PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Saint Mary's Gaels clinched a share of the West Coast Conference regular season title with a 5-2 win over the Portland Pilots to conclude 2016 on Sunday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field. Sunday was senior day, and the Pilots honored their 12 seniors who were making their last appearance.
 
The game was close for most of the afternoon as it began as a pitchers' duel. Portland starter Kevin Baker was cruising early on, striking out five during the first two innings. His counterpart from Saint Mary's, Cameron Neff, matched Baker pitch-for-pitch as neither team was able to produce much offensively during the first couple of innings.
 
The Gaels (30-22, 18-9 WCC) got on the scoreboard first with a run in the top of the third inning. After Baker fanned the lead-off batter, Conor Thane reached on an infield single. Zach Kirtley then sent a double down the left-field line, allowing Thane to score from first to make it a 1-0 game.
 
But that's all Baker would allow as the sophomore righty tossed 6.0 solid innings. He finished with nine K's and yielded just four hits.
 
The Gaels then scored a run in the top of the seventh inning after Portland (17-37, 3-24 WCC) went to its bullpen.
 
The Pilots matched the Gaels with a run in the home half of the seventh, cutting the deficit to just one run. With runners on first and second and one out, Kevin Farley hit a single to left, which scored Ryan Barr and pulled the Pilots within 2-1. Neff followed the RBI single with a strikeout and a fly out to end the inning.
 
Saint Mary's then took advantage of five walks in the eighth to score three runs and surge ahead 5-1. Kirtley again provided the big hit, this time with a two-run single up the middle.
 
Portland's final run came in the top of the ninth inning after Cooper Hummel led off with a double to the left-center gap. He moved to third on a passed ball and scored on an RBI groundout off the bat of Barr.
 
Neff improves to 5-3, while Baker (0-5) takes the hard-luck loss. Neff went 7.0 innings, surrendered four hits and fanned nine. Reliever Drew Strotman worked the final two innings.
 
The Gaels are WCC co-champions with Gonzaga and BYU, and those three teams will join Pepperdine at the WCC Championships next weekend in Stockton, Calif.