April 28, 2005
The University of Portland baseball team will travel to Moraga, Calif. this weekend and play a three-game West Coast Conference series against the Saint Mary's Gaels. The teams meet at 3 p.m. on Friday and will conclude the series with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Portland (14-25, 5-13 WCC) snapped a six-game losing streak by taking two-of-three from San Diego in West Coast Conference action at Joe Etzel Field last weekend. Friday starter Given Kutz three a complete game six-hitter and cruised to a 7-3 win over the Toreros. Kutz was named the WCC co-Pitcher of the Week after recording his team-leading sixth win on the season. USD took game two by a 9-4 margin, but the Pilots came back for a thrilling 4-3 win on Sunday to claim the series. Josh Roberts, making his first start since March 6, surrendered two runs in the first inning before settling down and tossing five straight shutout frames. First baseman Matthew Peters belted a two-run homer in the sixth and Nik Kosach tagged a go-ahead solo blast in the eighth to lift the Pilots to victory.
Jason Krohn posts a team-high .333 batting average for the Pilots and also leads the team in hits (50), runs (30), and slugging (.487). Sophomore infielder Andrew Wrisley is batting .311, while Nik Kosach raised his average to .300 with a 3-for-4 day on Sunday. Matthew Peters has four homers in the last nine games and is tied for second in the WCC with eight round-trippers on the year. Kutz has been Portland's most consistent starter, posting a 6-4 record and 4.69 ERA. Josh Roberts has a team-best 4.28 ERA and will make his fifth start of the year on Saturday. As a team, Portland is hitting .255 with a 6.32 ERA.
ABOUT SAINT MARY'S: The Gaels (15-23, 8-13 WCC) enter the weekend in last place of the Coast Division standings but are coming off of a series win against Santa Clara.
Sam Carter (.336) leads four SMC players hitting better than .300, while also driving in a team-best 36 runs. Mike Sansoe is batting .326 and has eight doubles, three triples and five homers. Delaney Gallagher (.319) leads the squad with 12 doubles, while Bryan Byrne (.314) adds 22 RBI. Kevin Trochez has been the Gaels' best arm, posting a 4-3 record and 3.51 ERA in 123 starts. Trochez has a team-leading 44 strikeouts in 74.1 innings of work. Joel Fountain has made 11 starts and tossed a team-high 75.2 innings on the year. Fountain is 4-6 with a 5.00 ERA. As a team, the Gaels are batting .264 and have a 5.08 ERA.
SERIES NOTES: Saint Mary's leads the series with Portland by a 25-19-2 all-time mark. The Gaels are 15-9-2 all-time at Luis Guisto Field, including two wins and a tie in 2003. Last season, the Pilots took two-of-three at home against Saint Mary's.
KUTZ HONORED: Sophomore right-hander Given Kutz was named the WCC Pitcher of the Week on Monday after leading the Pilots to a 7-3 win over San Diego with a complete game six-hitter on Friday. Kutz, who shared the weekly honor with Loyola Marymount's Stephen Kahn, becomes the second Pilot of the season to be recognized, joining Josh Roberts who was honored on March 15. Kutz allowed three runs, two earned, while striking out one and walking one to earn his sixth win of the season. The Mount Vernon, Wash. native has thrown three complete games this season and leads the Portland staff with six wins, 13 starts, 88.1 innings pitched, 37 strikeouts and a .269 opponent's batting average. Kutz has proven to be one of the top pitchers in the WCC recently, posting a 3-1 record and 2.34 ERA in his last five starts.
CLIMBING THE SINGLE-SEASON CHARTS: Given Kutz is having a stellar year and is nearing the top 10 of a few UP single-season records. His 13 starts are tied for 10th, just two shy of the Portland record. Kutz has pitched 88.1 innings and needs just three more to break the top 10. He already tops the list of hit batters with 20, breaking the previous mark of 18 set by Brian Graham in 1999. Kutz would need two more wins to move into a tie for sixth place in the record books.
At the plate, Justin Pierce has been hit 10 times, placing him in a tie for sixth place on the single-season hit by pitch list.
PIERCE SETTLES INTO LEADOFF SPOT: Left fielder Justin Pierce has played the last five games as Portland's leadoff hitter after spending a majority of the season in the middle of the lineup. Pierce is batting just .238 in the new role, but has scored five runs, sacrificed successfully, stolen a base and hit his fourth homer of the season.
HOT STICKS IN WCC PLAY: Five Pilots are hitting above .300 during the conference season, led by Jason Krohn's .328 average. Junior right fielder Travis Vetters is batting .311 during conference play, after scorching WCC opponents last year with a .397 league batting average. Sophomore outfielder Justin Ehlers (.309) has been in a groove, while sophomore shortstop Jesse Rodgers has also found his stride during WCC action with a .304 batting average. Sophomore middle infielder Andrew Wrisley is at .302, while first baseman Matthew Peters has belted five of his team-leading eight homers in WCC games.
PILOTS SURPASS 2004 WIN TOTAL: After laboring through a 12-win season a year ago, Portland Head Coach Chris Sperry and his 2005 squad have already tallied 14 wins with 15 games remaining on the 2005 schedule. Portland had been stuck on 12 wins for some time, suffering through a six-game home losing streak, but came alive to take two wins from San Diego last weekend.
TRIPLE PLAY, DEJA VU: For the second time in as many seasons, the Portland baseball team turned a triple play. In a loss at Washington on April 5, the Huskies had the bases loaded with no outs when Cory Rickard hit a fly ball to left field. Cory Wiltshire narrowly missed a diving catch, but the Husky baserunners thought he had caught the ball on the fly. Wiltshire got the ball back to the infield where forceouts were recorded at all three bases.
Portland also turned a triple play last season in the second game of a doubleheader against Loyola Marymount on Saturday, April 10 at Joe Etzel Field. With runners on first and second in the ninth inning, a grounder led third baseman Travis Vetters for a forceout at third base and the relay to second recorded the second out. The throw to first was a little late, but it didn't matter as LaMonda was charged with runner's interference for the final out.
PILOTS RACK UP NON-CONFERENCE WINS: Portland surpassed its non-conference win total from a year ago with the three-game sweep of Pacific earlier this season. The Pilots are 9-11 in non-conference contests thus far in 2005. A year ago Portland totaled six non-conference wins for a combined 6-20 out-of-conference record. The Pilots have five more non-conference games remaining on the schedule in addition to the 21 conference games yet to be played.
HOME RUN TROT: Junior first baseman Matthew Peters blasted his team-leading eighth home run on Sunday against San Diego, maintaining his cushion atop the category on the Pilot roster. Peters is tied for second in the WCC behind Jordan Abruzzo of USD with nine. Jason Krohn is second on the UP roster with five round-trippers on the year. Justin Pierce follows with four, while Nik Kosach and Jesse Rodgers each hit bombs against USD and are joined by Billy Krause with two homers on the year. Four other Pilots have each gone yard once this season.
INSTANT IMPACT: Portland's competitive resurgence in 2005 can be attributed to many players, including senior transfer Jason Krohn. Krohn is leading the team in hitting (.333), hits (50), runs scored (30), stolen bases (6), slugging percentage (.487) and on-base percentage (.396).
LITTLE CLIMBS HIT BY PITCH CHARTS: Junior second baseman Gustaf Little was hit three times in one game against San Francisco on Saturday, March 19. The Portland, Ore. native entered the season No. 2 on Portland's all-time charts and he didn't take very long to get hit by a pitch in 2005; in fact, he was beaned in his first plate appearance of the season. No worries though, Little has grown accustomed to bumps and bruises as he has been hit 27 times already throughout his career. He was hit eight times during the 2004 season, 11 times as a freshman in 2003 and on eight occasions this season. Little is still well short of Cory Lunde's (1999-02) school record of 44.
SWEEPS AND STREAKS: Portland's sweep of Pacific on March 11-13 marked the first three-game series sweep for the Pilots since beating Pepperdine three straight at home during the 2002 season. Portland then dropped seven straight contests before taking two of three from Santa Clara two weekends ago. The Pilots snapped a six-game home losing skid by taking two-of-three from San Diego last week.
A RENEWED WRISLEY: Sophomore infielder Andrew Wrisley utilized his redshirt season last year and came into 2005 with nearly 10 pounds of extra muscle. The Portland native has started 22 games as a middle infielder and is second on the team with a .311 batting average.
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH: The seventh inning seems to have even more meaning to the 2005 Pilots than just a stretch. Portland is 13-2 when tied or leading after the seventh. The Pilots won their first game of the season after trailing through seven innings against Loyola Marymount on April 8, thanks to Justin Pierce's two-run bomb in the top half of the ninth. The Pilots are now 1-22 when trailing after seven innings.