PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Pilots Baseball closes the regular season this weekend with a three-game series at Joe Etzel Field against the Pacific Tigers. The series begins on Thursday, May 14 at 6 p.m. Check PortlandPilots.com for tickets, live stats and video options.
SERIES INFORMATION
Opponent: Pacific Tigers (22-26-1, 14-9-1 WCC)
Date: Thurs-Sat, May 14-16
Location: Portland, Ore.
Ballpark: Joe Etzel Field
Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Against PAC: 33-25
Last vs. PAC: POR 8 @PAC 0 (2025)
PROBABLE STARTERS (2026 W-L, ERA)
Thursday • May 14 • 6 PM
POR: RHP Trey Swygart (5-1, 3.00)
PAC: RHP Zach Todd (3-2, 3.71)
Friday • May 15 • 6 PM
POR: TBD
PAC: TBD
Thursday • May 14 • 1 PM
POR: TBD
PAC: TBD
LAST TIME OUT
• The Portland Pilots are 25-24 overall and 11-13 in WCC play entering their final weekend of regular season play.
• The Pilots have dropped their last four games, falling to the Oregon State Beavers and the Pepperdine Waves over the last week.
• Against the Waves, Portland could not find a win and were swept down in Malibu.
• Portland struggled at the plate, but Carter Stewart managed to bat .571 in his two games played, hitting a home run and bringing home two RBI's.
• Stewart's homer was his second of the year.
• Jonas Salk also brought in a pair of runs and has 110 RBI's for his career. That total is good for 12
th all-time for Portland.
• Salk was also hit by a pitch this weekend and has officially been hit by the second highest total of pitches ever by a Pilot at 45. He is one away from tying the program record.
• Trey Newmann was the only pitcher to throw five innings or more this weekend, going six innings with six runs allowed (although just two earned runs conceded) and six strikeouts.
• Against the Beavers, Portland fell 8-3 at Goss Stadium in their final nonconference bout of the 2026 season.
• Cole Katayama-Stall hit his 10
th home run of the season in the contest, becoming the only Pilot this year to reach the double-digit threshold for homers.
• Portland's loss was just their second against a ranked opponent this year. They are 3-2 in total against Top 25 opponents.
PEEK INTO THE PORT
• The Pilots pitching staff has been solid this season, ranking first in the conference in ERA (4.25), WHIP (1.40), walks allowed per nine innings (3.59) and shutouts (3) and ranks second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.14).
• Nationally, they rank 23
rd in ERA, 29
th in walks allowed per nine, 39
th in shutouts and 51
st in WHIP.
• Offensively, their 225 walks are the most in the conference.
• The Pilots were the first team in the WCC to 20 wins this season and rank third in win percentage (.510).
• Will Labonte is second in the conference in ERA (2.63) and first among all WCC freshmen. He is 38
th nationally – third among all freshmen – and has allowed the fewest amount of earned runs of any freshman with more than 60 innings thrown.
• Labonte is the only freshman to have an ERA under 3.00 with at least 60 innings thrown as well.
• No Pilot true freshman has thrown as many innings (68.1) as Labonte since Eli Morse in the 2018 season.
• Labonte is the only Pilot to have won multiple WCC Player of the Week honors, twice earning WCC Freshman of the Week.
• The Montreal native was named a College Baseball Hall of Fame 2026 National Pitcher of the Year semifinalist, becoming the first Pilot since 2022 to earn the honor. He was one of just two freshmen to make the list and one of two players from the WCC.
• Labonte isn't the only freshman impressing on the mound, with Alex Via's nine saves ranking second in the WCC, ranking 20
th nationally and also ranking among the most of any freshman nationally.
• Via's nine saves are already the most by any true freshman in program history and the most by any Pilot in two years.
• Via has also earned national recognition, becoming a semifinalist for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year, which honors the top relief pitchers in the country. Via is the second Pilot in three years to make the list.
• Trey Newmann is sixth in the WCC in strikeouts (68) and is the only Pilot with more than 65 strikeouts this season.
• Newmann is second in the WCC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.00) and also fifth in strikeouts per nine innings (9.87).
• Cody Nitowitz, Cole Katayama-Stall and Trey Swygart are three of the best batters at drawing walks in the league, ranking first and fourth respectively in the WCC.
• Nitowitz has 37 walks on the year while Katayama-Stall and Swygart have 35, and in conference play Nitowitz is the only player with 21 walks while Katayama-Stall and Swygart are tied for seventh at 17.
• Katayama-Stall is the Pilots' leader in home runs (9), slugging percentage (.516), RBI's (36) and stolen bases (11). He's tied for third in steals in the conference.
• Amongst fellow Pilots, Katayama-Stall's 19 homers in two seasons cracks the top 20 all-time. The last Pilot to hit at least 19 homers in his first two seasons was Zach Toglia (2023-24).
• Trey Swygart has been stellar in conference play as well, ranking second in the WCC in on-base percentage against WCC opponents (.495)
• Swygart's 3.03 ERA in WCC play ranks seventh as well.
• Swygart was named John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year semifinalist, becoming the only Pilot in program history to do so.
• Brady Bean and Jonas Salk have 22 and 24 home runs for their careers respectively, with 20 of Bean's homers coming with the Pilots. Bean ranks tied for 15
th all-time while Salk is tied for ninth all-time.
• Bean's 116 RBI's ranks 10
th all-time for Portland as well.
• Salk is also third all-time for Portland in hit by pitch, having been beaned by 45 pitches in his career, and is 12
th in RBI's at 110.
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 258 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 250 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 TIGERS
• The Pacific Tigers are 22-26-1 overall and 14-9-1 in WCC play, most recently winning two games and tying one against the San Diego Toreros. Their five WCC series wins are the most in program history and their 14 wins are the most since 2014.
• They've surpassed last season's record of 20-36 overall and 8-16 in WCC play.
• The Pilots swept the Tigers last season and have won 15 straight against Pacific, their longest winning streak against any one team.
• This year, the Tigers were picked to finish eighth in the WCC in annual Preseasons Coaches Poll.
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