PORTLAND PILOTS (4-19, 0-6 WCC)
WEEK 6 GAME NOTES
 
vs. OREGON DUCKS (15-6, 4-2 PAC-12)
Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2017
First Pitch: 6 PM
Location: Portland, Ore.
Ballpark: Joe Etzel Field (1,300)
Video: TheW.tv
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Series: ORE leads 91-27
2016: @ORE 10, POR 1 (4/6); ORE 6, POR 1 (4/13 @Hillsboro); @ORE 15, POR 4 (5/17)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Tuesday • March 28 • 6 PM
POR: RHP Tate Budnick (1-3, 3.54)
ORE: RHP Isaiah Carranza (0-0, 3.00)
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots begin a stretch of eight straight home games when they host the Oregon Ducks for a non-conference contest on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Joe Etzel Field.
• This is the first of three meetings with the Ducks this season, and the game will be streamed on TheW.tv.
• Portland then returns to the West Coast Conference this weekend when the Santa Clara Broncos visit The Bluff for a three-game series.
• The set begins with a 6 p.m. game on Friday night, first pitch on Saturday night is also scheduled for 6 p.m., and Sunday's finale starts at 1 p.m.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots kept is close for most of the weekend in Moraga, Calif., but in the end the Saint Mary's Gaels took all three games of the WCC series at Louis Guisto Field.
• During Saturday's double header, the Gaels jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game one before the Pilots rallied to tie the score; but Saint Mary's responded with two unanswered tallies to prevail 7-5.
• Mike Hicks belted a two-run home run in top of the fifth to level the score.
• It was the Pilots who surged ahead in the second game, claiming a 4-0 lead; but again the Gaels responded, this time en route to a 6-5 victory; down 5-3 in the seventh, SMC scored three times to claim the win.
• The Pilots had a season-high 13 hits, but they left the bases loaded in the eighth inning.
• Kevin Wade and Ryan Hoogerwerf homered during the loss.
• Wade homered again on Sunday during an 11-5 Saint Mary's win.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Senior Kevin Wade has homered in two straight games and has raised his batting average to .315 covering the past six games, during which he's 11-for-27 (.407).
• Sophomore Matt Kelly's batting average has risen to a team-best .325; he's currently riding a nine-game hitting streak.
• Last Wednesday's game against Seattle was the 600th in the coaching career of Portland skipper Geoff Loomis; the UP alum and Athletics Hall of Fame member is in his second season at the helm of the Pilots after 13 seasons as head coach at Pacific Lutheran, where he led 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.
• On Friday, March 9, freshman left-hander Grady Miller struck out 12 in 7.0 innings 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.
• Miller K'd nine more in 7.1 innings in his next outing at San Diego (March 17), giving him 21 strikeouts during his last 14.1 innings; he ranks fifth in the WCC in strikeouts (32, 10.29 per 9.0 IP).
• The Pilots opened the season with 11 straight road games before finally playing at Joe Etzel Field on March 10; 15 of Portland's first 20 games are on the road.
• On Feb. 24 at CSU Bakersfield, Ryan Hoogerwerf and Hawken went back-to-back with home runs in the first inning; Hoogerwerf leads the team with four homers on the year, while Hawken is second with three.
• 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.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
• The Ducks won two of three at home last weekend against the Washington Huskies after previously taking two of three at Cal.
• Oregon features one of the top pitching staffs in the country, ranking 14th in ERA (2.79); they're also second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.17), fifth in walks allowed (2.31), sixth in shutouts (5), and 13th in WHIP (1.14).
• Opponents are hitting just .236.
• Offensively they're batting .256 as a team, and are led by freshman Gabe Matthews at .339.
• George Horton is in his ninth year as head coach at Oregon and he's led the Ducks to five NCAA post-season appearances.