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Trey Swygart ready at first base.

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Pilots Host Saint Mary's for First WCC Home Series

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Pilots will stay home for their first home WCC series of the season, hosting the Saint Mary's Gaels at Joe Etzel Field. The two teams play a three-game series starting on Friday, March 27 at 6 p.m. Check PortlandPilots.com for tickets, live stats and video options.
 
Saint Mary's Gaels
(13-11, 1-2 WCC)
Dates:  Fri-Sun, March 27-29
Location: Portland, Ore.
Ballpark: Joe Etzel Field
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Against SMC: 43-63-2
Last vs. SMC: POR 9, SMC 12 ('25)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (2026 W-L, ERA)
Friday • March 27 • 6:00 PM
POR: TBD
SMC: TBD
 
Saturday • March 28 • 3:00 PM
POR: TBD
SMC: TBD
 
Sunday • March 29 • 1:00 PM
POR: TBD
SMC: TBD
 
LAST TIME OUT FOR PORTLAND
• Over the last week, the Pilots have kept it rolling, sweeping the LMU Lions on the road to open conference play before beating the Northwestern Wildcats at Joe Etzel Field Monday.
• Against the Lions, the Pilots pulled off big wins on Friday and Sunday and dominated the conference foe on Saturday, winning 5-3 and 4-3 on Friday and Sunday respectively and 13-4 on Saturday.
• This is the first time the Pilots have ever swept the Lions on the road.
• Trey Swygart led the way at the plate, accruing seven hits with two 3-hit appearances on Friday and Saturday.
• Friday was particularly dominant for Swygart, who went 3-for-3 with two home runs and also pitched 3.2 innings with no runs allowed and seven strikeouts. His seven strikeouts are tied for the most by a Pilot this season.
• Swygart's win was his third of the year, tied for the most on the Pilots.
• On Friday, Trey Newmann also punched out seven batters, making him the third Pilot to have that many strikeouts in a game. Portland's 15 strikeouts total were the most they've had in a game this season.
• On Saturday, Portland's 17 hits proved to be a season high, with six batters recording multiple hits on the day.
• Sunday saw the Pilots trailing by one run entering the ninth, but two runs in the top frame helped push the Pilots past the Lions to complete the sweep.
• Alex Via recorded saves on both Friday and Sunday and now sits at four on the year. That's good for first on the team
• The Pilots have now won 12 of their last 14 games and six in a row. It's their longest win streak of the season.
• Portland has taken the last four weekend series.
• Against the Wildcats, the Pilots scored all their runs late, with eight runs between the sixth and eighth innings to win 8-3.
• Trey Swygart kept the hot streak going, batting 2-for-4 with two RBI's and a double. His hitting streak sits at six now.
• Jonas Salk also hit a bases-clearing double that gave him three RBI's. He's the first Pilot to 20 RBI's this season.
• Carter Gaston earned his fourth win on the mound, putting together a stellar seven innings with just one run and four hits allowed. He struck out five batters as well.
• Gaston is the first Pilot to pitcher to throw at least seven innings this year and the first to reach four wins as well.
• The Pilots have now won seven in a row and 13 of their last 15 games. Their 15-7 start is the best through 22 games since the 2023 season.
 
PEEK INTO THE PORT
• The Pilots lead the conference currently in ERA (3.30), WHIP (1.28), hist allowed per nine innings (7.79), walks allowed per nine innings (3.78), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.24), sacrifice flies (14) and win-loss percentage (.682). They are the first team to 15 wins this year in the conference.
• Nationally, they also rank 13th in ERA, 35th in WHIP, 36th in hits allowed per nine, 42nd in sacrifice flies and 47th in both win-loss percentage and walks allowed per nine.
• After his performance on Tuesday, Gaston now leads the conference in ERA (0.81) and ranks sixth nationally. Gaston also leads the WCC in wins (4) and WHIP (1.03) and ranks second in (5.24).
• In wins, Trey Swygart is right behind, ranking third with three victories.
• Will Labonte ranks third in the conference in ERA at 2.08. He ranks sixth among all freshmen in the nation.
• The Pilots have come through in relief as well, with Alex Via and Kaden Segel ranking second and third in the conference respectively in saves at four and three.
• Segel also ranks third in both strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.00) and walks allowed per nine (1.69).
• Dakota Chun is tied for second in the WCC in doubles (8) and is first among all freshmen. He is third in doubles per game as well (0.38).
• Jonas Salk's five sacrifice flies ranks first in the conference and is among the best in the nation at sixth.
• Salk has 20 home runs for his career, good for 14th all-time in program history.
• Brady Bean's .318 average leads the Pilots. He currently leads all qualified batters in hits (27), total bases (42), home runs (3), at bats (88) and stolen bases (6).
• Four Pilots have hit at least three home runs this year: Bean, Salk, Cole Katayama-Stall and Swygart.
• Two qualified Pilots (at least two plate appearances per game and 75% of games played) are currently batting above .300: Bean (.318) and Cody Nitowitz (.308). Nitowitz is the only Pilot to have multiple triples on the year and has a team-high .439 on-base percentage.
 
LAST SEASON FOR THE BLUFF BOYS
• The Portland Pilots finished last season 22-30 overall and 13-11 in WCC play to take fifth in the WCC.
• Portland earned 20-plus wins for the fifth season in a row and for the seventh time in the last eight season. It's the first time they've earned at least 20 wins five seasons in a row since a stretch between 2008-12.
• Last year, the Pilots made qualified for the WCC Tournament for the fourth year in a row after previously having never made the tournament. They fell to the LMU Lions in their lone game in the tournament.
• Six players earned All-WCC honors last season, with four of those six player returning this season.
• The Pilots saw six earn All-WCC honors, headlined by Jonas Salk's All-WCC First Team selection. Tyler Howard earned second team honors, Brady Bean, Cody Nitowitz and Ryan Rembisz earned honorable mention and Nitowitz and Trey Swygart made the freshman team.
• Salk makes it seven straight seasons the Pilots have had someone make the All-WCC First Team. This was his first All-WCC selection.
• Jonas Salk's 13 home runs were the most by a Pilot since 2008. Salk is the first Pilot since Matt Scales 1992 to have at least three multi-home run games in a season.
• Salk's .807 slugging percentage ranked first against conference opponents. He was also third in home runs (ninth) and OPS (1.287), fourth in doubles (nine) and runs scored (26) and eighth in batting average (.373).
•Brady Bean was the only Pilot to have played every game. He ranked ninth in the WCC in hits (64) and tied for third in at bats (206).
• Bean's 48 RBI's ranks seventh in the WCC. They are tied for the 11th most in program history, and he's just the fifth Pilot in the 2000s to reach that total.
• Tyler Howard was second in the WCC in batting average (.379) and on-base percentage (.481) and ranked sixth in total walks (29). Howard put together a 32-game on-base streak that was the longest by a Pilot since 1993.
• Cody Nitowitz was tied for eighth in the WCC in batting average against conference opponents at .373, sixth in on-base percentage (.490) and tied for first in walks (18).
• Trey Swygart was a two-way player for the Pilots last season, displaying power at the plate and prowess on the mound.
• Swygart, a 2025 Perfect Game Freshman All-American, posted a slash line of .342/.500/.644 in 73 at bats last year, along with six home runs and four doubles. He was 0-3 on the mound last season with a 6.97 ERA and two saves, one of just two Pilots with multiple.
• As a team, the Pilots led the conference in walks (257), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.05), WHIP (1.52), shutouts (3) and walks allowed per nine innings (3.75). Nationally, they were 38th in double plays per game (0.83) and 46th in walks allowed per nine innings.
 
THE COACHING STAFF
• 2026 marks the 11th year at the helm for head coach Geoff Loomis.
• With 248 career wins as Portland's skipper, Loomis already ranks fourth all-time for total wins at Portland. He is also just the fourth Pilot coach to reach 200 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).
• Trey Watt was promoted to associate head coach following the 2024 season and takes over as pitching coach.
• Watt was a pitcher under Loomis at Pacific Lutheran, becoming the second Lute to ever sign a free agent contract.
• Jarvis Gomes returns as the Director for Player Development for his fifth year and Ben Patacsil joining as an assistant coach after spending last season as a graduate assistant.
• Holcroft is Portland's all-time leader in games played (227), hits (319), at bats (941), runs scored (193), doubles (57), walks (112) and total bases (448). He's also third all-time in RBI's (161), tied for fifth in stolen bases (53), sixth in batting average (.339), tied for sixth in triples (eight), tied for eighth in home runs (eight).
• Holcroft earned All-WCC First Team honors last season for the third year in a row and was also named the 2024 WCC Tournament MVP.
• Patacsil thrice earned All-WCC honors, making the first team in his final season in 2024. He led the WCC in batting average (.387) and on-base percentage (.464) and hit .524 against WCC opponents specifically, over 100 points higher than the next closest player.
 
ABOUT THE GAELS
• The Saint Mary's Gaels are 13-11 this season and 1-2 in the WCC, taking down the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in a midweek contest after dropping two of three against the Pepperdine Waves.
• Last season, the Gaels won the 2025 WCC Tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016. They were 36-26 on the season and 15-9 in WCC play.
• The Gaels were picked to finish third in the WCC, with Ian Armstrong, Diego Castellanos and Jared Mettam all making the All-WCC Preseason Team as position players and Lukas Sarantos making the team as a pitcher.
• Armstrong, Castellanos and Mettam are all hitting above .300 on the year, batting .321, .358 and .320 respectively. As a team, the Gaels are hitting an impressive .340 on the season, leading the conference and ranking sixth nationally.
• Jacob Johnson paces the Gaels offensively, batting .418 to lead the conference and rank 27th nationally.
• Sarantos has appeared in eight games this season with two starts, posting a 1-1 record with a 7.63 ERA.
• Eric Valenzuela is in the third year of his second stint as head coach of the Gaels. He's gone 363-284 for his coaching career and is a combined 263-215 across both his stints as the head man in Moraga. 
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