The Portland Pilots baseball team achieved a 15-3 victory over the Holy Cross Crusaders on Thursday, driven by a significant 12-run fourth inning. The game, played over seven innings, brings Portland’s season record to 5-6.
Portland recorded season highs with 15 runs and 14 hits. Twelve of those runs came in the fourth inning, marking the most runs scored in a single inning since the team’s 14-run performance against Saint Mary’s Gaels in 2022.
Brady Bean led at the plate, going 3-for-4 and scoring three runs. Dakota Chun, Leo Cote, and Cody Nitowitz each contributed two hits and three RBIs. Cote hit his first career home run during the fourth inning. Trey Swygart and Isaac Pfeifer also had multi-hit games; for Pfeifer, it was his first such achievement.
Pitcher Carter Gaston started for Portland and did not allow any runs across five innings, conceding five hits and striking out three batters. Gaston is now the first Pilot this season to earn multiple wins with a 2-0 record. Callum Young, Kaden Starr, and Grady Keljo also appeared as relief pitchers; it was Young’s and Starr’s first appearances of the year.
Describing how the game unfolded: Chun gave Portland an early lead with a three-run double in the second inning. In the fourth inning, Cote’s home run brought in two runs before Swygart’s RBI single and Jonas Salk’s sacrifice fly extended the lead to 7-0. With two outs in that same inning, Portland added eight more runs—four on walks and four from key hits by Nitowitz (three-run triple) and Bean (RBI single). Holy Cross managed three runs in the seventh but could not close the gap.
According to team notes:
“Six Pilots had multiple hits on the day, a season high.
Bean had three hits for the second time this season. He’s the only Pilot to have done so multiple times and has a team-leading five games with two hits or more overall.
Cote hit his first home run as a Pilot with a two-run shot. He went 2-for-2 with three RBI’s total.
Cote is the fifth Pilot to homer this season.
Chun and Nitowitz each drove in three runners themselves, with both players tallying two hits. It’s the first time for Chun he’s had multiple RBI’s in a game.
Pfeifer recorded the first multi-hit game of his career with two hits himself.
Gaston is the first Pilot to record multiple wins this season. He threw five shutout innings with three strikeouts.
Young and Starr made their first appearances of the season.
The Pilots amassed 15 runs on 14 hits, both season highs.
Portland’s 12 runs in the fourth inning are the most by a Pilot squad since 2022, when they scored 14 runs in an inning against Saint Mary’s.
Eight of Portland’s 12 runs came with two outs on the board.
The Pilots have won three of four series openers this season.”
Portland will play Holy Cross again tomorrow at 3 p.m., with tickets available through their official website.
