PROVO, Utah - BYU baseball and Portland will compete in three games from March 21-23 in the second weekend of WCC play for both teams.
The Cougars and Pilots currently have the two highest win totals in the conference with BYU coming in at 14-5 and 1-2 in the WCC and Portland at 15-6, 1-2.
The Pilots have a team ERA of 2.98, good for No. 22 in the country. Pitchers Chris Clements and Eli Morse each rank top-50 in the nation in strikeouts. At the plate, Portland is batting .261 but hits for distance, ranking third in the country in doubles and 14th in home runs.
Cougar Right-hander Jordan Wood will get the start Thursday, entering the game with a 1.76 ERA in five starts over 30.2 innings. Only two pitchers in BYU history have an ERA under 2.00 with at least five starts in a single season - Jim Englehardt in 1967 (1.62 ERA, 13 starts) and Peter Kendrick in 1981 (1.28 ERA, 19 starts).
Right-hander Easton Walker is slated as the game two starter. A year ago he was serving a mission in Peru, now he’s one of just three pitchers in the country with a 0.00 ERA and will be starting his first game of the year and second of his career.
Game three starter Justin Sterner leads the team with 28 strikeouts in just 24.1 innings, a 10.36 strikeouts per nine inning average. The right-hander's three wins are tied for most on the team with relief pitcher Reid McLaughlin.
Senior first baseman Brian Hsu comes into the weekend ranked 32nd in the nation with a .415 batting average and has an on-base percentage of .493. Other notable streaks include senior catcher Noah Hill who has a hit in 14-straight games dating back to the second game of the season. Sophomore infielder Jackson Cluff and senior right fielder Brock Hale have both reached base safely in all 19 of BYU’s games this season.