PORTLAND, Ore. – Shortstop Chad Stevens had three hits and drove in four runs to lead the Portland Pilots baseball team to a 10-6 win on Friday over the Utah Valley Wolverines. Peter Allegro was credited with the win for Portland while Eli Morse earned the save.
Caleb Franzen saw the most action on the mound for the Pilots, putting together a solid five innings of relief work. During that time, Franzen allowed no runs and only two hits while striking out four.
After struggling in the past three games to generate runs, the Pilots finally found some success at the plate, scoring 10 runs off 12 hits. Four Pilots – Stevens, Jake Tsukada, Ben Patacsil and Hunter Montgomery – had two or more hits on the day. Sam Brown also went 1-for-3 with an RBI triple, expanding his hitting streak to eight straight games.
The Wolverines (2-6) got the scoring started early in the second inning. An errant pitch from Brett Gillis hit Garrett Broussard with the bases loaded and brought the first run in. Franzen then replaced Gillis on the mound in a tough spot with the bases loaded and no outs. Utah Valley scored off a two-RBI single from Mitch Moralez and again off a Portland error. Franzen and the Pilots got out of the jam with a 5-4-3 double play and a fly out, but trailed 4-0.
Portland responded with a four-run inning of their own in the bottom of the third. With two outs and the bases loaded, Stevens hit a bases-clearing double to right center to close the gap to just one run. Henry Cheney followed that up with an RBI single to bring Stevens home and make it a 4-4 ballgame.
In the sixth inning, the Pilots took the lead thanks to Brown's RBI triple down the right field line, bringing Jake Holcroft in from first. Brett Gillis then brought Brown home with an RBI single right up the middle to give Portland a two-run lead.
Utah Valley tied the game back up in the top of the seventh with an RBI double and a sacrifice fly bringing in two scores, but it did not stay tied for long. With two outs and a runner on second in the bottom of the seventh, Tsukada stepped up to the plate and launched a line drive down the left field line to bring in Montgomery and make it 7-6 Portland.
The Pilots tallied three more runs in the eighth inning for insurance. The Wolverines managed to get a runner on first in the top of the ninth thanks to a fielding error, but Morse struck out the final batter to earn his third save of the season.
The Pilots and Wolverines will play a doubleheader tomorrow at Joe Etzel Field. First pitch for Game 1 is set for 12 p.m. while Game 2 will start at approximately 3:30 p.m. Links for live stats and video for both matches can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
