Portland Pilots baseball will continue their road trip with a three-game series against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos from February 20 to 22 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium in Santa Barbara, California. All games are scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN+. Friday’s game begins at 4 p.m., Saturday’s at 3 p.m., and Sunday’s at noon. Live statistics and video options are available on PortlandPilots.com.
The Pilots, currently holding a 2-2 record, recently won one of three games against Purdue in Sugar Land and secured a midweek victory over CSUN. Notable performances included Jonas Salk, Brady Bean, Trey Swygart, and Nolan Miller each recording multiple hits during the win over Purdue. The team walked 11 times in that game, marking only the ninth time since 2000 they have reached that number in a single contest.
Brady Bean and Nolan Miller made strong starts to their seasons, batting .417 and .400 respectively across three games. Cole Katayama-Stall hit two home runs last weekend for his first multi-home run game as a Pilot. On the mound, Trey Newmann earned the first win for a Pilot pitcher this season by throwing six strikeouts over 3.2 innings without allowing any runs. Will Labonte also delivered an impressive relief performance with no runs allowed over 5.1 innings.
In their most recent game against CSUN, Carter Gaston pitched 5.1 shutout innings while Leo Cote contributed two hits and two RBIs at the plate.
As a team, Portland leads the West Coast Conference (WCC) in double plays turned (six) and double plays per game (1.5), ranking among national leaders in these categories as well as several others including home runs per game and walks allowed per nine innings.
Four batters—Miller (.357), Bean (.333), Chun (.308), and Nitowitz (.300)—are hitting above .300 early in the season. Dakota Chun has recorded hits in all four games so far to start his college career.
The Pilots were picked fourth in both the WCC Preseason Poll and D1 Baseball Season Preview for the conference.
Last season, Portland finished with an overall record of 22-30 (13-11 WCC), making their fourth consecutive appearance in the WCC Tournament after never previously qualifying before this streak began. Six players received All-WCC honors last year; four return this season including Jonas Salk who was named to the All-WCC First Team after hitting 13 home runs—the most by a Pilot since 2008.
Head coach Geoff Loomis enters his eleventh year leading Portland baseball with more than 235 career wins—fourth-most all-time for the program—and is also recognized as an alum of both UP Athletics Hall of Fame and former record-holding player for batting average (.376). Trey Watt was promoted to associate head coach following last season; Jarvis Gomes returns as Director for Player Development; Ben Patacsil joins as assistant coach after serving as graduate assistant last year.
UC Santa Barbara enters this series with a record of 1-2 after dropping two out of three games against Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Last year they finished fifth in Big West play (36-18 overall) and hosted an NCAA regional tournament appearance in 2024. The Gauchos were selected as preseason favorites to win their conference this year behind star pitcher Jackson Flora—a member of several preseason All-American teams—who has already been named Big West Pitcher of the Week once this season under head coach Andrew Checketts now entering his fifteenth year at UCSB.
Tickets for upcoming Portland Pilots home events can be purchased through PortlandPilots.com/Tickets or via the official app.
