Chris Sperry was hired as the 21st head coach in University of Portland baseball history on Feb. 1, 1998. Coach Sperry replaced his college coach Terry Pollreisz, who resigned after 11 years to become manager of the Everett AquaSox, the Seattle Mariners’ Class A team in the Northwest League.
During the 2011 season, Sperry surpassed Pollreisz to become the second winningest coach in UP program history. Sperry, who led the Pilots to a national ranking in 2010 for the first time in 30 years, now trails only long-time Portland coach Joe Etzel in career wins.
The Pilots posted two straight winning records in a tough West Coast Conference during the 2010 and 2011 seasons and then followed that with a 12-12 league record in 2012. In 2010 Portland registered the second most successful seasons in program history with a 34-18 overall record. The 34 wins are second only to the 1980 squad, which went 36-12. The Pilots also went 14-7 in the WCC IN 2010 and finished in second place for their best finish ever in the conference. UP was 11-10 in the WCC in 2011.
Seven Pilots earned all-conference recognition in 2010, which is the program’s most to earn all-conference recognition since UP joined the WCC for baseball in 1996, while catcher Rocky Gale was named the WCC’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Portland’s 79 wins during those three seasons are the most by a Pilots squad since the early 1990’s, when UP tallied 83 W’s from 1990 to 1992.
Sperry’s former players are enjoying unprecedented success in the professional ranks. Former Pilots Eric Hull, a pitcher, and Kory Casto, an outfielder, have both spent time with their respective Major League clubs, and were joined by eight other former players in the professional ranks during the 2012 season (Hull, Casto, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Rocky Gale, Chris Siegfried, Ari Ronick, Zach Varce and Chris Dennis).
Prior to his head coaching position at UP, Sperry served as the head assistant at Portland State under Dave Dangler from September, 1997 through January, 1998. He also served two seasons (1996 and ‘97) at Centralia College (Wash.) and was a volunteer assistant at the University of Portland in 1990.
After his collegiate career at Portland, Sperry was signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers and played one season (1989) at class A Salem (Ore.) in the Northwest League.
Sperry was an infielder and catcher at the University of Portland from 1985-87 and in 1989. He played two seasons under Terry Pollreisz and two under former coach and former athletic director Joe Etzel. Sperry was a member of the 1989 squad that won the Pacific-10 Northern Division Tournament championship and earned the program’s first NCAA (West Regional) berth in 11 years. A two-time team captain and Most Inspirational Player award winner, Sperry was an All-Pac-10 N.D. selection in 1987. He batted .410 in league play as a freshman, is the UP career leader with 102 walks and is fifth all-time with 399 assists.
A native of Brush Prairie, Wash., where he attended Prairie High School, Sperry was an all-state pick and Prairie’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a senior. He earned a Washington State Initial Teaching Certificate (K-8) at Heritage College in Toppenish, Wash. in 1995 and was the assistant baseball coach at Davis HS in Yakima, Wash., from 1993-95. Sperry also assisted the Yakima Valley and Vancouver Cardinals American Legion clubs. Sperry was the head coach of the state of Oregon’s team at the 1997 Olympic Trials.
Sperry is married to former University of Portland volleyball player Andrea Buckley (Portland ‘90). They have three daughters.
Sperry’s Career Record|  | Overall |  | Conference |  |  |  |
| Year | W-L-T | Pct. | W-L-T | Pct. | Finish | NCAA |
| 1998 | 10-39-0 | .204 | 5-22-0 | .185 | 8th | N/A |
| 1999 | 23-28-0 | .451 | 16-14-0 | .533 | 2nd-W | N/A |
| 2000 | 24-27-0 | .471 | 13-17-0 | .433 | 3rd-W | N/A |
| 2001 | 20-34-0 | .370 | 9-21-0 | .300 | 4th-W | N/A |
| 2002 | 24-30-0 | .444 | 16-14-0 | .533 | 2nd-W | N/A |
| 2003 | 9-45-1 | .173 | 5-24-1 | .183 | 4th-W | N/A |
| 2004 | 12-44-0 | .214 | 6-24-0 | .200 | 4th-W | N/A |
| 2005 | 17-36-0 | .321 | 7-23-0 | .233 | 4th-W | N/A |
| 2006 | 15-37-0 | .288 | 3-18-0 | .143 | 8th* | N/A |
| 2007 | 21-30-0 | .412 | 7-14-0 | .333 | 7th | N/A |
| 2008 | 21-33-0 | .389 | 3-18-0 | .143 | 8th | N/A |
| 2009 | 25-26-0 | .490 | 7-14-0 | .333 | 7th | N/A |
| 2010 | 34-18-0 | .654 | 14-7-0 | .667 | 2nd | N/A |
| 2011 | 24-30-0 | .444 | 11-10-0 | .524 | 3rd | N/A |
| 2012 | 27-25-0 | .519 | 12-12-0 | .500 | 6th | N/A |
| 2013 | 18-36-0 | .333 | 8-16-0 | .333 | 8th | N/A |
| 2014 | 11-41-0 | .212 | 5-22-0 | .185 | 10th | N/A |
| 2015 | 12-42-0 | .222 | 7-20-0 | .259 | 10th | N/A |
| Total | 347-601-1 | .366 | 154-310-1 | .332 | Â | Â |
*The WCC went back to a one-division format in 2006