PORTLAND PILOTS (23-24, 13-11 WCC) @ SAN DIEGO TOREROS (29-10, 15-6 WCC)
Dates: Thu-Sat, May 20-22
Location: San Diego, Calif.
Ballpark: Fowler Park
Video: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
Series: USD leads 63-28
Last: POR 20, USD 0 (Apr. 20, 2019 @USD)

PROBABLE STARTERS (2021 W-L, ERA)
Thursday • May 20 • 6 PM • Game 1
POR: LHP Caleb Franzen (3-2, 4.22)
USD: RHP Jake Miller (5-1, 2.12)
 
Friday • May 21 • 6 PM • Game 2
POR: TBA
USD: TBA
 
Saturday • May 22 • 6 PM • Game 3
POR: TBA
USD: TBA

THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Portland Pilots are set for their final WCC series of the season against the San Diego Toreros.
• The two teams will face off in San Diego, starting with the opener on Thursday, May 20 at 6 p.m.
• Following that, they will play on Friday, May 21 and Saturday, May 22, with both of those games taking place at 6 p.m.
• A video stream and live stats will be available for all three games, and links can be found at PortlandPilots.com.

ABOUT THE PILOTS
• Portland's 13 wins in WCC play is the most in conference play 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. 12 after batting 11-for-18 the week prior with a pair of four-hit games.
• Stevens leads the Pilots in several stats at the plate, including batting average (.337) total hits (64), doubles (18), home runs (8), RBI's (29) and slugging percentage (.558). Amongst the WCC, he is first in doubles (11th nationally), total hits and total bases (106) and is fifth in slugging percentage (.558).
• Freshman first baseman Sam Brown has been electric in his first season on The Bluff. Brown ranks second on the team in batting average (.318), hits (54), doubles (15) and slugging percentage (.488).
• Brown is one of the best freshmen in the WCC, He is second among freshmen in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He is first among freshmen in total hits and doubles.
• Redshirt freshman left fielder Jake Holcroft has been solid as the season winds down. In the month of May, he's batting .324 with two doubles and a triple. He also put together a 14-game hitting streak before it was snapped this past weekend against Gonzaga.
• Junior right fielder Gabe Skoro has also been consistent at the plate for the Pilots this month. He's batting .346 with one double in May.
• Portland is second in the WCC in shutouts (4), WHIP (1.32), walks allowed per nine innings (3.30) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.93).
• LHP Brad McVay is second in the WCC in wins this season with six. He has posted a 3.58 ERA with 66 strikeouts in 12 appearances (10 starts) this year.
• 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 2.89 ERA and 70 strikeouts. He is fourth in the WCC in ERA, fifth in WHIP (1.13) and fifth in strikeouts.
• Junior RHP Eli Morse has shined in relief after making the move to the bullpen this year. He is 22nd nationally and tops the WCC in saves with eight.
• Sophomore RHP Peter Allegro was named WCC Pitcher of the week on May 10 for his stellar relief performance against the Pepperdine Waves on May 7. Allegro earned a save after pitching 4.2 scoreless innings, striking out eight batters in the process.
• Freshman LHP Caleb Franzen has also been solid this season, ranking first in the WCC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.44), second in walks allowed per nine innings (1.52) and sixth in WHIP (1.14).
• Two of the top three batters for the Pilots are freshmen: Brown (.318) and Jake Tsukada (.294).
• 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 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 8.65 and Morse at 8.25.
• Stevens is sixth in program history in career doubles (45) and seventh in career assists (444).
• 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 Diego Toreros are 29-10 this year and 15-6 in WCC Play.
• They are hitting .305, have a staff ERA of 4.36 and are holding opponents to a .267 batting average.
•USD has been one of the best offensive squads this season, leading the WCC in team batting average (.305), slugging percentage (.449) and on-base percentage (.389).
• The Toreros boast four of the top six batters in the conference: Thomas Luevano (first at .356), Cody Jefferis (fourth at .346), Adam Lopez (fifth at .345) and Jack Costello (sixth at .343).
• Costello is freshman who ranks at the top among WCC freshmen in batting average, on-base percentage (.405) and slugging percentage (.500)
• On the mound, sophomore RHP Jake Miller has posted the best ERA in the conference this year at 2.12. That's 0.74 points better than the next closest pitcher (Ky Bush, Saint Mary's).
• Rich Hill is in his 34th season as coach of the Toreros.

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.