By Nic LaPonte
The University of Portland Pilots Baseball team is set to conclude their long 14 game homestead series with a set of three games against the Gonzaga Bulldogs today and Saturday.
The Pilots hope to rebound from their loss of a three game series against Santa Clara. Portland is 1-2 in the WCC and 13-14 in the regular season so far this year.
The series against the Broncos ended with the Pilots losing the last game on April Fools Day. The Pilots gave up four runs in the second inning, largely due to three errors made on five Bronco bunts.
The lead grew to 5-0 in the top of the third with another Portland error and another Santa Clara bunt.
The Pilots struck back and made it onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when senior leftfielder Justin Pierce hit a sacrifice fly, allowing freshman catcher Rocky Gale to score.
Gale began the inning with a single to left field and got to third because of an error made by Santa Clara shortstop Joe Karcich in combination with a sacrifice bunt made by junior second baseman Brandon Howard.
The fourth inning allowed Portland to score again, with third baseman Jesse Rogers hitting a sacrifice fly bringing in junior right fielder Danny Meier.
The middle innings of the game were controlled by tight pitching from Ari Ronik. This gave the Pilots the chance to even up the score.
The bottom of the sixth ended with three runners on base for Portland but no more points up on the board.
The final score was 6-3. Ronik picks up the loss for Portland despite a strong performance, allowing for only six hits and five runs.
Despite the loss of the series to Santa Clara, the Pilots still had some exciting news when it was announced this week that former Pilot Kory Casto received the call up from Triple-A to come play for the Washington D.C. Nationals.
The Major League Baseball team will be using Casto in left field against the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night, with plans to make him the regular left field starter in the absence of Nook Logan, the Nationals regular left field player.
Logan was placed on the disabled list after he jammed his foot by colliding with the center field wall in the opening-day game against Florida on Monday, and is expected to be out of play for three weeks.
Portland Head Coach Chris Sperry was saddened by the injury of Logan but is excited for the appearance of Casto in the major leagues.
"It's unfortunate that Logan got hurt, but this is a tremendous opportunity for Kory, we're all thrilled for him, and we're looking forward to watching him play in the big leagues for many years to come," Sperry said.
Casto is a local, hailing from Aurora, Ore., and spent three years at the University of Portland (2001-03). Casto ranks third at UP in home runs (30) and in RBIs (141).
Casto was the highest draft pick from the West Coast Conference in the 2003 draft.
