The Seattle University baseball team made mistakes that the University of Portland took advantage of early in the game, and the Pilot relief pitching held down the Redhawk offense as Portland defeated Seattle U, 6-2, Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference collegiate baseball game at Bannerwood Park.
With Portland starter Kevin Wade making his first-ever collegiate pitching appearance, Chase Fields (Ontario, Ore.) drew a walk to lead off the first inning. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Landon Cray (Chimacum, Wash.), stole third base, and scored on an infield single by Brock Carpenter (Milton, Wash.).
Portland (6-23) took advantage of control issues from Seattle U starter Ted Hammond (Shoreline, Wash.) in the second inning, as he hit Devin Kopas and Kevin Farley with pitches. Chet Thompson laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third, followed by a groundout hit by Ryan Barr that scored Kopas and a single from Cody Lenahan that drove in Farley.
Griffin Andreychuk (Nanaimo, B.C.) led off the bottom of the second with a single, and Ryan Somers (Sammamish, Wash.) was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base with one out. Fields drove in Andreychuk with a single to center field, tying the game at 2-2. Chad Kjemhus came on in relief of Wade and induced an inning-ending double play to keep the score even.
With one out in the third inning, Caleb Whalen doubled to left-center field, and Davis Tominaga followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Whalen would score on the first Redhawk error of the inning, and a second one on a dropped fly ball loaded the bases. Thompson sent a single through the right side of the infield, scoring Tominaga and Kopas, and another RBI groundout by Barr drove in Farley.
Kjemhus would take care of the rest of the game for the Pilots, allowing just two hits and one walk in 7 2/3 innings of work, throwing 79 pitches, 50 of them for strikes. He retired the final 10 Redhawk batters in order as Seattle U was held to six hits total, with no Redhawk player earning more than one hit in the game.
The Portland offense quieted down after the third inning, as Hammond, Kyle Doyle (Covington, Wash.), Connor Moore (West Richland, Wash.), and Will Dennis (Saratoga, Calif.) allowed just three Pilot hits in the final six innings. Whalen went 3-for-5 with two doubles as Portland snapped a 13-game losing streak with Wednesday’s effort.
Seattle University (11-12, 3-0 WAC) heads to Sacramento, Calif., to face the Sacramento State Hornets in a three-game conference series this weekend, April 4-6. Friday’s game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., followed by Saturday’s contest at 2 p.m. and Sunday’s series finale at 12 noon. Links to live stats and live audio will be available on the baseball schedule page of GoSeattleU.com.