By Jeff Trousdale
The Portland Pilots baseball team made it to the championship game in its first-ever Rose City invitational last weekend at PGE Park, but lost to Hawaii 9-8 in a game that went 12 innings.
The Pilots hosted three teams for the event, the Washington Huskies, the Oregon Ducks, and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. Hawaii took the title with a 3-1 record in the event, UP took second, going 2-2, Washington took the third spot with a 2-2 record as well and Oregon placed last with a 1-3 record in the tournament.
Despite the loss in the championship game, Portland Head Coach Chris Sperry said the weekend was successful overall.
"We played well the whole tournament," Sperry said. "We lost a couple of games that we would like to have back but we scrapped and we played well."
The Pilots lost the championship game when Hawaii pinch hitter Christian Johnson hit a home run in the top of the 12th inning, ending a four inning scoring drought for both teams.
"I don't very often say when a guy hits a home run that it was a good pitch," Sperry said. "But that was an 82 miles per hour split fingered fastball that the guy looked really bad on in the two pitches before that."
The home run ended a dogfight between the two teams. Sperry said that the Pilots had a number of opportunities to get the victory but they just couldn't close it in the end.
"We had numerous chances, we fought in the sense that we kept getting guys on base in scoring position, but that's just the game of baseball," Sperry said. "It was a crusher, but we played well and sometimes you tip your cap to the other team for playing well too."
The Pilots first game of the invitational also saw them facing off against the Rainbow Warriors. The first time it was a different result though, as senior Mark Triolo pitched seven complete innings and struck out eight batters to lead the Pilots to a 13-2 victory.
"(Triolo) was good, and (junior) Eddie Wakefield did a good job following him up in the game," Sperry said.
The Pilots' bats came alive in the bottom of the second inning, as they scored four runs, including two off a homer by freshman Garrett Queen. The metallic ting of the bat striking the ball became a familiar sound over the next two innings, as the Pilots scored three more in the third and five runs in the fourth to widen the gap.
"I think we played really well," sophomore Riley Henricks said. "Our offense really shined in the game."
The Pilots carried their momentum in the second game of a back-to-back with a 4-0 win against the Ducks. Their defense shined this time, as sophomore pitchers Scott Burris and Zach Varce combined for a shutout and UP closed the night with zero errors.
The game started out a little shaky for the Pilots, as Oregon pitcher Tyler Anderson struck out batter after batter in the first two innings. He finished with 12 strikeouts for the night, including six in the first two innings alone.
"We had just enough offense against a very good pitcher with Oregon," Sperry said, referring to Anderson.
The Pilots' offense came alive in the third inning, when freshman Beau Fraser hit a single into centerfield that allowed Queen and sophomore Kevin Armijo to run it into home plate.
"That was a big hit, that was how we got our first two runs," Sperry said.
Henricks hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Fraser before Oregon was able to close out the inning. The Pilots' final run came in the sixth inning when Henricks scored on a balk.
The next day featured the Pilots taking on the Huskies in the evening matchup. UP was unable to carry the previous day's success into the game, losing to the Huskies 5-2 and ending a five-game winning streak.
The Huskies scored first, with a run in the top of the second inning and another in the top of the third, but freshman Kris Kauppila helped the Pilots keep it close. He hit a lead-off single in the bottom of the fourth to get on base and was helped by a sacrifice bunt from sophomore Craig Smith and a double from Beau Fraser to score the run.
Kauppila scored again in the bottom of the sixth, with help from Smith, Fraser, and senior Bryant Kraus, but it wasn't enough as the Huskies scored two runs in the eighth inning and a run in the ninth to seal the win.
"I think the team played well despite the loss," Sperry said. "The nature of this club is pretty competitive and I think they'll respond and play well enough to give themselves the best opportunity for a different result."
The Pilots will need all the competitive nature that they can get, as they open play in the always-competitive WCC this weekend. The Pilots play at Saint Mary's starting Friday and won't be back home until April 9, when they take on San Diego.
