PORTLAND PILOTS (1-9)
vs. NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS (2-9)
 
Dates: Thursday-Saturday, March 9-11, 2017
Times: 6 PM/3 PM (DH)/11 AM
Location: Portland, Ore.
Ballpark: Joe Etzel Field
Video: TheW.tv
Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Series: POR leads 2-1
Last: POR 6-1, NU 7-6 (@Phoenix, Ariz. in 2002)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Thursday • March 9 • 6:00 PM
POR: RHP Kevin Baker (0-1, 11.25)
NU: RHP Josh Davis (0-0, 2.84)
 
Friday • March 10 • Game 1 • 3 PM
POR: LHP Grady Miller (0-3, 5.27)
NU: RHP Hank Christie (1-1, 2.25)
 
Friday • March 10 • Game 2 • 6:30 PM
POR: LHP Corbin Powers (0-1, 6.00)
NU: LHP Matt Gannon (0-1, 5.40)
 
Saturday • March 11 • 11 AM
POR: LHP Jordan Horak (0-2, 5.62)
NU: RHP Josh Levy (1-0, 0.96)
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots play their first home games of the season when they welcome the Northwestern Wildcats to The Bluff for a four-game non-conference series.
• The Pilots and Wildcats first play on Thursday at 6 p.m.; a double header is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m., and Saturday's series finale will begin at 11 a.m.
• Saturday's game will be followed by the 2017 Diamond Dinner, which is set to begin at 6 p.m. at the Beauchamp Recreation and Wellness Center.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The UC Irvine Anteaters had to rally twice last weekend to defeat the Pilots, which led to a 3-0 series win for the home team at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif.
• In the first game on Friday night, the Anteaters escaped with a 3-1 win after the Pilots got two runners on in the top of the ninth.
• The next two games followed a similar script, with the Pilots leading late in both, but twice the Anteaters rallied to claim 6-3 and 5-3 victories.
• On Saturday, Portland's Ryan Hoogerwerf went 3-for-4 with two RBI's and a run scored.
• During Saturday's game, Hoogerwerf had two doubles and two RBI's, and the Pilots again got two runners on base in the top of the final frame.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• The Pilots open the 2017 season with 11 straight road games before finally playing at the friendly confines of Joe Etzel Field on Thursday, March 9 when they begin a four-game series with Northwestern.
• 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, Portland redshirt freshman Beau Brundage ranks 25th nationally with three sacrifice bunts, which leads the WCC; senior Kevin Wade's two sacrifice flies also lead the conference and rank 28th nationally.
• Senior Devin Kopas leads the Pilots with a .313 batting average, while Ryan Hoogerwerf, a junior transfer is second at .303; Hoogerwerf hit .417 (5-for-12) at UC Irvine with two doubles, two RBI's and four runs scored.
• On Feb. 24 at CSU Bakersfield, Hoogerwerf and Cody Hawken went back-to-back with home runs in the first inning; both Hawken and Hoogerwerf have two home runs on the season.
• The 2017 Diamond Dinner, which has become Portland Baseball's premier event and fund-raiser will take place on Saturday night, March 11 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.
• 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 Wildcats took two of four at Santa Clara last weekend.
• They're batting .207 as a team, have a staff ERA of 6.17, and opponents are hitting .315; freshman Alex Erro leads the team offensively, and is batting .400 with two home runs, two doubles and five RBI's.
• Spencer Allen is in his second season as head coach.