PORTLAND, Ore. – For the first time in program history, the Portland Pilots baseball team has clinched a berth to the WCC Tournament.
   
The Pilots earned the bid after earning a key win over the Saint Mary's Gaels earlier this afternoon. With the Santa Clara Broncos falling to the Gonzaga Bulldogs later in the evening, the Pilots are one of only six teams who can't finish with worse than 13 losses, therefore earning a spot.

The WCC Tournament runs from May 25-28 in Stockton, Calif. at Banner Island Ballpark. The WCC expanded the tournament to six teams earlier this year and signed a three-year contract extension with the Stockton Ports of Minor League Baseball to keep the tournament there until 2024. There hasn't been a WCC Tournament since 2019, with the 2020 and 2021 editions of the tournament being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The three through six seeds will play single elimination games on the tournament's first day to whittle the field down to four. After that, the tournament goes to double-elimination format from Thursday to Saturday of that week. Seedings for the tournament are determined by the results of the WCC round-robin regular season conference schedule.

Portland currently sits at 28-18 overall and 14-8. That overall record is their best since 2010 and their WCC record marks just the third time since that same year that they've won at least 14 conference games. They currently own a seven-game win streak in WCC play, which is the longest such streak in program history.

The Pilots will have a chance to build on that streak tomorrow at 6 p.m. when they play Game 2 of their series against the Saint Mary's Gaels. Check PortlandPilots.com for live stats and video options.