The Portland Pilots baseball team will play the Washington Huskies on April 21 in a neutral site matchup at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreational Complex as part of the NWBCA College Classic. The game is scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch and will be streamed live on YouTube via the Ridgefield Raptors channel, with tickets available through the Raptors’ website.
This midweek contest provides both teams an opportunity to compete outside their respective conferences and gives fans a chance to see regional college baseball talent. The Pilots enter the game with a 22-15 overall record and have matched their win total from last season, while the Huskies hold a 17-22 record.
Last week, Portland split four games, including two wins against San Francisco and losses to Washington State and one San Francisco matchup. Standout performances included Nolan Miller’s two-hit effort against Washington State, Dakota Chun’s home run contributions, Trey Swygart’s shutout pitching outing, and Cole Katayama-Stall’s .429 batting average over four games. The Pilots’ pitching staff leads their conference in several categories such as earned run average (ERA), walks allowed per nine innings, strikeout-to-walk ratio, walks issued, and shutouts. Nationally they rank within the top forty in ERA and WHIP.
Several players have received recognition this season: Will Labonte is second in conference ERA among all pitchers and first among freshmen; Alex Via leads his conference with eight saves; Trey Newmann is fifth in strikeouts; Katayama-Stall has hit nine home runs so far this year. Last season saw six Portland players earn All-WCC honors—four of whom returned for this campaign—and Jonas Salk made All-WCC First Team for his performance.
Head coach Geoff Loomis enters his eleventh year leading Portland with more than 250 career wins at the school. He is joined by associate head coach Trey Watt—recently promoted after serving as pitching coach—and returning staff members Jarvis Gomes (Director for Player Development) and Ben Patacsil (assistant coach).
The Huskies are led by Eddie Smith in his second season as head coach. Their offense features Colton Bower who currently holds a .342 batting average along with ten home runs.
Looking ahead, both teams aim to use this contest as preparation for upcoming conference matchups while providing experience for younger players.
