This week’s Pilot in the Spotlight is baseball’s redshirt senior pitcher Chris Clements. Three times this season he has been named WCC pitcher of the week. Clements was solid for the Pilots two weeks ago with a series against Loyola Marymount and the win against the reigning national champions, Oregon State.
Against the Lions, Clements pitched eight innings with six strikeouts and only two hits. In the Pilot’s win against the Beavers, he pitched two scoreless innings along with two strikeouts.
“My most memorable experience...has been beating Oregon State in front of 5,000 of their fans,” Clements said in an email. “To go from their fans being really loud early in the game, to them being completely silent and leaving early because we were beating them was pretty awesome.”
The first-year graduate transfer from UC Santa Barbara chose this baseball program for a chance to contribute to a WCC Championship.
“As an outsider before this year, Portland wasn't necessarily a force to be reckoned with until the last couple of years,” Clements said. “I think when people talk about us now or see us play, they have a whole new view about us and recognize that we are capable of competing and beating any team and competing for playoff appearances.”
Clements graduated with a degree in communication and is now working towards his M.S. in management communication for graduate school at Portland, while playing baseball.
“The reason I love UP baseball is the family aspect of it,” Clements said. “All of these guys have become brothers to me and our coaches really care about us and do a great job of balancing the on the field side and the side where they teach us and help us grow as human beings.”
Clements looks forward to competing and growing with his team the rest of the 2019 season.
The Pilots’ next game is on April 8 at 2 p.m. against the San Jose State Spartans in San Jose, California.
Morgan Wahler is a sports reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at wahler20@up.edu.
