The Portland Pilots baseball team is set to face the CSUN Matadors in Northridge, California, on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 5:30 p.m. The game will take place at Robert J. Hiegert Field, with audio coverage available through the CSUN Sports Network and live statistics provided on PortlandPilots.com.
Right-handed pitcher Carter Gaston is expected to start for the Pilots, while Zach Johnson will take the mound for CSUN. The all-time series record between the teams stands at 8-11-1 in favor of CSUN, but Portland won their most recent meeting 14-6 last April.
Portland enters the contest with a 1-2 record after opening their season against Purdue in Sugar Land, Texas. The Pilots secured a 9-3 victory on Friday thanks to a late offensive surge, but dropped the next two games by scores of 2-1 and 10-7. Jonas Salk, Brady Bean, Trey Swygart and Nolan Miller each had multiple hits in Friday’s win. The team drew 11 walks that game—a mark reached only nine times since 2000.
Bean and Miller led the offense over three games with batting averages of .417 and .400 respectively. Cole Katayama-Stall hit two home runs on Sunday and leads the team with a .769 slugging percentage.
On the pitching side, Trey Newmann earned the first win for a Pilot pitcher this season with 3.2 scoreless innings and six strikeouts in relief on Friday. Freshman Will Labonte pitched 5.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen during his debut weekend—making him unique among Pilot freshmen pitchers since at least 2000.
As a team, Portland leads the West Coast Conference (WCC) in walks allowed per nine innings (2.45) and ranks second in several categories including strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.00), hit by pitch (6), total walks (18), and home runs (3). Nationally, they are ranked among the top teams for fewest walks allowed per nine innings as well as double plays turned per game.
Individually, Labonte and Newmann are among just thirteen WCC pitchers yet to allow an earned run this season; Labonte is one of four who pitched more than five innings last weekend without surrendering a walk alongside Kaden Segel. Newmann currently ranks sixth in strikeouts within conference play.
Katayama-Stall is tied for second among WCC players for multiple home runs after opening weekend and is ranked nationally in that category as well.
Cody Nitowitz stands out for his ability to reach base frequently; he ranks second in walks per game within conference play while holding fourth spot for on-base percentage (.600). Both Nitowitz and Swygart have drawn four walks so far this season.
Bean and Miller are part of a group of fourteen WCC batters hitting above .400 after one week of play.
In preseason polls conducted by both coaches and D1 Baseball analysts, Portland was projected to finish fourth within their conference this year.
Reflecting on last season, Portland finished fifth in WCC play with an overall record of 22-30—marking their fifth consecutive year surpassing twenty wins—a feat not achieved since between 2008-2012. They qualified for the WCC Tournament for a fourth straight time but were eliminated by LMU Lions after one game.
Six Pilots received All-WCC honors last year; Jonas Salk was named to the First Team following his thirteen-home-run campaign—the highest total by any Pilot since Matt Scales’ performance in 1992—and led all conference players with an .807 slugging percentage against league opponents. Other notable returnees include Tyler Howard (.379 average) and Brady Bean who played every game last season.
Head coach Geoff Loomis enters his eleventh year leading Portland’s program with a career record placing him fourth all-time at the school for wins (234). He remains Portland’s career leader in batting average as an alum himself.
Trey Watt has been promoted to associate head coach after previously serving under Loomis both at Pacific Lutheran University and now as pitching coach at Portland. Jarvis Gomes returns as Director of Player Development while Ben Patacsil joins as assistant coach following time as graduate assistant last year.
For Wednesday’s opponent CSUN Matadors: they began their season sweeping Seattle U Redhawks across three games—hitting seven home runs over that stretch which puts them atop their conference offensively early this year despite being picked ninth in preseason polling by Big West coaches under head coach Eddie Cornejo who has compiled an overall winning record through four seasons at CSUN.
