PORTLAND (17-11) at SEATTLE U (6-19)
Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2019
First Pitches: 1 p.m./Appx. 3:45 p.m.
Location: Bellevue, Wash.
Ballpark: Bannerwood Park
Video: WACDigitalNetwork.com
Stats: Game 1  Game 2
Series: POR leads 81-73-1
2019: POR 7, SU 1 (March 13 at Portland);
SU 13, POR 12 (March 27 at Portland, Susp. in the 5th inning)
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
The Pilots head north to Bellevue, Wash., to play the Seattle U Redhawks on Tuesday afternoon at Bannerwood Park. The Pilots and Redhawks will conclude a previously suspended contest before playing their regularly scheduled game.
 
The first game, which began in Portland on Wednesday, March 27 before being halted by rain, will begin at 1 p.m. The Redhawks lead 13-12, but the Pilots have the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning. The second game is scheduled to begin at approximately 3:45 p.m.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Senior right-hander Chris Clements is the Rawlings WCC Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season after collecting a pair of W's last week against No. 8 Oregon State and LMU.
• In 10.0 total innings against the Beavers and Lions, Clements surrendered just two earned runs, gave up only three hits, K'd eight, and walked one.
• Clements previously nabbed back-to-back league pitcher of the week awards after tossing consecutive complete games.
• Clements registered a complete-game shutout Sunday against Northern Colorado on March 10, which was the first shutout by a Pilot pitcher since 2015; the 13 K's were the most for Portland since Kevin Baker fanned 13 in a game in 2017.
• Clements produced his first complete-game win at Stephen F. Austin on March 2.
• Clements, a transfer who's in his first year with the Pilots, is 6-0 with a 1.75 ERA, he has 47 K's in 46.1 innings, and he's holding the opposition to a .153 batting average; he's tied for second nationally in wins, he's fourth in complete games (2), fifth in WHIP (0.69), and 24th in hits allowed (4.86).
• The 20 runs scored Saturday, March 16, at USF are the most runs by the Pilots since 2006 when they won 20-13 at Oregon State, and it's the most runs for Portland against a WCC opponent since a 22-11 win at Santa Clara in 2002.
• It's also Portland's largest margin of victory since blanking UC Davis 19-0 in 2006.
• Portland opened the year 15-5, which equaled the program's second best record ever after 20 games; Portland's 1958 squad holds the record with an 17-3 mark, and the Pilots also went 15-5 in 1969.
• Portland's seven-game winning streak earlier this season was the longest stretch without a loss for the Pilots since 2010.
• Matt Kelly made history against the Dons at USF on Saturday, March 16 when he collected an impressive seven RBI's, which are the most by a Pilot since Kory Casto also drove in seven runs during a game in 2003.
• Freshman Tracye Tammaro recently homered in four straight games, and it's believed he's one of only four players in the nation to accomplish that feat this season.
• Portland's sweep at home against Northern Colorado (March 8-10) was the first four-game series sweep for the Pilots since taking four from Eastern Oregon in 1982, and it was the first against a DI opponent since winning four against Seattle in 1980.
• The Pilots lead the WCC in home runs (29), home runs per game (1.04), and slugging percentage (.410), and they're second in doubles (58), double plays (24), and double plays per game (0.86), and ERA (3.39).
• Cody Hawken ranks 10th nationally in hit-by-pitches (12) and he's just four shy of matching UP's career mark in that category; Hawken has been plunked 40 times in his career, while the program leader Cory Lunde (1999-2002) claims 44 HBP's.
• Portland closer Connor Knutson is 11th in the country with seven saves, and Chad Stevens ranks 19th in sacrifice flies (11).
• 2019 marks the fourth 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 for the most conference series wins since also claiming five league sets in 2011.
 
ABOUT THE REDHAWKS
• The Seattle U Redhawks dropped two of three at CSU Bakersfield last weekend.
• SU is batting .273 as a team, opponents are hitting .267, and their ERA is 4.77.
• Jacob Prater leads three Redhawks hitting better than .300 with a .327 average, and Justin Mazzone has team-highs of five HR's and 22 RBI's.
• Donny Harrel is in his 10th year as head coach at Seattle.