Diamond Dinner Online Registration

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Former long-time MLB pitcher and Vancouver, Wash., native Alan Embree will be the featured speaker at the University of Portland's 2016 Diamond Dinner, which is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 27 and will take place in the Beauchamp Recreation & Wellness Center on the UP campus. Registration to the event is now open.
 
The 2016 Diamond Dinner will be part of Portland baseball's opening home weekend, which will feature the first night game in Joe Etzel Field history. The Pilots will host the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on The Bluff that weekend, and the Diamond Dinner will take place on Saturday night, beginning at 6 p.m. with a social hour and silent auction. Dinner and the program will follow at 6:45 p.m.
 
The Diamond Dinner will also offer an introduction to head coach Geoff Loomis, a member of the UP Athletics Hall of Fame who's in his first year at the helm of the Pilots.
 
"I'm looking forward to welcoming a new season to our home ballpark with the first night game in school history followed by our annual Diamond Dinner," Loomis said. "We're excited to have Alan Embree, who attended pitching camps at UP while growing up. As a local guy, he'll add a special amount of energy to the event."
 
Embree, a lefty who spent 17 years in Major League Baseball, played for 10 different teams, winning a World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2004. After a standout prep career at Prairie High School, Embree was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the fifth round of the 1989 amateur draft. A reliever, Embree made 882 appearances, compiling 25 saves. In 2004, Embree recorded the final out against the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS and the Red Sox would go on to win their first World Series since 1918.
 
The weekend will be a celebration of Portland baseball, and the Pilots and Golden Grizzlies get things started with the first game of the four-game set on Friday night at 6 p.m. The two teams will then play on Saturday at 1 p.m. before concluding the weekend with a double header on Sunday, which is set to begin at 11 a.m.
 
Proceeds from the live auction will help support fundraising for a new grandstand at Joe Etzel Field.
 
Online registration for the 2016 Diamond Dinner is available, or you can contact Laura Hanna at 503-943-8607, or by email at hanna@up.edu.