Portland Pilots Baseball had three student-athletes named to the College Sports Communicators All-Academic Team on June 2, with Carter Gaston, Cole Katayama-Stall, and Jonas Salk receiving the honor.
To qualify for the All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must maintain at least a 3.5 grade point average while participating in at least 90 percent of an institution’s games or starting in at least two-thirds of a team’s contests. For pitchers, eligibility requires making at least 17 appearances or pitching 35 innings during the season.
Gaston earned this recognition for the third time in his career, setting a program record for most selections by any Pilot. He pitched 35.2 innings over 11 appearances—including nine starts—posting a 4-3 record with a 4.79 earned run average. Gaston was also named West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2024 and concluded his Portland career tied for seventh all-time in wins (18) and holding the single-season record for wins (11) set in 2024.
Katayama-Stall led Portland this season in home runs (10), doubles (11), runs batted in (39), slugging percentage (.506), and stolen bases (13). Within conference play, he ranked third overall in stolen bases, sixth in walks (37), and seventh both in home runs and conference-play walks.
Salk played all 52 games this season for Portland and was also selected to the West Coast Conference All-Academic Team. He finished with a .218 batting average, six home runs, eleven doubles—which tied him for the team lead—and thirty-two runs batted in. Salk was hit by fifteen pitches during the season—third most among conference players—and ended his career as Portland’s all-time leader with forty-eight hit-by-pitches; he also ranks ninth on Portland’s career home run list (24) and is tied for twelfth place with one hundred ten RBI.
The Pilots concluded their season with an overall record of twenty-seven wins and twenty-five losses—the fourth time out of five seasons they have finished above .500.
