PORTLAND PILOTS (11-4)
WEEK 5 GAME NOTES

vs. Washington Huskies (9-7, 1-2 Pac-12)
Dates: Tuesday, March 15
Location: Seattle, Wash.
Ballpark: Husky Ballpark
Video: PortlandPilots.com 
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com 
Series: UW Leads 95-53-1
Last: POR 4, UW4 (April 13, 2021 @POR)

Tuesday • March 15 • 6 PM
POR: RHP Brock Gillis (1-1, 9.00)
UW: LHP Bryce Armstrong (0-0, 6.75)

THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL 
• The Pilots will return to the Pacific Northwest for a matchup against the Washington Huskies in Seattle.
• The two teams will play on Tuesday, March 15 with first pitch set for 6 p.m.
• Check PortlandPilots.com for live streams and stats.

NEXT UP IN PILOTS BASEBALL 
• The Pilots will be back at Joe Etzel Field for their first West Coast Conference Series of the season against the BYU Cougars.
• The series will start on Thursday, March 17 with their opener at 6 p.m. The two teams will then play on Friday, March 18 and Saturday, March 19, with Friday starting at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.
• Check PortlandPilots.com for live streams and stats.

ABOUT THE PILOTS 
• The Pilots are 11-4 to start the year after sweeping the UC Riverside Highlanders in a three-game road series.
• The sweep against the Highlanders is the second sweep of the season for the Pilots.
• Jake Tsukada was the top batter for the Pilots over the past week, batting .438 with a double, three RBI's and three steals.
• Tsukada currently bats .278 with two doubles and seven RBI's primarily in the leadoff spot. He is tied for second in sacrifice flies at two and is one of the toughest players to strike out in the conference, getting K'd only once every nine at bats.
• Brett Gillis once again shined on the mound for Portland, pitching a complete game (seven innings) in the second game of the Pilots' doubleheader against the Highlanders. He also had six strikeouts. he is the only WCC pitcher to have a complete game this year.
• Gillis is 3-1 on the year with an impressive 1.50 ERA and 1.13 WHIP and 31 strikeouts. His ERA is tops in the WCC, and he also ranks third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.20), fifth in strikeouts and sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (11.74).
• Jake Holcroft is the top batter so far with a .339  average, two doubles and 10 RBI's. He currently holds a five-game hit streak.
• The Pilots currently lead the WCC in walks (76), are second in on-base percentage (.399) and sacrifice flies (8) and third in total hits (145) and runs (100).
• Among other notable individual rankings, Peter Allegro ranks second in saves with four and Nick Nygard ranks first in walks allowed per nine innings (1.17) and second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.50).
• Sophomore Sam Brown and senior Eli Morse were both named to the All-WCC Preseason Team this season. The Pilots as a team were picked to finish sixth in the conference in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll.
• The sixth-place ranking marks the first time since 2003 that the Pilots were slated to finish in the top six. It's the first time since the conference also expanded to 10 teams in 2013.
• The Pilots return 28 players while adding 10 newcomers from last year's squad, including seven players who earned All-WCC honors last year. Seven position starters return along with 11 pitchers.
• Morse returns after leading the WCC in saves last season with eight. He was among the nation's leaders in the category as well for most of the year.
• Morse is fourth all-time in total strikeouts (226), ninth all-time in program history in strikeouts per nine innings (8.48) and 10th in saves (eight).
• Jake Tsukada, Ben Patacsil and Jake Holcroft were among the top batters for the Pilots, batting .282, .263 and .262 as freshmen.
• Tsukada also tied the school record for hits in a games last season against the Pacific Tigers with six. He is the first Pilot who played Division I baseball to do so.
• Holcroft batted an astounding .484 in a shortened 2020 season and was named a Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-American. Against San Jose State, he batted .455 with four RBI's
• Caleb Franzen is another hurler poised for a breakout season with the Pilots. Last season, he was third in the WCC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.82) and fourth in walks allowed per nine innings (1.65).
• The Pilots also return Trace Tammaro, who sat out almost all of last season due to a back injury. The redshirt sophomore batted .333 with a team-leading seven home runs in 2020. He is tied for the team-lead with two home runs this year.
• 2022 marks the seventh year at the helm for head coach Geoff Loomis.
• With 122 career wins, Loomis already ranks fourth all-time for coaching wins at Portland. Going back to his time at Pacific Lutheran, he has 447 career wins.
• 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).

LAST SEASON IN PILOTS BASEBALL 
• The Pilots went 24-26 overall last season with a 14-13 record in WCC play.
• Their fifth-place finish in the WCC was their best full-season finish since head coach Geoff Loomis took over the Pilots and their best since 2011. Their 14 wins in WCC player were also the most for the team since 2010.
• The Pilots had nine players earn All-WCC recognition, with shortstop Chad Stevens most notably earning first team recognition. First baseman Sam Brown and starting pitcher Christian Peters both named to the All-WCC Second Team.
• Stevens batted a team-high .333 with with 67 hits, eight home runs, 19 doubles and 29 RBI's. His total hits and doubles both were tops in the WCC and he was also second in extra-base hits (27) and total bases (110).
• Stevens was subsequently drafted in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros. The last Pilot to get drafted was Beau Brundage in 2018.
• Brown put together one of the best seasons by a freshman in the conference, batting .315 with five home runs, 16 doubles and a triple. Among freshman, he was first in doubles (fifth overall), second in extra-base hits (22), third in slugging percentage (.495) and fifth in batting average.
• Brown made the Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-American baseball team as well, becoming the third Pilot to do so since 2012.
• Peters was among the top hurlers, with the second best ERA in the WCC at 2.63. He was also fourth in WHIP (1.12) and strikeouts (78). He was one of only three pitchers to earn WCC Pitcher of the Week honors multiple times last year.
• The other six players to earn All-WCC recognition were pitcher Peter Allegro, two-way player Brett Gillis, left fielder Jake Holcroft, center fielder Briley Knight, pitcher Eli Morse and second baseman Jake Tsukada. Brown, Holcroft and Tsukada all made the All-WCC Freshman Team.
• As a whole, the team ranked second in the WCC in strikeouts per nine innings (9.6), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.93), WHIP (1.31) and walks allowed per nine innings (3.28). Their four shutouts also ranked third in the WCC.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT 
• The Washington Huskies are 9-7 to start the year and 1-2 in Pac-12 play.
• They hit .246 as a team with a staff ERA of 3.38.
• Most recently, the Huskies just dropped their first Pac-12 series of the year, losing two out of three games to the Utah Utes
• Lindsay Meggs is in his third season in charge of the Huskies.