PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Pilots rushed out to a big early lead and never looked back as they took the series opener against the Pepperdine Waves 9-6. The win puts the Pilots at 20-20 on the season and 12-7 in WCC play.
Portland's pitching staff flummoxed batters all night, combining for 15 strikeouts. Caleb Franzen earned the win in the start, his third of the season. He had seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Peter Allegro earned the save after an excellent relief performance, allowing no hits or runs in 4.2 innings while striking out eight.
The bats were working in Portland's favor on Friday, with the Pilots racking up nine runs on 15 hits. Five players had multiple hits on the night, with Jake Tsukada leading the way. He was 3-for-4 on the night with two doubles and five RBI's. Gabe Skoro also did well, going 3-for-4 with an RBI.
The Pilots started the scoring with two runs in the first inning. Briley Knight brought in Chad Stevens with an RBI single to right field and Tsukada brought Knight in with an RBI single to the left side. Portland led 2-0 after the first inning.
The second inning saw the Waves get on the board. Justin Lutes – who leads the WCC in homers – hit the light post in right center field with a moonshot off the barrel of the bat, giving Pepperdine a run with the solo shot.
Portland responded quickly with two more runs in the bottom of the third. Tsukada drove in his second RBI of the day with a ground rule double over the left field wall while Nich Klemp brought home a runner with a sacrifice fly. Portland led 4-1 one-third of the way through.
The scoring exploded from there, with both teams combining for 10 scores through the next two innings. Pepperdine added two runs in the fourth off a home run from Billy Cook and an RBI double from Lutes. But Portland bounced right back with five runs of their own. Jake Holcroft and Skoro both had RBI hits to bring in one run each while Tsukada brought in three with a double to left field. That made it 9-3 Pilots after four innings.
Pepperdine had their biggest inning of the night in the fifth. Cook brought in two runs with his second homer of the night while Ryan Johnson brought in one more run with a sacrifice fly to make it only 9-6 Portland. But Allegro excelled in relief, allowing no hits or runs in just a little over four innings. Allegro's dominance on the plate secured the 9-6 win for the Pilots.
The Pilots and Waves will be back at it tomorrow at 3 p.m. Check PortlandPilots.com for live stats and video options.
