The Seattle University baseball team lost its final game of the 2012 season to the University of Portland, 11-1, Sunday afternoon at Courter Field.
Portland (27-25) earned one run in the first inning on consecutive singles by Brian Frattali, Turner Gill, and Caleb Whalen. In the second inning, Seattle U starter Bryan Dalton (Vancouver, Wash.) walked Beau Fraser, Sam Westendorf, Frattali, and Gill to bring in one run, and Whalen followed with a two-run single to increase the Pilots' lead to 4-0.
In the top of the fifth, Kris Kauppila was hit by a pitch from Redhawk reliever Evan Ewing (Spokane, Wash.). Kauppila advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a double hit by Zack McCoy. Portland scored three more runs in the sixth inning when Kauppila drove in Frattali with a sacrifice fly, and McCoy hit a two-run single to left-center field. The Pilots scored three more times in the seventh inning.
Seattle U finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth as Riley Tompkins (Lynnwood, Wash.) led off with a single, advanced to second on a groundout, and scored on a double to right field hit by Jace Sloan (Puyallup, Wash.). Sloan was taken out for a pinch runner in order to receive a round of applause from the crowd, a scene that would be repeated throughout the rest of the game for the other five senior position players.
Portland's 2-3-4 hitters, Frattali, Gill, and Whalen, combined to go 9-for-11 with four walks, seven runs scored, and five runs batted in. Meanwhile, senior pitchers Kyle Kraus, Keeler Brynteson, and Owen Jones ended their collegiate careers with solid pitching performances for the Pilots, with Kraus earning the victory after allowing six hits, two walks, and one run in 5 1/3 innings of work.
Sloan was the only Redhawk to post a multiple-hit game, going 2-for-3 with the sixth-inning RBI. Seven different pitchers saw time on the mound for Seattle U, with Cory Mack (Spokane, Wash.) allowing just one walk in two innings of relief and Mason Stidham (Star, Idaho) allowing two hits but getting out of the ninth inning without any runs scoring.
Seattle University finishes the 2012 season with a 23-30 overall record, two more victories than the team earned in 2011. The Redhawks will move into the Western Athletic Conference, which will have 10 teams for baseball in the 2013 season.