Amid some turbulence, Pilots hope to land in WCC playoffs

Portland infielder Cole Katayama-Stall, who homered in an 8-3 loss at Oregon State Tuesday night, will be a key figure as the Pilots hope to keep their WCC Tournament hopes alive with a three-game home series against Pacific starting Thursday (courtesy UP sports communications)

It has been a bumpy road for the University of Portland diamond crew through the 2026 season, especially of late.

After a 2-5 start, the Pilots went 18-5 over their next 23 games to crest at 20-10. Since then, they have lost 14 of 19 to fall to 25-24 heading into their final regular-season series at home beginning Thursday against Pacific.

One thing has been constant, however. The Pilots have given Oregon State and Oregon all they can handle.

Portland beat OSU 3-1 at Joe Etzel Field on March 17 and took the Beavers to the brink before falling 6-4 in 12 innings on May 5 at Hillsboro Park. The final meeting was Tuesday night in Corvallis when OSU jumped in front 8-0 en route to an 8-3 victory.

The Pilots have beaten Oregon twice this season — 3-0 on March 31 in Eugene and 13-9 on April 8 at home.

Logic says this shouldn’t have happened. Oregon State (41-11) is ranked sixth and seventh in the various national polls. Oregon (36-14) is ranked between 14th and 23rd. The Beavers are 17th, the Ducks 20th in RPI rankings. The Pilots are 115th.

But Portland’s competitiveness with the state’s traditional powers is not an aberration. Since Geoff Loomis took over as coach in 2016, the Pilots are 5-16 against Oregon State, with victories coming in 2016, ’19, ’21, ’23 and ’26.

In his 11th season as the Pilots’ coach, Geoff Loomis has built an improved program on The Bluff but is in danger of missing next week’s WCC playoffs (courtesy UP sports communications)

Portland has been decidedly more successful against Oregon. During the Loomis era, the Pilots are 9-12 against the Ducks and have beaten them in nine of their last 17 meetings. Since 2023, the advantage in the series is 6-2 Portland.

If that sounds incongruous, well, there are reasons why the Pilots lift their intensity level when going against their in-state brethren.

“We know they have a lot more hype around them,” says sophomore pitcher/first baseman Trey Swygart, who homered in the loss to OSU in Hillsboro. “They are always ranked. They get a lot more money than us. They get the better recruits. They have pretty much better everything. Going in as the underdog, it is like you have nothing to lose. We play a lot more free; we just have fun. I think that is why we play super well against them.”

Sophomore two-way star Trey Swygart, shown here pitching in a win over Purdue, will be on the mound when the Pilots began their crucial three-game series with Pacific at Joe Etzel Field (courtesy UP sports communications)

“It is a game we always get up for, and do all we can to put our best foot forward,” adds sophomore infielder Cole Katayama-Stall, who swatted a two-run homer on Tuesday at Goss Stadium and went 4 for 6 in the two games against Oregon.

Loomis, in his 11th season at the UP helm, doesn’t place more emphasis on beating the teams down the Willamette Valley than against the West Coast Conference rivals. And he recognizes that the Pilots aren’t facing the opponents’ starting rotation in midweek games, though the reverse is true, too.

“For whatever reason, on Tuesdays we match up pretty well with those guys,” Loomis says.

Since arriving after a successful 13-year run at Pacific Lutheran, Loomis has gone about constructing a solid program on The Bluff. The Pilots had three straight winning seasons and finished in the top half of the WCC from 2021-24, peaking in ’24 with a 37-19 overall record and a conference mark of 19-5, good for second place.

“I have always thought Geoff does a great job with his program,” Oregon State coach Mitch Canham says.

“I have enjoyed competing against them and watching his team play. They have done a fantastic job. They have a handful of guys who are extremely competitive on the mound. They have won some big games this season.”

There was a downturn last season when Portland finished 22-30 overall and 13-11 in WCC play. The start this season was reminiscent of the ’24 campaign, with wins over Purdue (currently 34-15 and No. 47 in RPI), Oregon and OSU. But last weekend’s sweep by Pepperdine in Malibu left the Pilots at 11-13 and tied for sixth in the WCC race. The Waves (21-29 overall, 15-9 in conference action) outscored the visitors 18-6 in the three-game series.

“We just didn’t play good.” Loomis says. “We match up with (Pepperdine) pretty well, but we go down there with a lot on the line and don’t hit. You are not going to win scoring six runs in three games.

“We have a pretty good pitching staff; we just don’t have the other piece of it. It has been good defense and pitching, but we go down there and lay an egg on the offensive side. That has been the story of our season.”

Portland’s team batting average is .245 — eighth among the 10 WCC teams — with only 44 home runs in 49 games. Their leading percentage hitter is sophomore outfielder Cody Nitowitz at .285, one of only four regulars hitting better than .245. The Pilots are averaging less than five runs a game and have been held to three or fewer runs 20 times. They managed only three hits Tuesday in Corvallis.

The Pilots’ luck has been bad, too. Their defense has been solid with only 50 errors, just over one per game. The opponents’ defense has been spectacular with only 27 errors all season.

“I have never seen anything like it,” Loomis says. “Doesn’t matter (the quality of) the defense of our opponent, they come in and are flawless. The WCC (fielding percentage) against us is .993. That is maybe one error a weekend. It’s crazy. We are playing good defense behind a good pitching staff. This offense needs some help, and we are not getting it (from opposing defenses).”

Loomis, 55, is a legendary figure on the UP campus, one of the greatest players in program history and a member of the school’s sports hall of fame. A second and third baseman from 1990-92, the Oregon City High grad still holds the school record with a .372 career batting average. Loomis was Pac-10 North Division Player of the Year as a junior when he hit .388, and was a two-time All-Pac-10 North player. He holds the school single-game record with nine RBIs and was a member of the 1991 Pilot squad that was the last one to make the NCAA Tournament.

Loomis played two years of minor league ball in the A’s system before beginning his coaching career. His record through 13 years as Pacific Lutheran’s coach was 327-197-2, taking the Lutes to three Northwest Conference championships and two NCAA Division III Tournament berths. Loomis has had winning records in four of his last five seasons at UP.    His record there is 258-284-1 overall and 118-142 in WCC play, but over the past five years the marks are 147-115 and 91-62.

“He is a great dude,” Swygart says. “He is one of the best coaches I have had. He knows a lot about the game. He played (at UP) and in the minors. It is good to have a coach who has done what we are doing and what we want to do. He knows the ins and outs of what we are going through.”

“It has been great playing for Coach Loomis,” Katayama-Stall says. “He does a great job getting us prepared. I have had a lot of opportunities for playing time early in my career, which I am super grateful for. (Loomis) has been good for my development as a player.”

Swygart attracted plenty of interest from college scouts as a left-handed-hitting first baseman and a right-handed pitcher out of Middleton (Idaho) High, a suburb of Boise. He felt Portland would be the best fit.

“I love the small campus,” he says. “I thought I would be pretty overwhelmed at a big one. (The Pilots) gave me a great academic offer — a full scholarship. That is hard to pass up. I just loved the coaches. I thought they were great people and would make me a better person, and a better baseball player. I knew I had a good shot to play as soon as I got here. That was a big deal for me. I didn’t want to go to a school where I had to sit for a year. (Portland) seemed like the best option I had, and it has worked out well.”

Swygart was an All-WCC Freshman Team selection and a Perfect Game Freshman All-American last season, hitting .342 with six home runs. He pitched in 11 games, with three starts, going 0-3 with a 6.97 ERA and two saves in 31 innings.

This season, the 6-4, 230-pound Swygart is hitting .273 with 10 doubles and six homers, and he has made a much bigger impact on the mound. In 12 appearances and three starts, he is 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA, allowing 45 hits and 12 walks with 40 strikeouts in 45 innings. Swygart is on the watch list for the John Olerud Award for the nation’s best two-way player for the second straight season.

“It wasn’t super important for me to be a two-way player (in college),” Swygart says. “I knew I was better as a hitter, but I have grown a lot as a pitcher. It has been fun to go both ways. It’s tough, too, but it is awesome being able to help your team win in more ways than one.”

“You rarely get the kind of two-way talent that Trey is,” Loomis says. “Usually you end up designating them in one role (in which) they can help the team the most. But this kid is truly a two-way guy. I think next year he will have a good shot at winning the Olerud Award. He has had a heck of a year on the mound. He is not overpowering — 88-89 (mph fastball), but with a great changeup and slider to keep hitters off balance. And he is our go-to guy on the offensive side. He had a slow start at the plate, but at the halfway point (of the season) he started to figure it out.”

The Pilots have 22 Oregon natives on their 41-man roster, including a dozen from the Portland area. One is Katayama-Stall, a Westview High grad who spoke with both Oregon State and Oregon during the recruiting process but was offered a ride by neither school.

“I wanted to stay close to home, so I knew Portland was a good opportunity for me,” he says, “I like everything about the campus, and I had a good relationship with the coaches and with a lot of the incoming players. A lot of guys in my class are from the area. I had a familiarity with the guys that made me feel like it was a good spot.”

Katayama-Stall was a starter as a freshman, hitting .255 with 10 doubles, nine home runs — the most round-trippers by a Pilot freshman since 2008 — and 38 RBIs. This season, the 6-1, 195 shortstop/third baseman is batting .267 with 10 doubles and leads the team with 10 homers, 38 RBIs and 11 stolen bases.

“Cole has hit his homers in bunches this season,” Loomis said before Katayama-Shill blasted his 10th four-bagger on Tuesday night. “He has been in a quiet period. Maybe we will get that bear out of hibernation this week.”

Nitowitz, a 5-11, 185-pound Carlsbad, Calif., native, and Swygart are tied for the WCC lead with 37 walks apiece and are tied for the team lead with a .424 on-base percentage.

“Cody is your gritty, every-day guy that every lineup needs,” Loomis says. “He will go out there and run through a wall for you. He literally did that at Pepperdine, diving for a ball into the left-field fence. He will do anything it takes to stand out. He will get on base, steal bases and play a great left field. Everybody is inspired by him. He plays with his hair on fire. He’s an old-school, throwback type of player.”

Portland has the WCC’s best team ERA at 4.25, one of two staffs with a mark under 5.00 in what has been a hitters’ league. The Pilots have given up only 30 home runs, fewest in the league. They have done much of it without No. 2 starter Logan Anderson, who was lost midway through the season with a broken ankle.

“We started the season with a deep pitching staff,” Loomis says. “Now we are piecing it together, which isn’t unusual. As a season goes on, you are going to lose some guys.”

Loomis gives much of the credit for the pitching success to Trey Watt, in his fourth season as a full-time UP assistant and second as pitching coach.

“I brought Trey on to be an offensive coach and taught him the ropes on my offensive philosophy, but all along he was a pitching guy,” Loomis says. “When Connor Lambert left (for Washington), I moved Trey into (the pitching coach) role. He has done just a great job.”

The ace of the staff has been Will Labonte, a 5-10, 180-pound freshman right-hander from Montreal. In 13 appearances and 12 starts, he is 3-2 with a 2.63 ERA, third-best in the league.

“Will has been phenomenal,” Loomis says. “He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he is truly a pitcher. He doesn’t give up a lot of runs. He is feisty when runners get on base. He has more walks than we want, but he does a good job of keeping (opponents) from scoring.”

The closer has been Alex Via, a 5-10, 165-pound freshman right-hander from Bend’s Summit High. In 21 appearances Via is 1-3 with a 2.59 ERA, allowing only 19 hits in 31 1/3 innings and boasting a .184 opponents batting average. Via, however, hasn’t pitched since registering his ninth save of the season against San Diego on May 2.

“He has been down with a tired arm,” Looms says. “We hope to have him back for the final series. He has had a hell of a season. He has been reliable coming in late. We have missed not having him the last two weeks.”

A good portion of the nucleus of the Portland team comes from sophomores and freshmen. The Pilots have precious little available to compensate players through revenue sharing and/or NIL funding. What are their chances of keeping those players?

“Based on our history, our chances are good,” Loomis offers. “Our retention has been good. That is partly because of the kids we bring in. We talk about our culture. We don’t run things like other programs. We don’t over-recruit. We bring in a certain amount of guys for the right amount of positions. We don’t bring guys in and cut them in the fall. A lot of kids and their families understand that. When they come to our place, it is going to be a commitment for their career. I hope that is the case.

“We go into the transfer portal every summer saying, ‘Let’s win the portal,’ and that means we can’t lose very many guys. (Since the portal began), we have lost two players I really didn’t want to lose. It is dangerous when you have a young team like this with some talent, that they might see some dollar signs in their head. Hopefully they know that the opportunity to play — and maybe play at the next level — is there if they stay here.”

For now, the focus is on the final series against Pacific and the opportunity to play in the WCC Tournament May 20-23 at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Stadium, spring training home of the San Francisco Giants. The top six teams in the conference qualify. Portland is tied for sixth with Seattle, which visits league-leading Gonzaga for its final three-game series. If the Pilots and Redhawks finish with the same record in conference games, Seattle qualifies and Portland’s season is done since the Redhawks won two of three in their season series.

“It’s a big weekend,” Loomis says. “If we win one, we are probably out. If we win two, we might be in.”

Watt will hand the ball to Swygart to start the Pilots’ biggest game of the season Thursday at Etzel Field.

“We will start him on the mound and he will DH,” Loomis says. “The next day, I will DH him again or put him at first base.”

Swygart is embracing the challenge.

“I feel pretty good about (getting to start the series opener),” he says. “When I am pitching and hitting, I have a lot of ways to help the team win. And when I pitch, I hit better. I am thinking about pitching when I get up to the plate, and I rake. My numbers are insane when I am the starting pitcher.

“I am excited to see what we can give to our fans. Hopefully we can make it to Scottsdale. We have a good chance.”

Portland is 17-6 at home this season, 7-15 on the road. The latter figure “is what keeps me up at night,” Loomis says. “But we have held serve on our homecourt every series this season. I am feeling optimistic (about the Pacific series) because we play so well at home.”

Katayama-Stall sees it as “some must-win games for us.”

“It is like our playoffs are getting started,” he says. “Every game matters for us. But we will approach it like we do every other game the whole year — not put too much pressure on ourselves. We have put the work in. The hay is in the barn. Now it is time to stay together, play our best and let the results take care of themselves.”

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