STAYING PUT: The Seattle University baseball team is in the midst of playing 13 straight games in Seattle/Bellevue. After taking two of three games against Notre Dame, the Portland Pilots come to town for a scheduled three-game series. Seattle U will be facing one of the top teams in the Northwest, as the Pilots come into the weekend flying high after a 5-3 victory over nationally-ranked Oregon Tuesday. Live stats and live audio for all three games will be available on GoSeattleU.com.
THE NOTRE DAME SERIES: Seattle University earned its first victory of a series three games or more in length since returning to the field last season when it took two of three from Notre Dame last weekend at Husky Ballpark. For the second straight start, Max Whieldon was a hard-luck loser, giving up only one hit and one earned run in seven innings of work, but once again the Redhawk offense provided no support as Notre Dame earned a 5-0 victory Friday. Josh Kalalau went 2-of-4 with two doubles, but was left stranded at third base in the fourth inning and at second base in the sixth inning. The Redhawk bullpen struggled in the eighth inning, allowing four Notre Dame runs to help the Fighting Irish put the game away. In Saturday's first game, Notre Dame hit into three double plays, including a key one in the seventh inning that kept the game scoreless. Brandon Kizer continued his solid pitching, throwing eight scoreless innings while giving up only five hits. In the bottom of the eighth, Trent Oleszczuk earned a one-out infield single, advanced to second on a Josh Kalalau single, and scored when Doug Kincaid sent a single into right field. Bryan Dalton came on in the ninth inning, allowed a two-out walk, but stranded that runner to preserve the victory. Notre Dame scored twice in the top of the first to take the early lead in game two. Kincaid responded with an RBI single in the bottom of the first and a solo home run in the sixth to pull the Redhawks into a 2-2 tie. With the benefit of only one hit, Seattle U scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead, then collected two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to open a 7-2 lead. Seafth Howe allowed only one walk after the first inning in picking up his first career Seattle U victory, and Blaine Jones pitched a perfect ninth inning to clinch the doubleheader sweep.
THIS WEEKEND'S PROBABLE MATCHUPS
Saturday, March 5 - 12:00 p.m. start (Game One):
Seattle U: #55 RHP Max Whieldon - 0-2, 1.98 ERA, 13.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 6 SO
Portland: #31 RHP Owen Jones - 1-0, 3.48 ERA, 10.1 IP, 12 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 8 SO
Saturday, March 5 - TBA (Game Two):
Seattle U: #23 RHP Brandon Kizer - 2-0, 0.00 ERA, 14.0 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO
Portland: #30 RHP Chris Johnson - 0-0, 13.50 ERA, 4.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO
Sunday, March 6 - 12:00 p.m. start:
Seattle U: #30 RHP Seafth Howe - 1-0, 3.65 ERA, 12.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO
Portland: #38 RHP Matt McAllister - 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
SCOUTING PORTLAND: The Pilots come into the weekend with a perfect 5-0 record after defeating nationally-ranked Oregon at PK Park in Eugene Tuesday, 5-3. The Pilots also swept a three-game series at Middle Tennessee State Feb. 18-20. As a team, Portland has a .353 batting average, a .979 fielding percentage, and a 3.60 earned run average. Brian Frattali leads the Pilots with a .538 batting average, while Kramer Scott is currently batting .500 with two doubles, a triple, and six runs batted in. Riley Henricks leads the team with eight hits, two home runs, and five walks. Saturday starter Owen Jones leads the team with eight strikeouts. Out of the bullpen, Chris Dennis already has four saves for Portland this season.
SERIES HISTORY: According to Portland's archives, Seattle U and the Pilots have faced off on the baseball field 124 times, with each team winning 62 times against the other. These teams first met in the 1949 season, with Portland taking three of four games in the season series. Before last season, these schools last met in the 1985 season, an 8-0 Portland victory. Last season, the two schools first faced off in Portland Feb.27-28, with all three games being very competitive. Portland won the first two games, 2-1 in 10 innings and 7-5, before Seattle U broke through for a 5-4 victory in the series finale. For the first time since 1979, Portland came to Seattle U's home ballpark for a two-game set April 30-May 1, with the Pilots winning both games, 16-9 and 6-0. These two squads will play a two-game series in Portland March 25-26.
BROADCASTING LIVE: Dan Giuliani will broadcast all home games and selected road contests on GoSeattleU.com, with a pregame show commencing about 15-20 minutes before the scheduled first pitch. Seattle U director of baseball operations Drew Samuelson will join Giuliani on most broadcasts. Giuliani and Samuelson will also put together a weekly podcast that accompanies the weekly preview on GoSeattleU.com.
CH-CH-CHANGES: It is normal for the schedule that is published at the start of the baseball season to be wrong as early as three weeks into the season, which is the case with the Seattle U baseball schedule. The Pacific Lutheran game scheduled for this past Tuesday was postponed due to rain. It is now set to be played Saturday, March 12, at Bannerwood Park beginning at 12 noon. The alumni game scheduled for that date will not take place. The start time for the March 28 home game against Nevada was moved up from 2 p.m. to 12:30 p.m., and the home contest against Puget Sound was moved from Tuesday, April 26, to Thursday, April 14.
THE LEADER OF THE REDHAWKS: Donny Harrel begins his second season as the head coach of the Seattle University baseball program. At the University of Washington as an assistant coach for four seasons, Harrel was not only responsible for assisting in on-field coaching, but he also was responsible for the Huskies' schedule and assisted with travel issues, budgeting, and helping student-athletes through the admissions process. He also oversaw the team's academic performance and was named Academic Coach of the Quarter in Winter 2007 when the team broke a 14-year record for highest cumulative grade point average. His head coaching experience comes from seven seasons at Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore., where he compiled a 220-90 record and led the team to the NWAACC championship in 1999. Named NWAACC Southern Division Coach of the Year four times, he also led fundraising efforts to build a field, improve other facilities, buy equipment, and increase scholarship opportunities.
WEATHER FORECAST: As of Thursday, March 3, the forecast for the weekend calls for a chance of rain Saturday. There is a 30% chance of rain Saturday with cloudy skies and temperatures remaining in the mid-40s. For Sunday, the forecast calls for partly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-40s.
MAKING IMPROVEMENTS: The roster of the Seattle University baseball program is not the only thing being improved for 2011. Thanks to generous donors and volunteers, as well as the work of the coaches and players, improvements have been made to several areas within Bannerwood Park. Work has been done on the bullpens, the dugouts, and the pitching mound to make the facility worthy of Division I baseball. Seattle University has received the cooperation of the city of Bellevue to make these projects possible.