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Live Video: Game 1  Game 2  Game 3
Live Stats: Game 1  Game 2  Game 3
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PORTLAND PILOTS (15-24, 2-13 WCC)
vs. SAN DIEGO TOREROS (20-23, 7-11 WCC)
Dates: Friday-Saturday, April 29-30, 2016
Location: Portland, Ore.
Ballpark: Joe Etzel Field (1,300)
Live Video: TheW.tv
Live Stats: PortlandPilots.com
Series: USD leads 57-25
2015: USD 3-0, USD 9-2, USD 4-3 (March 13-15 @USD)
 
PROBABLE STARTERS (W-L, ERA)
Friday • April 29 • Game 1 • 12 PM
POR: LHP Jordan Horak (1-5, 4.95)
USD: RHP Gary Cornish (5-3, 4.68)
 
Friday • April 29 • Game 2 • 3:30 PM
POR: RHP Davis Tominaga (3-7, 4.01)
USD: LHP Troy Conyers (4-5, 4.58)
 
Saturday • April 30 • 11 AM
POR: RHP Jordan Wilcox (4-2, 4.11)
USD: TBA
 
THIS WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• The Pilots return to The Bluff this week to host the San Diego Toreros for a three-game West Coast Conference series at Joe Etzel Field.
• Because of UP's graduation ceremony on Sunday, the Pilots and Toreros will be playing a double header on Friday, beginning at 12 p.m., before playing the series finale on Saturday at 11 a.m.
 
LAST WEEK IN PILOTS BASEBALL
• Portland took one from the Pepperdine Waves in Malibu,, Calif., last weekend and was on the verge of claiming the league series, but the hosts mounted a 10th-inning rally on Sunday to win two of three over the Pilots.
• The Waves blanked the Pilots 4-0 on Friday behind a complete-game performance by A.J. Puckett, but Portland rebounded to take the second game 3-2.
• Davis Tominaga and Jackson Lockwood combined to allow only three hits during that win, and Ryan Barr and Cooper Hummel each had multiple hits and an RBI.
• The Pilots took an early 2-0 lead before the Waves tied it, but Portland plated the winning run in the 7th when Grant Taylor scored on a Pepperdine throwing error.
• On Sunday, the two teams took a 2-2 tie into the 10th inning where the Pilots scored a run on a throwing error and another on a sac fly by Barr.
• With the Pilots now leading 4-2, the Waves answered with three runs in the bottom of the frame to hand Portland a heartbreaking loss.
 
ABOUT THE PILOTS
• On Thursday, March 31 the Pilots played the 600th game ever at Joe Etzel Field, which opened in 1989.
• The crowd of 1,092 for Portland's game with No. 3 Oregon State on Tuesday, March 22 was the largest in Joe Etzel Field history; the attendance surpassed the previous best of 1,002, which was also against Oregon State back in 2007.
• The Pilots, who only stole 21 bases all of last season, currently have 63 stolen bases, which leads the conference and ranks 27th in the nation.
• On March 5 the Pilots stole 10 bases against UC Riverside, which is a single-game high in the WCC this season.
• Michael Forgione is second in the league and 27th in the nation with 20 stolen bases; Cody Hawken is a perfect 10-for-10 in steals.
• Portland has also already surpassed last year's win total of 12.
• Caleb Whalen, who is currently unavailable due to an injury, is tied for the most career triples in program history with 14 after claiming a three-bagger at UC Davis on Feb. 20; Whalen is tied with Larry Farrell (1958-61) and needs just one more triple to become the program leader.
• Whalen was named the WCC Position Player of the Week (Mar. 7) after hitting .462 to help lead the Pilots to a series win over UC Riverside; he also had three doubles, a home run, four runs scored and five RBI's.
• Cooper Hummel had a day on March 26 when the junior catcher went 4-for-4 with three doubles, three RBI's and three runs scored during a 7-3 win over CSUN at Joe Etzel Field; the three doubles match the program's single-game record, and he becomes the first Pilot since Rocky Gale in 2010 to accomplish the feat.
• Hummel has reached base safely during 36 of UP's 39 games; he also walked four times during a game earlier this season (at Utah Valley, March 12).
• Hummel, a career .168 hitter entering the season, got off to a stellar start to his junior campaign, hitting .500 during the month of February; he's currently batting a team-best .343.
• Freshman Cody Hawken joined the list of Portland baseball players to hit two home runs in a game when he left the yard during his first two at-bats at Joe Etzel Field vs. Oakland on Feb. 26; Hawken became the first Pilot to accomplish the feat since Cody Lenahan last May, and no Portland player has ever hit three home runs in a game.
• Freshman Grant Sutton, who had missed the entire season recovering from an injury, homered in his first collegiate at-bat at Oregon on Wednesday, April 6.
• Portland's game against the Oregon Ducks on April 13 at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro was suspended after eight innings by rain with the Ducks leading 3-1; the game will be concluded on May 17 in Eugene before a previously scheduled game between the two in-state rivals.
• UP Athletics Hall of Famer Geoff Loomis is in his first season as head coach of the Pilots.
• Loomis spent the past 13 seasons at the helm of the Pacific Lutheran Lutes, where he compiled an impressive 327-197-2 (.624) record; he led the Lutes to 11 winning seasons during his tenure, including NCAA Regional appearances in 2007 and 2015 and Northwest Conference Championships in 2007, 2009 and 2015.
• Loomis (1990-92) still holds the program career record for batting average (.376) and he earned Pacific-10 North Division Player of the Year honors in 1992.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
• The Toreros have lost five straight games and dropped a three-game league series at San Francisco last weekend.
• San Diego is batting .277 as a team, has a staff ERA of 5.72 and is allowing the opposition to hit .296.
• Sophomore Bryson Brigman leads the team and is third in the WCC with a .370 batting average; sophomore Riley Adams is batting .331 with team-highs of six home runs and 29 RBI's.
• Rich Hill is in his 18th year as head coach at USD and has compiled more than 600 wins; the Toreros received six first-place votes and were picked to win the WCC.