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PORTLAND PILOTS (2-5, 0-0 WCC)
at #3 OREGON DUCKS (7-0, 0-0 Pac-12)
Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Location: Eugene, Ore.
Field: PK Park (4,000)
Live Video: Pac-12.com
Live Stats: GoDucks.com
Series: ORE leads 82-26
2013: Oregon swept 4-0 (3-1 @UO, 5-1 @UO, 4-1 @UP, 11-7 @UP)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Tuesday • Feb. 25 • 6 PM
POR: RHP Jackson Lockwood (2-0, 0.00)
ORE: RHP Jeff Gold (1-0, 1.50)
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots travel to Eugene, Ore., this week for a match-up against the No. 3 Oregon Ducks on Tuesday evening.
• First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at PK Park.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots opened play at the Gael Invitational last week with a 5-2 win over Kansas State at Louis Guisto Field in Moraga, Calif., on Thursday.
• Caleb Whalen hit a pair of solo homers during the win, while Cody Lenahan had a three-run double.
• Portland then dropped consecutive games to UC Davis, Saint Mary's and UC Davis again while in Moraga.
• Against the Aggies on Friday, Portland nearly rallied for the win, but UC Davis held on 8-7; Kevin Farley went 3-for-5 with three RBI's and the Pilots had the potential tying run on base when the final out was made.
• On Saturday, the Gaels broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the sixth before adding two insurance runs in the seventh en route to the 5-2 win.
• Sunday's finale featured a four-run top of the first inning by UC Davis, who went on to win 11-2; all four runs were unearned.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots opened the season with a 1-0 win at then-12th ranked and defending national champion UCLA on Friday, Feb. 14.
• Portland scored the only run of the game against the Bruins when Caleb Whalen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the first inning.
• UP starter Travis Radke and three relievers combined to hold the Bruins to just four hits, while recording 12 strikeouts.
• Radke, a junior left-hander who earned Freshman All-America honors in 2012, returned this year after missing the majority of last season with an injury.
• Redshirt-junior Turner Gill also returns after utilizing his medical redshirt season last year; Gill was also a Freshman All-American and twice landed on the All-WCC First Team.
• Junior infielder Cody Lenahan is Portland's top returning hitter after batting a career-best .300 last spring; Lenahan is currently batting .300 and is tied for the league-high with four doubles.
• The Pilots were picked to finish seventh in a pre-season poll of the WCC's 10 head coaches, while Radke was selected to the All-WCC Preseason Team.
• Portland returns 21 letterwinners this year, which includes most of the pitching staff.
• 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 326 career wins in 16+ 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, 2013.
 
WELCOME BACK
• Junior lefty Travis Radke returns this year after missing a good chunk of the 2013 season due to an injury.
• In eight appearances last year, the native of Thousand Oaks, Calif., went 2-3, posted an ERA of 3.65 and struck out 68 in 44.1 innings pitched.
• In an outing against UC Riverside on March 15 last season, Radke struck out 14 in just 7.0 innings during a 4-2 win.
• 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.
• In 2012, Radke was named the WCC's Freshman of the Year, while also garnering Freshman All-American honors; he ended that season 11th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (5.97), 26th in WHIP (1.0) and 30th in ERA (2.09).
• In his 2014 debut at No. 12 UCLA on Feb. 14, Radke struck out seven in just 4.2 innings of work; the Pilots would go onto defeat the Bruins 1-0.
 
WELCOME BACK AS WELL
• Redshirt-junior outfielder Turner Gill also returns after missing almost all of 2013 with an injury.
• A Freshman All-American in 2011 and a two-time All-WCC First Team selection, Gill led the Pilots as a sophomore with a .314 batting average, 13 doubles, five home runs and 30 RBI's.
• He appeared in just seven games last year before being forced to shut it down.
 
CHASING HISTORY
• Junior infielder Caleb Whalen currently has nine career triples, which is tied for the fourth most all-time in program history.
• Whalen sits only five triples shy of Portland's all-time leader Larry Farrell, who totaled 14 triples from 1958 to 1961.
• As a sophomore last year, Whalen had six triples, which ranked second in the WCC and was one shy of matching a program record for most triples in a season.
• Left-handed starter Travis Radke also appears on Portland's all-time career lists, ranking second in strikeouts per nine innings (10.67) and third in career ERA (2.53).
 
THE PRESEASON POLL
• Defending WCC Tournament Champion San Diego was chosen to win the 2014 WCC baseball championship, while the Pilots were slated to finish seventh.
• The Toreros earned six of 10 possible first-place votes and 76 overall points in the poll, while Pepperdine, the 2012 WCC Champions, earned 68 points and picked up one first place vote to finish second.
• Portland received 27 points to finish ahead of Pacific, Saint Mary's and Santa Clara.
• Portland's Travis Radke was selected to the all-conference preseason team, and you can view the complete results in the column on the right.