PORTLAND PILOTS (18-18, 10-5 WCC) VS. SAN FRANCISCO DONS (14-18, 9-6 WCC)
Date: Fri-Sun, Apr. 23-25 
Location: San Francisco, Calif.
Ballpark: Benedetti Diamond
Live Video: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Series: USF leads 61-32 
Last: POR 4, USF 5 (Mar. 17, 2019 @USF)

PROBABLE STARTERS (2021 W-L, ERA)
Friday • Apr. 23 • 3 PM • Game 1
POR: RHP Christian Peters (4-3, 2.57)
USF: RHP Landen Bourassa (4-2, 3.66)
 
Saturday • Apr. 24 • 1 PM • Game 2
POR: LHP Bradley McVay (5-1, 2.76)
USF: RHP Grant Nechak (0-2, 5.82)
 
Sunday • Apr. 25 • 1 PM • Game 3
POR: RHP Brett Gillis (2-3, 5.10)
USF: RHP Eric Reyzelman (1-1, 8.78)

THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots are headed to California for a three-game WCC series against the San Francisco Dons.
• The two teams will start the series with a game on Friday, Apr. 23 at 3 p.m.
• Following that, they will play on Saturday, Apr. 24 at 1 p.m. and will close the series with a Sunday matchup on Apr. 25 at 1 p.m.
• A video stream and live stats will be available for all three games, and links can be found at PortlandPilots.com.

NEXT WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots will have a weekend off before returning to action with a three-game homestand against the Pepperdine Waves.
• The two teams will start their series on Friday, May 7 with a 6 p.m. game.
• They will then play on Saturday, May 8 at 3 p.m. and finish off the series on Sunday, May 9 at 12 p.m.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland's 10-5 start in WCC play is the best 15-game start to conference play for the Pilots since 2010 and the best since Geoff Loomis took over as head coach in 2016.
• Junior shortstop Chad Steven has been locked in at the plate this season, twice earning WCC Player of the Week honors. The Fox Island, Wash. native most recently won the award on Apr. 6 after batting 11-for-18 the week prior with a pair of four-hit games. The first came in a 6-4 win over the No. 15 Oregon Ducks last Tuesday and the second came against the BYU Cougars on Sunday in a 7-6 win. He was 4-for-5 in both of those games.
•Stevens leads the Pilots in several stats at the plate, including total hits (49), doubles (15), home runs (5), RBI's (21) and slugging percentage (.549). His 15 doubles are good for fourth in the nation and first in the WCC.
• Freshman first baseman Sam Brown has been electric in his first season on The Bluff. He has batted 10-for-19 in his last five games with three doubles and one home run.
• Brown is the top batter for the Pilots with a .349 average and is also tops in on-base percentage (.410) and OPS (.958). He is sixth in the WCC in batting average and on-base percentage and second among WCC freshmen. Brown also ranks fourth in the conference in total hits and first among freshmen.
• Portland is second in the WCC in ERA (3.95), WHIP (1.31), walks per nine innings (3.27, shutouts (5), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.88) and strikeouts per nine (9.4). They are 12th nationally in shutouts and in the top 35 in strikeouts per nine and walks per nine innings.
• Senior RHP Christian Peters won WCC Pitcher of the Week on Mar. 30 for his stellar performance against the Santa Clara Broncos. On Mar. 26, the senior matched his career-high for strikeouts with 11 in eight shutout innings.
• Peters has four wins on the year with a 2.57 ERA and 56 strikeouts. He is third in the WCC in ERA and wins and fifth in strikeouts, strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.67) and WHIP (1.04).
• Junior RHP Eli Morse has shined in relief after making the move to the bullpen earlier this year, with 27 strikeouts to seven walks in 24 innings of work. He is also tied for fifth nationally and tops the WCC in saves with eight. His eight saves are three more than the next closest WCC pitcher.
• Caleb Franzen also made the move to the bullpen during the middle of this season and has thrived. He is second in the WCC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.86) and WHIP (0.94), third in walks allowed per nine (1.52) and fourth in ERA 2.61).
• Redshirt sophomore LHP Brad McVay has the most wins of any WCC pitcher at five this season. He has posted a 2.76 ERA with 46 strikeouts in nine appearances this year.
• Three of the top four batters for the Pilots are freshmen: Brown (.349), Jake Tsukada (.299) and Ben Patacsil (.276).
• Tsukada tied the single game record for most hits by a Pilot on Friday, Mar. 19 against Pacific with six hits and reached a base on 10 straight plate appearances, also thought to be the most in program history.
• Peters, Stevens, sophomore first baseman Tracye Tammaro, and redshirt-freshman outfielder Jake Holcroft were all voted to the 2021 All-West Coast Conference Preseason Baseball Team. 
• The Pilots tied Pepperdine for the most players on the all-league preseason team, and it's the second straight year to earn the honor for Stevens.  
• The Pilots as a team were selected to finish seventh in the annual poll of the league's 10 head coaches. 
• Senior closer Connor Knutson entered the year second all-time in program history with 22 career saves; the right-hander is just two stops shy of matching career leader Chris Dennis, who compiled 24 saves from 2010-11. 
• Elsewhere on the program's career charts, Peters and Morse rank eighth and ninth respectively for most strikeouts per nine innings. Peters sits at 8.42 and Morse at 8.34.
• The Pilots lost only five players from last year's roster and return 28 letterwinners, including all nine position starters and almost the entire pitching staff. 
• 2021 marks the sixth year at the helm for head coach Geoff Loomis whose 97 career wins ranks third all-time at Portland. 
• The 25 wins the Pilots recorded in 2019 are the most in a season since 2012. 
• Loomis is a Portland baseball alum and UP Athletics Hall of Fame member who still holds the UP program career record for batting average (.376). 
• Joe Etzel Field, UP's home site since 1966 has undergone some upgrades as the University concluded a three-phase, long-term renovation project. 
• The final and most recent phase of the project features the addition of new seating, concourse, press box, ticketing office, dugouts, and a refreshed plaza surrounding the stadium. 
• In 2014, updates included the installation of AstroTurf, new fencing, bullpens, a scoreboard, and a grass berm down the right field line, while new lights were added in 2016. 

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
• The San Francisco Dons are 14-18 on the season and 9-6 in conference play.
• They are hitting .252, have a staff ERA of 5.51 and are holding opponents to a .259 batting average.
• The Dons have been the best base-running team in the WCC, leading the conference in stolen bases at 50. That's good for 26th in the nation. Darius Foster is first in the conference with 16 stolen bases.
• Nino Giarratano is in his 23rd season as head coach of the Dons.

LAST SEASON IN PILOTS BASEBALL 
• The Pilots were off to a great start last year with a 12-4 record before the season was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• At the end of the abbreviated season, the Pilots were among the nation's leaders in hitting, pitching, and fielding. 
• They were seventh in the country in home runs (23) and 25th in slugging percentage (.471). 
• On the hill their hits allowed per nine innings (6.7) was 23rd, and the staff ERA (2.62) ranked 27th. 
• Individually, Jake Holcroft was one of the best hitters in the country en route to nabbing Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-American recognition; he hit a torrid .484 at the plate, which ranked third in the country, and his 30 hits were third nationally. Holcroft was Portland's first freshman All-American since 2012. 
• Christian Peters was nearly flawless on the mound, going 3-1 in four starts with a minuscule 0.63 ERA; he struck out 35 in 28.2 total innings, walked only three, and allowed just three earned runs to rank 24th nationally in ERA. 
• Tracye Tammaro was among the nation's leaders in home runs, belting seven dingers in 16 games to rank eighth in the country; his 22 RBI's were good for 16th nationally.