PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Pilots baseball team took both games of an afternoon doubleheader against the Utah Valley Wolverines on Saturday, clinching the series. Portland shut out the Wolverines with a 3-0 victory in game one and followed that up with a 6-5 win in game two. The two teams will conclude the series on Sunday at Joe Etzel Field at 12 p.m. Live stats and video can be found at PortlandPilots.com.
GAME 1 RECAP
Chad Stevens hit a solo home run and Christian Peters struck out 11 en route to a 3-0 victory in the first of two Saturday games against the Wolverines. Eli Morse earned the save as well.
Peters put together a dominant showing on the mound for Portland. He had 11 strikeouts and only one walk with no runs allowed in seven innings of work. His 11 strikeouts is a season-high for Peters and the Pilots.
Portland had six Pilots register a hit in the game with Stevens leading the way. The shortstop went 2-for-4 with a home run in the fifth inning that proved to be the game-winner. After a fast-paced four and a half innings, Stevens sent a ball over the left field wall to make it 1-0 Portland.
The Pilots added to their lead in the seventh inning with two more runs. Portland loaded the bases with a walk and two bunts. Wolverines pitcher Logan Petet then walked two Pilots back-to-back to make it 3-0 Portland. Morse retired Utah Valley's next three batters to end the game.
GAME 2 RECAP
The Pilots clinched the series against the Wolverines with their 6-5 victory in game two. Briley Knight had a solid performance at the plate, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs in the late game. Nick Nygard also earned the win for the Pilots after allowing no runs and only two hits in three innings of work.
The second inning saw scoring from both sides. The Wolverines got on the board first with a three-run homer over the center field wall and took an early lead. Portland responded with a three-run homer of their own, with Briley Knight bringing in Chad Stevens, Sam Brown and himself with the dinger to tie things up 3-3.
Knight came through again with an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth. The center fielder launched a ball down the right field line and Stevens took off from first. A bobbled ball by Alexander Marco allowed Stevens to round the bases and slide into home to give Portland a 4-3 lead.
The Pilots kept it rolling in the seventh inning, adding two more runs to their tally. Jake Holcroft and Sam Brown both had RBI singles to make it 6-3 Portland.
The Wolverines responded promptly, however, with two runs in the eighth inning. Jeff Arens hit a sacrifice fly to center field that brought in the first score and Kade Poulson followed that up with an RBI single to left field. Eli Morse replaced Connor Knutson on the mound and managed to get the Pilots out of the inning.
With just one inning to play, the Wolverines managed to get a runner on first with only one out. MOrse then got Mitch Moralez to hit a grounder to Ben Patacsil at third base and the Pilots were able to put together the 5-4-3 double play and end the game.
