PORTLAND PILOTS (2-11)
at AIR FORCE FALCONS (6-9)
Dates: Tuesday-Wednesday, March 14-15, 2017
Times: 2 PM/12 PM (Pacific)
Location: Air Force Academy, Colo.
Ballpark: Falcon Field (1,000)
Video/Stats: GoAirForceFalcons.com
Series: AF leads 4-3
Last: POR 1-0, POR 6-2, POR 2-1 (March 9-10, 2012 @ Portland)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Tuesday • March 14 • 2:00 PM
POR: TBA
AF: TBA
 
Wednesday • March 15 • 12 PM
POR: TBA
AF: TBA
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• After a brief stop at home last weekend, the Pilots return to the road for two non-conference games against the Air Force Falcons at the Air Force Academy in Colorado.
• The Pilots and Falcons begin their two-game set at 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, while Wednesday's game is set for 12 p.m.
• Portland then remains on the road to open play in the West Coast Conference when they travel to San Diego, Calif., for a three-game series against the first-place San Diego Toreros.
• The weekend series starts with the opener at 6 p.m. on Friday; Saturday's game will also begin at 6 p.m., and first pitch for Sunday's finale is scheduled for 1 p.m.
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots opened the first home series of the season last weekend with a 5-2 win over the Northwestern Wildcats in game one of a double header Friday at Joe Etzel Field.
• Freshman lefty starter Grady Miller struck out 12 in 7.0 innings, while allowing the two runs on just four hits.
• Sophomore Matt Kelly went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run, the first of his career.
• The Wildcats bounced back to take the next two, claiming the three-game series.
• The Pilots led game two of the double header before the Wildcats came back to win 6-4; Saturday's finale was only 7.0 innings, and Northwestern prevailed 9-5.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• On Friday, March 9, Portland freshman left-handed starter Grady Miller struck out 12 in 7.0 innings of work as the Pilots defeated Northwestern 5-2; the 12 K's are tied for the fourth most in a game ever for the Pilots, and it's the most strikeouts since Travis Radke fanned 14 in 2013.
• The Pilots opened the 2017 season with 11 straight road games before finally playing at the friendly confines of Joe Etzel Field last Friday; 16 of Portland's first 19 games are on the road.
• The Pilots began the season with three consecutive trips to California, playing at CSUN (Feb. 18-19), at CSU Bakersfield (Feb. 23-25) and at UC Irvine (March 3-5).
• Statistically, sophomore Cody Hawken leads the Pilots in batting average (.300), home runs (3) and RBI's (10).
• Ryan Hoogerwerf, a junior transfer, has a team-best five doubles, and ranks second in batting average (.295), RBI's (9) and homers (2).
• Sophomore shortstop Matt Kelly went 6-for-12 last weekend against Northwestern, with a home run, two doubles, three RBI's and three runs scored
• On Feb. 24 at CSU Bakersfield, Hoogerwerf and Hawken went back-to-back with home runs in the first inning.
• The 2017 Diamond Dinner, which has become Portland Baseball's premier event and fund-raiser took place last Saturday night at the Beauchamp Recreation Wellness Center.
• The featured guests at this year's Diamond Dinner are UP baseball alums Gus Little and Travis Vetters; the former teammates and lifelong friends will forever be connected as Vetters donated one of his kidneys to Little a few years ago.
• Look for a video recap of the 2017 Diamond Dinner on Portside with the Pilots on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet Northwest, or on PotlandPilots.com on Thursday.
• The new-look Pilots entered the season with 14 returning letterwinners, only two position starters and three starting pitchers.
• New to The Bluff is a sizable group of newcomers as the Pilots welcomed 20 new players to the program; that includes 12 freshmen, two redshirt-freshmen and six JC transfers.
• The crowd of 1,092 for Portland's game with No. 3 Oregon State on March 22, 2016, was the largest in Joe Etzel Field history; the attendance surpassed the previous best of 1,002, which was also against Oregon State back in 2007.
• On March 31 of last season, the Pilots played the 600th game ever at Joe Etzel Field, which opened in 1989.
• On May 10 in Keizer, Ore., the Pilots defeated the No. 24 Oregon State Beavers for Portland's first win over OSU since a 20-13 victory in Corvallis, back in 2006; OSU had won 25 straight against the Pilots.
• It was also Portland's first win over a ranked opponent since opening the 2014 campaign with a victory over No. 12 and reigning national champion UCLA in Los Angeles.
• The Pilots led the WCC last season with 71 stolen bases, which came after swiping only 21 the year before.
• UP Athletics Hall of Famer Geoff Loomis is in his second season as head coach of the Pilots; he spent the previous 13 seasons at the helm of the Pacific Lutheran Lutes, leading the Lutes to 11 winning seasons and two NCAA Regional appearances.
• Loomis (1990-92) still holds the UP program career record for batting average (.376) and he earned Pacific-10 North Division Player of the Year honors in 1992.
• Returning to the Portland bench are second-year assistants Gregg Swenson and Jake Valentine, while David Tufo, Jr., is in his first year on the staff.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
• The Falcons, who have already played two Mountain West Conference series, dropped three games at UNLV last weekend.
• Air Force is batting .314 as a team, which ranks 25th nationally; opponents are hitting .348, and their staff ERA is 8.26.
• They feature a pair of hitters batting better than .400 in Tyler Zabojnik (.435) and Drew Wiss (.415); Zabojnik also has three HR's, 16 RBI's, two triples and five doubles.