the Pilots scored eight runs during the final three innings. Matt Mardesich had perhaps the hit of the game by driving in the tying and go-ahead runs with a double to left field in the top of the eighth. Kyle Kraus, who tossed 8.1 innings, nearly went the distance, allowing just three runs and striking out eight.

On Saturday morning, UP again did its damage in the late innings, scoring three runs in the seventh and eighth to claim the first game of a double header. This time it was Kevin Armijo to give the Pilots the lead with an RBI single in the eighth. Starter Owen Jones worked 7.0 innings, while closer Chris Dennis fanned four of the six batters he faced to earn the two-inning save. SMC then held Portland scoreless on nine hits during game two.

 

The Bulldogs, who have spent time ranked this season, have won four of their last five games. GU swept Santa Clara on the road last weekend before splitting a pair of games at BYU.

Gonzaga is the league’s top hitting and pitching team, posting a batting average of .286 and an ERA of 3.19. Opposing hitters are batting .251 against the Zags. Junior Cameron Edman is batting a robust .375 with nine HR’s and 30 RBI’s. Sophomore Billy Moon is hitting .351 with 36 RBI’s. Starter Marco Gonzales leads a lefty-dominated rotation with an 8-2 record a 2.69 ERA. Right-handed reliever Cody Martin has eight saves and an ERA of 0.86.

Mark Machtolf is in his eighth season as head coach of the Bulldogs. Last season, Gonzaga went 20-36 overall and finished tied for fifth in the WCC with an 8-13 league mark.

 

 

The Pilots have won five straight against the Bulldogs, but GU still leads the all-time series 106-76. Portland ended the 2010 season with a three-game sweep at Gonzaga, winning 2-1, 6-2 and 7-3.

 

Junior right-hander Kyle Kraus was named the WCC Pitcher of the Week after a solid performance at Saint Mary’s last Friday. Kraus posted his third straight quality start by going 8.1 innings and picking up the win during Portland’s 8-3 victory. The native of West Linn, Ore., allowed just three runs on nine hits, he didn’t walk a batter and he struck out eight. It’s Kraus’ second straight win and his third consecutive outing of at least 8.0 innings.

Kraus is the second Pilot to earn WCC weekly honors after senior INF Riley Henricks was named conference position player of the week on Feb. 21 after hitting .545 (6-for-11) during the season-opening sweep at Middle Tennessee. A native of Mukilteo, Wash., Henricks scored three runs, had two RBI’s, a double, four walks and was successful on his only stolen base attempt against the Blue Raiders.

 

Senior pitcher Chris Dennis and senior outfielder Craig Smith both landed on the 2011 Capital One Academic All-District 8 First Team, which was released by CoSIDA on May 6. Junior outfielder Kramer Scott was selected to the academic all-district second team. Dennis and Smith are now eligible to earn Academic All-America.

Dennis is a finance major with a 3.8 grade point average. This is Smith’s second consecutive selection to the academic all-region first team. Smith is a mechanical engineering major with a 3.8 GPA. This is the first academic all-region honor for Dennis and Scott, who is majoring in organizational communications and has a GPA of 3.4.

 

Head coach Chris Sperry is now second on the all-time career coaching wins list in UP program history. Saturday’s 3-2 win at Saint Mary’s was Sperry’s 272nd career win, moving him past his former coach Terry Pollreisz, whom Sperry replaced in 1998. A native of Brush Prairie, Wash., Sperry starred as a catcher for coach Pollreisz during the late 1980’s.

Sperry, who’s in his 14th year as head coach, coached in his 700th career game at the helm of the Pilots earlier this season.

 

Senior Riley Henricks, who has played shortstop, second base and now third base during his UP career, is putting together quite the resume as his stay on The Bluff nears an end. Henricks currently ranks second all-time in program history with 13 career triples, which is just one shy of tying and two short of breaking UP’s all-time mark. Henricks also ranks third in both hits (231) and doubles (47), is fourth in total bases (370), eighth in both runs (119) and home runs (22) and he ranks 10th with 104 career RBI’s.

Joining Henricks in the career record books is junior right-hander pitcher Kyle Kraus, who now has 18 career wins. That ties him for the sixth most in UP program history and he’s just seven shy of matching the all-time mark. Kraus is also tops in career walks per nine innings, allowing an average of just 1.47 free passes each game.

Senior reliever Chris Dennis is already the all-time saves leader with 22 career stops, which he accomplished in just two seasons after transferring from Edmonds CC.

 

Freshman OF/DH Turner Gill has been Portland’s most consistent hitter all season long and he currently leads the team and ranks eighth in the WCC with a .324 batting average. The native of Madras, Ore., is batting .388 during conference games, good for ninth best in the league, and he posted an 11-game hitting streak earlier this season. He’s tied for first on the Pilots with 46 hits and he ranks second in runs (21), doubles (12), RBI’s (27), total bases (69), and slugging percentage (.486).

Gill has gone hitless during a game just 10 times and he 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 UP’s 3-2 win at San Diego on April 22, he drove home the game-winning run with a single in the top of the tenth inning.

 

A career .135 hitter entering the season, junior OF Kramer Scott currently ranks second on the team with a .291 average. He also has a home run, a triple, eight doubles and 13 RBI’s. The long fly is his first as a Pilot, and his 13 RBI’s are 10 more than he had during his first two years on The Bluff combined. The native of Edmonds, Wash., is also a perfect 52-for-52 in the outfield and has a .385 on-base percentage, which leads the team.

 

Senior infielder Matt Mardesich, who led the Pilots with eight home runs last season, has continued his power surge this year with six long flies, which leads the team and is tied for second in the WCC. A native of Portland, Mardesich is eight for his last 20, helping raise his average to .288, and he has two homers during the past three games. He also leads the team with 28 runs, 46 hits, 16 doubles, 29 RBI’s, 84 total bases, a .525 slugging percentage and 12 multi-hit games. He’s tied for the team-best in both hits (46) and multi-RBI games (7).

 

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, was also named to the NCBWA Pre-Season All-American First Team and Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American Second Team, and he’s a Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award finalist.

After saving 14 games last year for the Pilots, Dennis opened the 2011 season with three straight saves against Middle Tennessee State and currently has eight stops on the year. Dennis has allowed just six earned runs in 33.1 innings (1.64 ERA), while recording 37 strikeouts. He’s holding opposing hitters to a staff-best .171 batting average.

Dennis is Portland’s all-time career leader in saves with 22, and he set a single-season mark last year with his 14 stops.

 

Portland has 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’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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