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PORTLAND PILOTS (12-20, 4-5 WCC)
at BRIGHAM YOUNG COUGARS (17-14, 5-4 WCC)
Dates: Thursday-Saturday, April 11-13, 2013
Location: Provo, Utah
Field: Larry H. Miller Field (2,204)
TV: BYUtv (Friday’s game)
Audio/Stats: BYUCougars.com
Series: BYU leads 11-9
2012: BYU 3-2 (12), POR 3-1, BYU 7-4 (10) (March 23-24 @POR)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Thursday • April 11 • 5 PM
POR: RHP Billy Sahlinger (1-2, 3.13)
BYU: RHP Adam Miller (2-5, 5.83)
 
Friday • April 12 • 5 PM • BYUtv
POR: RHP Kurt Yinger (2-2, 2.70)
BYU: TBA
 
Saturday • April 13 • 12 PM
POR: RHP Matt McCallister (1-3, 4.33)
BYU: TBA
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots travel to Provo, Utah, this week for a three-game West Coast Conference series against the Brigham Young Cougars at Larry H. Miller Field.
• First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. (Pacific) on both Thursday night and Friday, while Saturday’s finale will begin at 12 p.m.
• Friday’s game will be broadcast live nationally on BYUtv.
• The Cougars hold a slim 11-9 edge against the Pilots in the all-time series and BYU took two of three from the Pilots in Portland last season.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots dropped three games to Gonzaga last weekend at Joe Etzel Field; two of the games were decided by a single run.
• During Friday’s opener, which stretched into Saturday because of rain, the Pilots took a 4-3 lead late before the Bulldogs rallied for a 5-4 win; Caleb Whalen drove in two of UP’s runs.
• The second game was a pitchers’ duel, which GU claimed 4-1.
• Rain bumped the series finale to Monday, which the Bulldogs won 2-1; one of GU’s runs was unearned and the Pilots left 10 base runners stranded; Portland starter Matt McCallister allowed just one earned run and three hits during 8.0 innings of work.
• The Pilots previously split two non-conference mid-week games, dropping a 7-5 decision at No. 6 Oregon State on Tuesday before winning 13-6 at Seattle U on Wednesday.
• Portland took a 2-1 lead at OSU into the sixth inning before the Beavers scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and four more in the seventh; UP did send the tying run to the plate in the ninth.
• Against SU, Colin Sowers belted a pair of bases-loaded doubles and finished with five RBI’s.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Senior third baseman Jeff Melby is currently on a 12-game hitting streak, which is a career-best and the longest for the Pilots this season.
• Sophomore right-hander Kurt Yinger nabbed WCC Pitcher of the Week honors on March 18 after tossing his first career complete game shutout.
• Yinger had a string of 27.0 consecutive scoreless innings earlier this season.
• Sophomore lefty Travis Radke, who K’d 14 during a win over UC Riverside on March 15, is second nationally in strikeouts per 9.0 innings (13.8) and is seventh in overall strikeouts (68).
• Freshman right-hander Billy Sahlinger leads the WCC in fewest hits allowed (23).
• Nine of Portland’s first 13 games of 2013 were against ranked opponents.
• Portland went 27-25 last year to register the second winning season in the past three years, a feat that has not been accomplished since 1992.
• The Pilots have compiled 85 wins during the past three years (2010-12), which is the most W’s during a three-year span since 1990-92; Portland’s 110 wins during the past four years (2009-12) are also the most since that same time (1989-92).
• UP was 12-12 in the WCC last year, good for a sixth-place finish, marking the third straight year with a conference record of .500 or better, which is a first in the history of the program.
• Junior outfielder Turner Gill and sophomore left-hander Travis Radke were both selected to the Preseason All-West Coast Conference Baseball Team.
• Head coach Chris Sperry, a former standout catcher/infielder for the Pilots, notched career win No. 300 last year when Portland defeated LMU 6-3 in LA on April 21.
• Sperry, who has 318 career wins in 15+ years at the helm of the Pilots, trails only long-time Portland coach Joe Etzel, who compiled 378 career wins in 21 seasons (1966-86).
• Sperry coached his 800th career game as head coach at UP at UC Irvine on March 2.
 
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• Sophomore left-hander Travis Radke had a career outing on March 15 when he struck out 14 in just 7.0 innings during a win over UC Riverside.
• Radke became the 11th pitcher in the 90-year history of the UP baseball program to record at least 14 K’s in a game.
• The native of Thousand Oaks, Calif., currently ranks second in the nation in K’s per nine innings (13.8) and he’s seventh in overall strikeouts (68); he leads the WCC in K’s.
• Last season, he was named the WCC’s 2012 Freshman of the Year, while also garnering Freshman All-American honors.
• He ended last season 11th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (5.97), 26th in WHIP (1.0) and 30th in ERA (2.09).
 
WCC RAWLINGS PITCHER OF THE WEEK
• Sophomore right-hander Kurt Yinger was named the WCC Rawlings Pitcher of the Week (March 18) after hurling his first career complete game shutout as the Pilots blanked UC Riverside 2-0 on March 16 at Joe Etzel Field.
• Yinger registered a career-high 12 strikeouts and didn’t walk a single batter, while scattering six hits.
 
THE STREAK
• Yinger ran his consecutive scoreless inning streak to 27.0 innings before the San Francisco Dons scored in the eighth inning of a 5-1 Portland win on March 23.
• He began the streak against No. 21 UC Irvine on March 2 and he had back-to-back 9.0 scoreless inning outings against Seattle (March 9) and UC Riverside (March 16).
• Against the Redhawks, Yinger allowed just three hits and fanned eight in the no-decision, while he registered his first career complete game shutout against the Highlanders.
• During his complete game, he struck out a career-high 12, didn’t issue a walk and allowed just six hits.
• Yinger boasts an impressive ERA of 2.70 and he’s K’d 42, while walking just seven, in 60.0 innings; he’s holding the opposition to a .248 batting average.
 
THE TRIFECTA
• Radke had a little defensive help in the top of the first inning against Riverside on March 15 after the first two batters of the game reached base.
• With both runners on the move, Clayton Prestridge lined out to Jeff Melby at third, who threw it to second base for the force out before Cody Lenahan tossed it to first base for another force out and an inning-ending triple play.
 
THREE BAGGERS
• Caleb Whalen already has four triples this season, more than doubling his career total.
• His four triples rank third in the WCC and he’s tied for 14th nationally.
• His seven career triples are the ninth most all-time at UP and are just seven shy of matching Larry Farrell’s (1958-61) career mark of 14.
 
LIKE FATHER LIKE SON
• Freshman Lucas Hunter’s last name may be familiar to baseball fans as his father, Brian, spent 12 years playing in Major League Baseball.
• Brian Hunter spent time with the Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners, and he led the American League with 74 stolen bases in 1997.
• Lucas Hunter went to Portland’s Central Catholic and he was drafted in the 31st round of last year’s MLB draft by the Miami Marlins.
 
GAMECENTRAL = #THEPLACETOBE
• UP is providing a free online audio broadcast for every home game in 2013.
• Portland will also expand its video streaming to two weekend conference series and a couple of mid-week games.
• The Pilots plan to provide free video for the LMU series (April 26-28), and the Pepperdine series (May 17-19), along with mid-week games against Oregon (April 23) and Washington (May 14).
• Visit PilotsVideo.com to access GameCentral, which also can be used on your smartphone.