Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2
CEDAR CITY, Utah --- The Portland Pilots continued their trek through Utah on Monday by splitting a double header with the Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Thunderbird Park. The Pilots won the second game 11-8 after dropping the first 8-7.
Portland (4-4) needed four runs during the final two innings to claim the second game. With the Pilots trailing 8-7 in the top of the eighth, sophomore OF Craig Smith reached on a one-out single to right field. After stealing second, Smith scored on a double by freshman catcher Beau Fraser that tied the game at 8-8
A few batters later, senior 1B Cort Carpenter gave Portland the one run lead with an RBI single up the middle that plated pinch runner Kyle Haskin. After the Thunderbirds (5-4) made a pitching change, the Pilots took a 10-8 lead on a suicide squeeze play performed to perfection by junior 2B Clayton Shaw.
With UP enjoying a two-run lead in the top of the ninth, Smith added an insurance run with run-scoring double to left-center field.
Portland sophomore Zach Varce (1-1) worked the game’s final three innings to pick up his first win of the season. Varce held the Thunderbirds scoreless, while surrendering three hits. He struck out five.
Southern Utah reliever Kesley Outram (1-1), who pitched 1.1 innings of relief, gets the loss after being charged with all three of Portland’s runs in the eighth. SUU used four pitchers on the day.
UP also used four pitchers, with freshman Kyle Kraus getting his first collegiate start on the hill. Kraus lasted 5.2 innings, giving up seven runs, three earned, on six hits and a walk. Kraus struck out four.
Both teams scored three runs in the first inning. Carpenter and Shaw both picked up RBI’s during UP’s three-run first. The Pilots also scored once in the top of the second inning, twice in the top of the fourth and one more in the top of the fifth to claim a 7-3 lead. But Southern Utah scored two runs in both the fifth and sixth and one run in the seventh to take the 8-7 lead.
The Pilots outhit the Thunderbirds 18-12. Freshman SS Kris Kauppila, who scored three times, Smith and Carpenter each finished with three hits. Kauppila hit his second home run of the season with nobody on and one out in the top of the second inning.
Both teams committed three errors.
The first game also featured a late comeback attempt by the Pilots. Trailing 8-6 entering the top of the final frame, UP was able to pull within one after junior OF Austin Pearce drew a base-loaded walk. But SUU reliever Jacob Noyes was able to pick up a game-ending strike out with the bases loaded to record the save, his third of the year.
Reliever Keli’I Zablan (1-0) went 1.1 innings to pick up the win. He allowed a run on three hits, while striking out two and walking none.
After scoring the game’s first three runs in the top of the third, courtesy an RBI single by senior OF Bryant Kraus and a two-run single by Carpenter, the Pilots found themselves trailing 5-3 entering the top of the seventh.
That’s when UP crossed the plate three more times to take a one-run lead. Kauppila began the inning with a double before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Smith then brought home Kauppila with a run-scoring single. A few batters later, Carpenter knocked in two more runs with a double to give Portland the 6-5 lead.
But the lead would be short-lived as the Thunderbirds scored once in the seventh inning and twice in the bottom of the eighth to take the 8-6 lead.
Varce was saddle with the loss, giving him the decision in both games. In the first game, he was charged with two runs on four hits in 1.0 inning.
UP used five pitchers during the first game, while Southern Utah countered with four.
Carpenter went 5-for-8 on the day and knocked in six runs. Bryant Kraus, Smith and Kauppila each totaled five hits, with Kauppila scoring five times, smacking two doubles and leaving the yard once.
The Pilots and Thunderbirds are next scheduled to play the finale of the three-game series at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
