#26 Pilots 5, BYU 1... 9 wins in a row!

No. 26 Pilots Cruise to their Ninth Straight Win, 5-1 Over BYU

Kyle Kraus is 9-0 this season, one W shy of a program record

BELLEVUE, Wash. --- Portland sophomore starter Kyle Kraus remains perfect on the season and junior 3B Matt Mardesich registered three hits as the 26th-ranked Pilots dispatched the Brigham Young Cougars 5-1 in a non-conference baseball game at Bannerwood Park on Saturday. It’s the ninth straight win for Portland, which is program’s longest winning streak since a string of 11 straight wins in 1980.

At 29-9, it’s also the first time for the Pilots to be 20 games above .500 since that 1980 season.

The Pilots are also just one win shy of recording the program’s fifth 30-win season, last accomplished in 1991 when UP went 31-19. Portland will go after its tenth straight victory and win No. 30 this afternoon against Seattle in a game that was scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m.

Kraus, a right-hander, wins his ninth straight game to move to 9-0 on the year. The nine wins are just one shy of matching a program record for wins in a season by a UP pitcher, set in 1989 when Ted Devore won 10 games.

Kraus was in control all day long against the Cougars (18-23), working into the eighth inning. He finished with eight strikeouts in 7.2 innings, while allowing just five hits. He did walk a batter with one out in the third, ending his string of consecutive walk-less innings at 20.2.

Sophomore left-hander Keeler Brynteson worked the final 1.1 innings, allowing one run on two hits. He struck out one and didn’t walk a batter.

The game was scoreless for the first four innings as BYU starter Chris Capper (2-1) matched Kraus pitch-for-pitch. The Pilots finally got to Capper in the fifth when sophomore SS Kris Kauppila led off with a single, stole second and scored on an RBI single by sophomore C Beau Fraser.

Portland, the designated home team, would then score one run in both the sixth and seventh innings before tacking on two more in the bottom of the eighth. In the sixth, Kauppila capped a string of three consecutive two-out singles with a base hit to left the scored Mardesich and made it 2-0.

Senior 1B C.J. Cullen scored on a wild pitch in the seventh, while Mardesich brought home a run in the eighth on a triple before scoring on a bases-loaded walk to give UP the 5-0 advantage.

Capper, who was followed by five BYU relievers, struck out seven, walked two and scattered seven hits in 5.0 innings. He allowed just the one run before giving way to the bullpen.

Portland out-hit BYU 10-7, while the Cougars committed the game’s only two errors.