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Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 PORTLAND PILOTS (6-24, 1-8 WCC) at BYU COUGARS (12-16, 4-5 WCC)Dates: Thur-Sat, April 2-4, 2015
Location: Provo, Utah
Field: Larry H. Miller Field (2,204)
TV: BYUtv (Thur & Fri)
Video/Stats: BYUCougars.comSeries: ORE leads 87-26
2014: BYU 11-1, BYU 6-3, BYU 6-1 (May 15-17 @POR)
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)Thursday • April 2 • 5 PMPOR: RHP Billy Sahlinger (2-2, 4.30)
BYU: RHP Kolton Mahoney (2-3, 4.12)
Friday • April 3 • 5 PMPOR: RHP Kurt Yinger (0-5, 6.12)
BYU: RHP Jeff Barker (1-2, 5.35)
Saturday • April 4 • 11 AMPOR: RHP Davis Tominaga (1-4, 3.55)
BYU: RHP Brandon Kinser (2-2, 4.12)
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL • The Pilots remain on the road when they travel to Provo, Utah, for a three-game West Coast Conference series against the BYU Cougars at Ralph H. Miller Park.
• The starting time for both Thursday's and Friday's games is 5 p.m. (Pacific) and both contests will be broadcast live nationally on BYUtv.
• Saturday's series finale will begin at 11 a.m. and will be streamed on TheW.tv.
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL • Three Portland pitchers limited the Ducks to just four hits while combining for 10 strikeouts as the Pilots won 6-4 at Oregon on Tuesday.
• Grant Taylor was 3-for-5 during the win and four different Pilots drove in a run; starter Cole Doherty registered his first career win and Carl Snaring recorded his first career save.
• The win snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Ducks and it was Portland's first win over Oregon since 2011.
• Previously the Pilots dropped a three-game WCC series to the Pepperdine Waves at Joe Etzel Field; the Waves won by scores of 5-1, 9-5 and 3-1.
• Sunday's series finale lasted 11 innings and Portland starter Davis Tominaga logged 10.0 innings; Pepperdine scored two runs in the 11th after the Pilots had gone to the bullpen.
• Cooper Hummel went yard in the loss on Saturday and the Waves used a four-run eighth inning to pull away for the win.
ABOUT THE PILOTS • Senior Caleb Whalen ranks eighth among active players nationally with 13 career triples, while fellow senior Turner Gill is tied for 12th with 47 career doubles.
• Davis Tominaga ranks sixth in the country and first in the WCC with two complete games; Gill is second in the WCC with five home runs.
• Gill, a senior, recently had a career-best 11-game hitting streak snapped.
• 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.
• 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 second all-time at UP with 13 career triples, which is just one 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.
• 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 off-season, 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 341 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 OPPONENT• The Cougars ended a four-game losing streak by defeating the San Diego State Aztecs in San Diego on Monday; previously USD swept the Cougars last weekend.
• BYU is batting .284 as a team and is led by junior shortstop Hayden Nielsen, who is hitting .363; Nielsen also leads the team with 23 RBI's, while freshman catcher Colton Shaver has belted a team-best five home runs.
• The Cougars staff ERA is 5.67 and reliever Michael Rucker is 3-1 with two saves and a 3.33 ERA.
• Mike Littlewood is in his third year as head coach at BYU.
