The Portland Pilots are set to play the Santa Clara Broncos in a three-game West Coast Conference baseball series beginning Friday, Apr. 24 at Stephen Schott Stadium. The games will be available on ESPN+, with live stats and video options provided on PortlandPilots.com.
This series is important as both teams look to improve their conference standings. The Pilots currently hold a record of 22-16 overall and 8-7 in WCC play, while the Broncos are at 14-25 overall and 3-12 in conference games.
Portland enters the matchup after winning two out of three games against the San Francisco Dons last weekend but falling to the Washington Huskies earlier this week. Trey Swygart contributed significantly during Sunday’s shutout win over San Francisco, pitching a career-high 6.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and also adding an RBI at the plate. Trey Newmann recorded a career-best twelve strikeouts during his start, while Cole Katayama-Stall batted .429 for the week.
The Pilots’ pitching staff leads the conference in several categories including earned run average (ERA), WHIP, walks allowed per nine innings, strikeout-to-walk ratio, and shutouts. Nationally, they rank within the top fifty for ERA and other pitching metrics. Freshman Will Labonte has been named a College Baseball Hall of Fame National Pitcher of the Year semifinalist—the first Pilot since 2022 to earn this recognition—and Alex Via is a semifinalist for national relief pitcher honors.
Last season, Portland finished fifth in their conference with a record of 22-30 overall and made their fourth consecutive appearance in the WCC Tournament. Several returning players received All-WCC honors last year, including Jonas Salk who was named to the First Team.
Head coach Geoff Loomis is leading his eleventh season with Portland and has accumulated more than 250 wins during his tenure. He remains one of only four coaches at Portland to reach that milestone.
