Kyle Jensen's .420 average is tops in WCC, and his 13 homeruns puts him two shy of Gaels single season record.

May 15, 2008

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This Week In Gaels Baseball: Saint Mary's will head back out on the road, going north to play the University of Portland for a three game series. Friday's game will begin at 3:00 PM, with 1:00 PM games Saturday and Sunday from Joe Etzel Field. Sunday's game will be the 2008 season finale.

Who's Hot: Justin Fazio had an outstanding week last week, as the freshman went 11-for-23 (.478). In the five games, Fazio collected five extra base hits, including four doubles and his first collegiate homerun. Fazio was right in the thick of all the scoring for the Gaels last week, scoring seven runs, and knocking in six. In the win over San Francisco, Fazio went 2-for-4 with two doubles. Against Santa Clara this weekend Fazio went 8-for-15 (.533) with four runs, and four RBI's in the three-game series.

The Innings Eater: This season has been a terrific one for Gaels ace Brian Justice, the 2008 Gael Award nominee for "Newcomer of the Year" has had a terrific season bouncing back from missing the entire 2007 season due to an injury. The righty has not missed a start all season for the Gaels eating innings for Coach Soto, and saving the bullpen. He leads the team with a 72.2 innings pitched, making 11 starts 12 appearances and one complete game.

Scouting the Pilots: The Pilots enter this week losing their last five and eight out of their last 10 games. their overall record for 2008 is 19-30 (3-15 WCC) at home they are 6-11. In 2008 they return 19 letter winners from a 2007 squad that finished seventh in the WCC with a 7-14 mark, and a 21-30 record overall. The 21 wins were the most for a Portland squad since the 2002 team finished the season with 24 wins. The seventh place finish in the WCC was also the best showing for the Pilots since the 2002 team that finished third. Offensively the Pilots don't attempt to steal very often, as they only have 22 as a team. Collectively they are hitting just .256, they do have some pop to their bats, as they have hit 35 homeruns, 70 doubles, and eight triples. The Pilots also have trouble scoring runs, as they've recorded just 218, which is 100 less then the Gaels.

The infield is anchored by sophomore catcher Rocky Gale, this season for the Pilots Gale has started 42 games and appeared in 45 where he is batting .267, scoring 13 runs, and knocking in 14, with three doubles and a homerun. Defensively he has thrown out 25 of the 54 base runners attempting to steal. At first base is junior Chase Powell, for the Pilots Powell is hitting .263, scoring 21 runs, and knocking in 20. He has 45 hits, 11 of them doubles. At shortstop is freshman Riley Henricks who is hitting .317 with 28 runs scored. Of his 65 hits, 28 are extra base-hits, including 15 doubles, five triples, and 8 long balls.

In the outfield the Pilots are led by senior Danny Meire who leads the team with 12 big flies, while leading the team with 34 runs, and 36 RBI. Transfer, junior Bryant Kraus, is leading the team with a .320 average, he's also scored 26 runs and knocked in 25.

Off the mound, the Pilots sport a team ERA of 5.08, and have had to account for the loss of Given Kutz and Chris Siegfried, who both left the program early after being drafted. Senior David Gruener has started 10 games for the Pilots posting a 1-5 record, with a 3.62 ERA and a team high 64.2 innings pitched. Newcomer junior Mark Triolo leads the team with five wins, posting a 5-5 mark, with a 4.20 ERA in his 12 starts. The Pilots also look to Ari Ronick (4-6, 4.35 ERA) and Brennan Thorpe (2-3, 5.91 ERA) as starters. Out of the pen, the Pilots turn to Matthew Lange who in 25 appearances has posted a 3-5 record and a team best 2.36 ERA. Lange has also saved a team high three games.

Last Time Out: The last time these two teams faced the Gaels won their first conference game of the season, winning 5-2 on the strength of Brandon Berl's pitching. Randy Wells began the scoring when his first of two doubles scored Michael Cippola in the bottom of the first. Ryan Mulligan added another run in the bottom of the third when he laced a single up the middle scoring Anthony Aliotti. Wells led all hitters with a 3-for-4 day and two RBI. Kenny Fuglerud and Mulligan both recorded a multi-hit game.

All Time: All time the Gaels are 32-21-2 against Portland. Under Head Coach Jedd Soto, the Gaels are 8-4. The last time the Gaels headed up north to Portland for a three game series on April 21-23 in 2006 they swept the Pilots, out-scoring them 26-9.

Freshman "Fab Five": With the shortening of the 2008 season, the incoming freshman class of pitchers has been huge for Coach Soto. Alex Schmarzo, Justin Kuks, Dorsey Ek, Taylor Reid, and David Small have combined for 35 appearances, and eight starts. Reid leads the group with five starts, posting a 2-2 record. Schmarzo has started three games and posted a 2-2 record as well. Kuks leads the team with two saves. David Small has come on strong after sitting the first half of the season, posting a 3.52 ERA. Meanwhile Ek has showed electric stuff striking out 10 and only walking thee.

On the Hill: Anthony Aliotti evened his record at 2-2 last Wednesday as he threw a gem in the non-conference win over San Francisco at Benedetti Diamond. Aliotti was perfect through four innings, and made it through 5.2 innings, scattering two hits, two runs, all earned, with three walks and three strike outs.

Home Sweet Home: The Gaels played their final home game of the 2008 season on Tuesday hosting the Spartans. On the season the Gaels are 15-9-1, with four game sweeps over UW-Milwaukee and Fairleigh Dickinson. The Gaels are hitting .343 overall with 15 homeruns at the Guisto, while earning big wins over Pepperdine, San Francisco and a dramatic come from behind game that ended in a tie versus #5 ranked Stanford.

Jensen's Assault on the Record Books: In the loss to Santa Clara on Sunday, Jensen hit his 13th homerun of the season, putting him two behind James Mouton, and Jeff Hebert for the single season record at Saint Mary's. If the season were to end today, Jensen would tie Mouton for the record for the highest batting average. Among other things, he is 12 hits shy of the single season mark and 14 RBI shy of the RBI single season record.

Last Time Out: The Gaels had a full week, playing five games, including the home finale on Tuesday against San Jose State, a rare non-conference game at San Francisco and a three-game series at Santa Clara.

On Tuesday, the Gaels jumped out to a 5-0 lead after scoring a run in the first and four in the fifth. Taylor Reid started the game for the Gaels and pitched six very effective innings, but could not get out of the seventh, as the Spartans rallied for five runs, taking the lead 6-5. SJSU added an insurance run in the ninth to win 7-5. Kyle Jensen went 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Joel Staples hit two doubles going 3-for-5. The Gaels continued the trend of getting hits, but leaving runners on base.

Wednesday the Gaels loaded up the bus and headed to San Francisco to play a non-conference match-up at scenic Benedetti Diamond. On the mound for the Gaels was sophomore Anthony Aliotti, who was perfect through four innings and solid through 5.2 innings. The Gaels chased Dons starter Joe Oropeza out of the first inning, tagging four runs in the first. On this day the Gaels did what they could not do against San Jose St. and that was avoiding the big inning. Scott Schneider came into the game in the ninth and after giving up a long homerun was able to close out the game with the score 6-5. Jensen went 2-for-3 with his 12th double of the season. Justin Fazio started his hot week, going 2-for-4 with two doubles.

The weekend provided little in the way of excitement for Gael fans, as the Gaels got swept losing 12-6, 9-8, and 14-6 respectively. A few of the highlights of the weekend for the Gaels was Kyle Jensen's 13th homerun of the season on Sunday. Justin Fazio's first collegiate homerun in the first game. Brian Justice took the hard luck loss for the Gaels on Friday, Alex Schmarzo fell to 2-2 after taking the loss in game two, and Scott Schneider fell to 5-5 after getting roughed up through 4.2 innings during Sunday's game.