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PORTLAND PILOTS (4-15) at OREGON STATE BEAVERS (13-3)
Dates: Tuesday, March 10, 2015
First Pitch: 5:35 p.m.
Location: Corvallis, Ore.
Field: Goss Stadium (3,248)
Video/Stats: OSUBeavers.com
Series: OSU leads 148-56-1
2015: OSU 14, @POR 2 (March 4, 2015)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Tuesday • March 10 • 5:35 PM
POR: TBA
OSU: TBA
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Portland Pilots travel to Oregon State on Tuesday to face the Beavers for the second time in less than a week.
• The two in-state rivals will square off on Tuesday at Goss Stadium in Corvallis at 5:35 p.m.
• The Beavers topped the Pilots 14-2 last Wednesday at Joe Etzel Field.
• Portland then opens play in the West Coast Conference with a three-game series at San Diego this weekend.
• The WCC series with the Toreros begins with a 6 p.m. game on Friday night.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots had a busy week last week going 1-4.
• Portland began the week with a 2-1 win at Seattle on Tuesday; Kevin Farley and Turner Gill each drove in a run, starter Jordan Wilcox earned his first career win as a Pilot after throwing 7.1 innings and reliever Brandon Snyder claimed his first career save.
• Portland then dropped a 14-2 decision to Oregon State at home on Wednesday before getting swept at Arizona during the weekend.
• The Pilots led at Arizona late on both Saturday and Sunday but the Wildcats rallied for the win both times.
• Kevin Wade belted a homer against the Beavs and Caleb Whalen returned from an injury to bat .417 with two doubles at Arizona.
 
NEXT WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• Next week's scheduled home game against the Washington Huskies has been postponed due to UW's final exams.
•The game was originally scheduled for next Tuesday, March 17, at 3 p.m. at Joe Etzel Field and no make-up date has been determined.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Turner Gill ranks fifth among active players with 46 career doubles and Caleb Whalen ranks 10th with 12 career triples.
• The Pilots rank eighth in the nation in doubles (30) and are No. 15 in hits (135).
• Michael Lucarelli is seventh nationally with four sacrifice bunts and Kevin Farley ranks ninth with seven doubles.
• Gill, a senior, and freshman Geoffrey Lee are both currently riding a team best 11-game hitting streak; it's a career-high hitting streak for Lee and it's just one shy of matching Gill's all-time best.
• Portland's game against Seattle on Feb. 17 was the 3,000th game in the history of the University of Portland baseball program, which dates back to 1923.
• That Seattle game was also the 900th game at the helm of the Pilots for head coach Chris Sperry, who began his coaching career in 1998.
• Portland's 15 hits in the 9-7 loss at UC Riverside on Feb. 15 were the most hits for the Pilots in a game since April 3, 2013; the Pilots followed that performance with 15 more hits during a 9-0 win over Seattle at Joe Etzel Field on Feb. 17 and they collected 15 hits again on March 1 against UC Davis.
• Gill is Portland's top hitter with a .308 average and three home runs.
• The Pilots went 11-41 last season and posted a 5-22 record in the West Coast Conference.
• Four of Portland's 11 wins last season came on walk-offs.
• Caleb Whalen currently ranks third all-time at UP with 12 career triples, which is just two shy of Larry Farrell's (1958-61) all-time program career record of 14 triples.
• Whalen's six RBI's at Oregon on April 8 last year tied for the fourth most in a game in program history and it's the most RBI's by a Pilot since 2009, when Garrett Queen also drove in six against Hawai'i.
• Portland returned 23 letterwinners, eight position starters and most of its pitchers from last season.
• The Pilots were picked to finish 10th in a pre-season poll of the WCC's 10 head coaches.
• Joe Etzel Field, Portland's home ballpark, received a new surface during the offseason, switching from natural grass to artificial AstroTurf; the Etz also received new fencing, bullpens and a scoreboard and the improvements mark the beginning of a three-phase, long-term upgrade to the facility.
• Sperry, a former standout catcher/infielder for the Pilots, has compiled 340 career wins in 17+ years at the helm; he trails only long-time Portland coach Joe Etzel, who collected 378 career wins in 21 seasons (1966-86).
• Joining Sperry on the bench are assistants Larry Casian (9th year), Tucker Brack (7th year) and Jeremy Beard (2nd year).
• Casian, a pitcher, spent parts of nine years in the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• The Beavers entered the national rankings this week, falling in at No. 24 in the Collegiate Baseball News poll; OSU is also 30th in the NCBWA rankings.
• OSU swept a four-game series at home last weekend against Fresno State and the Beavers have won nine straight.
• The Beavers are batting .317 as a team, are holding the opponents to a .225 average and claim a staff ERA of 3.08.
• Freshman catcher K.J. Harrison is batting .431 with six home runs, 22 RBI's, three triples and six doubles.
• Portland Athletics Hall of Famer (Baseball) Pat Casey is in his 21st season as head coach at Oregon State and he's led the Beavers to two NCAA National Championships (2006 & 2007).