By PJ Marcello, Staff Writer -- marcello13@up.edu
Portland Pilots baseball traveled to Tennessee last weekend, winning three straight against Middle Tennesse State, largely due to clutch hitting, pitching and the ability to finish close games.
They were scheduled to face George Fox Tuesday, but the game was postponed until this weekend due to poor weather.
Senior second baseman Riley Henricks was named West Coast Conference Position Player of the Week after he went six for 11 over the weekend along with three runs scored, two RBI's, and four walks.
"It is a great honor to get that recognition, but a lot of it has to do with the team," Henricks said. "It starts with pitching and guys stepping up. You have to be winning games to get that sort of recognition so it's a team effort."
The team gives a lot of credit for its hot start to the pitching and clutch hitting. Starters and relievers kept it close and senior Chris Dennis was able to get his third straight save over the weekend.
"The middle relief was great on the first two games," senior infielder Kevin Armijo said. "Brent Miller kept it close and gave us hitters a chance to chip away and we had good defense when we needed it."
In the final game of the series, the Pilots came back from six runs down to beat Middle Tennessee 11-8, led by a three-run homer by junior Beau Fraser.
The 3-0 start has the Pilots feeling good but they do not plan on letting the success get to their heads with a tough home stand coming up before hitting the road to take on No. 19 Oregon.
"They're a good in state rival and we play each other tough," Armijo said. "We have tough games this weekend against some local teams and then Oregon, a good ball club in Seattle University, BYU with some great hitters and then off to Hawaii for a four-game series there."
It will be a tough test as all of those games will be on the road aside from this weekend's games and a two-game series against BYU.
"If we play well down the stretch we will be getting more looks at the top 25. I don't want to look too far ahead but I'm excited," Armijo said.
The team is looking forward to the first series at home and hope to keep its momentum going forward.
"We need to come out with the same energy we did in Tennessee," Henricks said. "We're not playing down opening weekend; everyone will be jacked up to play."
