PORTLAND PILOTS (3-1)
WEEK 2 GAME NOTES
 
at UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (2-2)
Dates: Fri & Sat, Feb. 22 & 23, 2019
Location: Edinburg, Texas
Ballpark: UTRGV Baseball Stadium
Video: Friday  Saturday
Stats: GoUTRGV.com
Series: First Meeting
Last: N/A
 
vs. North Dakota State Bison (1-2)
Dates: Fri & Sun, Feb. 22 & 24, 2019
Location: Edinburg, Texas
Ballpark: UTRGV Baseball Stadium
Video: Friday  Sunday
Stats: GoUTRGV.com
Series: POR leads 5-3
Last: NDSU 9-8; POR 3-2 (Feb. 23 & 25, 2006 at Sacramento State)
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots travel to Edinburg, Texas, for the Al Ogletree Classic, which begins on Friday afternoon and features the host school UT Rio Grande Valley and North Dakota State.
• The Pilots open their stay in Texas with two games on Friday, first squaring off against the NDSU Bison at 1 p.m. before playing the UTRGV Vaqueros at 5 p.m. in the night cap.
• Portland then faces UTRGV again on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., and the Pilots play their final game at the Al Ogletree Classic on Sunday against NDSU at 9 a.m.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots began the 2019 season by winning three of four against the Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors last weekend in Honolulu.
• Portland received strong starting pitching all weekend, and their only loss was in Game 3 when the 'Bows rallied late for the win Saturday night.
• The Pilots won Friday's opener in extra innings when they scored six runs in the top of the 10th en route to a 10-4 victory; Jace McKinney, Daniel Lopez, and Tracye Tammaro each had three hits.
• In the first game of the double header Saturday, Nate Packard was masterful on the hill, yielding just one run on four hits in 8.0 innings of work; the junior transfer K'd seven and walked only one.
• Gabe Skoro was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run, and Chad Stevens and Hunter Montgomery each homered.
• During Sunday's finale, Chris Clements held the 'Bows without a baserunner for the first five innings as the Pilots blanked the 'Bows 4-0; he finished with 8 K's  in 6.0 innings in his Portland debut.
• Dutton Elske provided a pair of RBI doubles and Matt Kelly belted a solo HR.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• 2019 marks the third year for head coach Geoff Loomis, a Portland baseball alum and UP Athletics Hall of Fame member who still holds the UP program career record for batting average (.376); Loomis is coming off his most successful year as the Pilots' skipper.
• The Pilots' 23 wins last season were the most for the program since winning 27 in 2012.
• Portland's 12 WCC victories also matched the most for the program since that same season.
• The Pilots won five WCC series last year, which included winning two of three from regular season league-champion Pepperdine in Malibu during the final weekend; the five conference series wins were the most won by the Pilots since also claiming five league sets in 2011.
• The Pilots feature an experienced squad in 2019, while at the same time they add a bevy of newcomers.
• Portland returns 18 letterwinners and five position starters, which includes all-conference senior outfielder Cody Hawken.
• Hawken, who was named Preseason All-WCC, had a career year as junior, batting a career-best .323 overall, while leading the Pilots with 10 homers and 36 RBI's.
• Senior Matt Kelly returns as well, bringing a wealth of experience back to the infield and 122 career starts, and joining him are third baseman Daniel Lopez and Chad Stevens, who started every game at shortstop as a freshman in 2018; Lopez joined the long list of Pilots who have homered twice in the same game when he accomplished the feat at home against Saint Joseph's last season.
• Portland's pitching staff is loaded with veterans and features 2018 all-conference picks Eli Morse and Connor Knutson.
• Morse, a sophomore righty, flourished as Portland's Friday starter last spring, registering three wins and collecting the program's first complete-game win since 2015; he had an ERA of 3.62 as a freshman, and he fanned 71 in a staff-high 82.0 innings.
• Knutson, a junior right-handed reliever, made 22 appearances last year, going 4-2 with eight saves, a 2.75 ERA and an opponents' batting average of .191.
• Senior starter Kevin Baker also returns after missing most of last season with an injury; Baker earned All-WCC Second Team recognition in 2017, and he currently ranks No. 2 all-time at UP with a career average of 10.63 strikeouts per game.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
• The NDSU Bison dropped two of three last weekend at Sacramento State.
• Peter Brookshaw had a solid series, batting .462 with six doubles, and Bennett Hostetle hit a pair of homers.
• Their team batting average is .288, opponents are hitting .234, and the staff ERA is 3.21.
• Tod Brown is in his 12th year as head coach at NDSU, and they return 16 letterwinners and five position starters from a team that was 26-24 last year.
• The UTRGV Vaqueros enter the week with a 2-2 record and they took one of three from No. 16 Oklahoma State at home last weekend.
• UTRGV is hitting .261 as a team, and Andy Atwood is batting .368 with a homer and three RBI's; their opponents claim a batting average of .233 and UTRGV's staff ERA is 3.75.
• They went 23-31 last year and are under the guidance of third-year head coach Derek Matlock.