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PORTLAND PILOTS (2-9)
vs. #5 OREGON STATE BEAVERS (9-3)
Dates: Tuesday, March 4, 2014
First Pitch: 5:35 p.m.
Location: Corvallis, Ore.
Ballpark: Goss Stadium (3,248)
Live Video: Pac-12.com
Live Stats: OSUBeavers.com
Series: OSU leads 144-56-1
2013: @OSU 7-5 (4/2); OSU 5-1 (4/17); OSU 4-3 (5/8)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Tuesday • March 4 • 5:35 PM • vs. OSU
POR: RHP Billy Sahlinger (0-0, 4.76)
OSU: RHP Jake Thompson (2-0, 1.93)
 
PORTLAND PILOTS (2-9)
vs. BAKERSFIELD ROADRUNNERS (5-6)
Dates: Friday-Sunday, March 7-9, 2014
Location: Portland, Ore.
Ballpark: Joe Etzel Field (1,000)
Live Audio/Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Series: CSUB leads 3-2
Last: March 2-4, 2012 @CSUB; CSUB 14-2, POR 3-0, CSUB 5-1
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday • March 7 • 2 PM • vs. CSUB
POR: RHP Austin Kelly (0-2, 3.21)
CSUB: LHP Taylor Aikenhead (1-2, 4.02)
 
Saturday • March 8 • 1 PM • vs. CSUB
POR: RHP Kurt Yinger (0-2, 8.25)
CSUB: TBA
 
Sunday • March 9 • 1 PM • vs. CSUB
POR: TBA
CSUB: LHP Austin Davis (1-1, 3.60)
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots travel to Corvallis, Ore., to face the No. 5 Oregon State Beavers on Tuesday night before returning home to host the Bakersfield Roadrunners at Joe Etzel Field this weekend.
• First pitch on Tuesday at Goss Stadium is set for 5:35 p.m.
• Friday's series opener against the Roadrunners is scheduled for 2 p.m., while first pitch on both Saturday and Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m.
• Weather could affect this weekend's schedule, so please visit PortlandPilots.com for updates.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots dropped three close decisions at home last weekend to UC Irvine.
• The Anteaters took both ends of a double header on Friday, by 5-1 and 6-2 margins, before claiming Saturday's finale 5-3.
• Trailing 4-0 in the 8th inning in the first game on Friday, the Pilots scored a run before loading the bases; but Irvine's starting pitcher Andrew Morales was able to came up with a huge strikeout to end the inning.
• In the second game, the Pilots lead 2-1 after scoring runs in both the first and fourth innings; the Anteaters would then score the tying run in the fifth before scoring three more in the seventh en route to the win.
• On Saturday, Caleb Whalen collected three hits and drove in a run and the Pilots had the potential game-tying runs on base in the bottom of the ninth, but UC Irvine would hold on for the win.
 
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.
• The Pilots have lost 18 straight games against Oregon State, who used to be in the same Pac-10 North Conference with Portland; UP's last win over OSU came in 2006 when the Pilots defeated the Beavers 20-13 in Corvallis.
• Junior Caleb Whalen is currently fourth all-time at UP with 10 career triples, which is just four shy of Larry Farrell's (1958-61) all-time program career record of 14 triples.
• 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.
• 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 returned 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 returned 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 10 career triples, which ranks fourth most all-time in program history.
• Whalen sits only four 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 (10.27) and fourth in career ERA (2.82).
 
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.