By Jeff Trousdale
The Portland Pilots baseball team came into last weekend with high hopes for a series win over the Santa Clara Broncos. The Broncos were 0-6 in the WCC, so the 2-4 Pilots had something to prove on their home field. Unfortunately though, it was for naught, as Santa Clara swept the three game series, beating the Pilots by only four combined runs over the series.
Thursday's game began the struggle for the Pilots, as they lost 6-4 in a matchup that left Head Coach Chris Sperry fuming.
"My fear is that we're going to walk out of here feeling like we were in a close game," Sperry said. "We played some very stupid baseball.
Santa Clara starter Nate Garcia went the distance in the game, throwing 120 pitches and striking out eight batters, while the Pilots used four different pitchers, led by starter Mark Triolo. The Pilots pitchers struck out six batters total between them all.
Santa Clara took the early lead in the game, going up 4-0 by the top of the third inning before senior Cort Carpenter drove in freshman Beau Fraser and senior Bryant Kraus on a single through left field to make the score 4-2. Portland scored two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, including one off a home run by junior Rocky Gale, but the Broncos also scored runs in the eighth and ninth to close out the Pilots.
Bryant Kraus, who had three hits for the day, said the Pilots needed more confidence coming into the game.
"We need to come up and know that we're better than them right off the bat," Bryant Kraus said.
The Pilots failed to take his advice though. As they again lost two close games in Saturday's doubleheader.
The Saturday morning game started out as a pitching battle, with Pilots starter Scott Burris battling Santa Clara's Thain Simon for five scoreless innings, as both offenses struggled to connect. Santa Clara drew first blood though, when senior Matt Long hit a triple and was brought into home on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Curtis Wagner in the top of the sixth.
The real trouble started in the seventh inning, when Burris let the Broncos load the bases before Sperry replaced him with redshirt freshman Keeler Brynteson from the bullpen. Brynteson said he figured he would be called in due to the batter being left handed, and he didn't feel too much pressure going into the situation.
"You have to get in the right mindset when you come in and you've gotta start throwing strikes," Brynteson said.
Brynteson started with a strikeout against the first batter he faced, but Chris Parra connected with a shot deep to left field and Bryant Kraus couldn't make the diving catch, letting all three runners score.
"I thought that ball should have been caught," Sperry said. "That was a big play, that brought in three runs."
Kraus tried to make up for it in the bottom of the eighth when he brought in two runners to make the score 6-3, and the Pilots were able to score two more runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it 6-5, but they didn't have enough to finish as Alex Rivers closed the game with a save for the Broncos.
The next game of the back to back started out much the same, with the Broncos even bringing Rivers back to start the game.
It was a pitching duel again, as Rivers and Pilot freshman Kyle Kraus went back and forth, allowing little offense from either side. Kraus struck out two batters, scattered seven, and only walked one in seven innings, but his solid pitching was spoiled in the top of the fourth when Broncos junior Geoff Klein brought Wagner to home on a ground out RBI to second, scoring the only run of the game for either team.
"We need to get our offense going at some point," Kraus said. "The pitchers will keep doing their job we've just got to get our hitters going."
The Pilots attempted a comeback in the bottom of the ninth when Carpenter hit a single off the first pitch, and junior pinch runner C.J. Cullen made it to third with one out remaining. But the Broncos shut down the Pilots when freshman Garrett Queen hit a fly out to center field and Broncos closer Steve Kalush picked up the save.
"Our biggest frustration is that we were not making the necessary adjustments as hitters," Sperry said. "We're swinging when they're not even in the zone, we're too anxious."
Sperry said his team will look to bounce back from this game when they take on Gonzaga this weekend after facing Oregon on Wednesday.
"We don't have too long to feel sorry for ourselves," Sperry said. "That's the good thing about baseball, you get a chance to turn it around pretty quickly, so we just have to do it."
Andy Matarrese contributed to this article
