PORTLAND, Ore. – Carter Gaston held the hot hitting San Diego bats at bay and Jake Holcroft delivered a three-run home run in leading Portland to a 5-1 win against the Toreros Saturday at Joe Etzel Field. The victory snaps San Diego's 11-game win streak and keeps Portland atop the West Coast Conference standings. The teams will meet in Sunday's rubber match with a 1 p.m. first pitch.
Gaston (6-1) picked up the win for the Pilots (21-11, 7-1 WCC). The right-hander went 6.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits, allowing one walk and striking out three. Sophomore Morgan Codron also pitched well, going two shutout innings while allowing one hit, walking one and striking out two. Tanner Douglas came in to record the final out with the bases loaded in the ninth. He struck out Ariel Armas on three pitches to earn his sixth save of the season.
Offensively, the Pilots were led by Holcroft, who went 2-for-4 on the day with a double, a home run, a walk and three RBI. Senior Evan Scavotto put together a noteworthy performance at the plate as well, going 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Senior Ben Patacsil also helped out with two hits in four trips to the plate while adding an RBI.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Pilots got on the board immediately, starting their scoring with one run in the bottom of the first inning. Portland got an RBI single from Patacsil, scoring Holcroft from second base.
The Toreros (22-11, 8-3) failed to push any runs across before the Pilots offense got back to their scoring ways the next inning. Portland scored three runs, all of them coming on a homer off the bat of Holcroft over the scoreboard in right field, scoring Scavotto and junior Riley McCarthy.
Portland added another run in the third inning on an RBI single from Scavotto for a 5-0 lead. San Diego got a solo home run from Jack Gurevitch in the seventh inning and loaded the bases. Codron came on in relief of Gaston and had a pitch go to the backstop, but Pilot catcher Riley McCarthy was able to catch the runner on third in an inning-ending rundown to limit the damage.
The Toreros again loaded the bases in the ninth before Douglas slammed the door.
GAME NOTES
» The Pilots power output was led by Holcroft, who hammered his fourth home run and 12th double of the season.
» Five Pilots had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» Spencer Scott and Riley McCarthy joined Holcroft, Patacsil and Scavotto with two hits apiece.
» Gaston faced the minimum through the first five innings and put together 6.2 innings of one-run ball for the Pilots.
» The Pilots out-hit the Toreros at a 12-5 clip.
» Portland pitchers faced 35 San Diego hitters in the game, allowing 10 ground balls and eight fly balls while striking out six.
» The Pilots stranded nine runners on base compared to seven for the Toreros.
» San Diego starter Logan Reddemann took the loss after allowing five runs on eight hits in 4.0 innings. He struck out eight.
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