Pilots Split Double Dip with Patriots

The Pilots, who are now seven games into their 14 game homestand, will face the Linfield Wildcats at 3:00 PM on Wednesday.

Photo courtesy: portlandpilots.com

PORTLAND - The University of Portland split a double-header with Dallas Baptist Friday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field, with the Pilots (11-12) taking the first game 4-3 and the Patriots (15-12) claiming the second 6-0. The win gave Dallas Baptist a 2-1 series win.

Making his first start since throwing his first career shutout and striking out 14 against Utah last weekend, junior righthander Given Kutz (4-2) put forth another stellar outing for Portland, throwing eight innings while allowing one run and two hits and striking out six to earn the win in the opening game.

After spotting Dallas Baptist a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a solo home run to left field by Patriots designated hitter Garret Baker, Kutz shut down Dallas Baptist for the next seven innings, allowing only a single to Ryan Enos in the fourth inning.

In the month of March, Kutz has won all four of his starts and has a 1.36 ERA, allowing only five earned runs in 33 innings of work.

He has thrown two complete games while striking out 29 and allowing opponents a meager .225 batting average.

With the Pilots trailing 1-0 in the top of the fifth inning, junior right fielder Danny Meier made a spectacular catch to keep the deficit to only one.

After Dallas Baptist catcher Andrew Pirtle sent a long fly ball into right, Meier raced to the fence and leapt against the wall, timing his jump perfectly and stealing a sure home run away from Pirtle.

In the bottom of the fifth, senior right fielder Justin Pierce put the Pilots ahead for good, following a Paul Crowder double by clubbing a 2-1 pitch from Dallas Baptist starter Victor Black (3-2) over the left field wall for a two run homer.

The blast was Pierce’s team-leading fourth home run.

The senior finished the game going 1-for-2 with two RBI, one run scored, a walk and his team-leading 12th hit-by-pitch.

The Pilots pushed the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning after Black, who picked up the loss, walked the basses loaded.

Ryan Millard came in to relieve Black and promptly allowed two runs, walking senior third baseman Jesse Rodgers and giving up an RBI single to freshman catcher Rocky Gale.

Gale was the only Pilot with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with one RBI.

Dallas Baptist made things interesting in the top of the ninth, scoring two runs off senior closer Josh Roberts to cut the lead to 4-3, but Roberts held on to pick up his fourth save of the year.

Portland finished with five hits in the game to Dallas Baptist’s four.

The Pilots got another strong effort from their starter in the second game but were unable to capitalize as junior southpaw Ari Ronick (2-3) picked up the tough-luck loss, throwing eight innings and allowing only two runs -- one earned -- and six hits while walking three and striking out five.

But the Portland offense had no answer for the Patriots as freshman hurler Ryan Goins (3-0) picked up the win, allowing no runs and one hit in five innings of work.

Jereme Wilson and Randall Taylor each pitched two scoreless innings of relief to combine with Goins for the shutout.

The Pilots managed only two hits in the game, one each by junior second baseman Brandon Howard and freshman shortstop CJ Cullen, compared to 11 for the Patriots.

For the Patriots, Austin Knight went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, Matt Tucker went 1-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, and Evan Bigley and Trevor Head each went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Nick Santos also picked up an RBI for Dallas Baptist, going 1-for-5.

Leading 2-0 in the top of the ninth inning, Dallas Baptist put the game out of reach by turning four singles, two stolen bases and one walk into four runs off of Portland reliever Chris Siegfried.

The Pilots, who are now seven games into their 14 game homestand, will face the Linfield Wildcats at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, March 28th at Joe Etzel Field.

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