Tuesday, March 28
Seattle, WA
4:05 PM
University of Washington
vs
Portland
Diamond Dawgs Return Home to Host Portland Tuesday
March 27, 2023 | Baseball
SEATTLE โย Coming off of a marquee road series victory at No. 7 UCLA, Washington returns home to face Portland in a midweek matchup on Tuesday, battling the Pilots at 4:05 p.m. PT at Husky Ballpark.
ย
General admission tickets are available for just two dollars. Those not in attendance can watch the game on Washington Live Stream 2, while a link to live stats is available at HuskyStats.com.
DAWG BITES
โข Riding the wave of a series win at No. 7 UCLA, Washington returns to Seattle for a short four-game homestand, beginning with a Tuesday battle with Portland.
โข It was the third straight series win over the Bruins for U Dub, all coming against top-10 ranked UCLA sides.
โข The Huskies racked up 21 hits in Sunday's matinee finale, their most against the Bruins since at least 1999. It was the second time this season Washington has posted more than 20 hits in a game.
โข Washington's 16-6 record is its best through 22 games since going 16-5-1 in 2014.
โข The Dawgs have won five consecutive Pac-12 series, posting a 12-3 record over the 15 games.
โข It will be a reverse fixture of an earlier matchup in Stumptown, where the Huskies came away with a 6-2 road victory.
โข The Pilots have momentum behind them too, having posted back-to-back WCC sweeps over Pepperdine and Pacific.
โข Washington has won six of the last eight meetings against Portland. However, the Pilots have taken two of the previous three games played in Seattle, including a 5-4 win last season.
โข Washington has won 28 of its last 33 games during the regular season, including 18 of the last 20 home games at Husky Ballpark.
โข While not-yet cracking the top-25 in any national poll, UW is ranked 30th by Collegiate Baseball and is receiving votes in the USA Today and NCBWA polls.
SERIES HISTORY VS. PORTLAND
Having played each other dating all the way back to 1939, Washington and Portland have met up 154 times, with the Huskies holding a 102-51-1 advantage in the all-time series. Tuesday's meeting at Husky Ballpark will be the 86th matchup between the two sides in Seattle, with UW coming out on top in 61 of those games. Washington has won the last two meetings and four of the last five, including a 6-2 win in Portland earlier this season. However, the last time the Pilots visited Seattle, they came away with a 5-4 win last season.
LAST WEEK WAS A MOVIE
The Huskies went into Hollywood and made a statement at No. 7 UCLA, taking the final two games to capture their third straight series win over the Bruins, all with UCLA ranked inside the top-10. After posting its second shutout of the season for a 3-0 win in 10 innings on Saturday, the Dawgs pulled out a wild 11-10 shootout on Sunday. UW racked up 21 hits on Sunday, its most against the Bruins since at least 1999.
Sunday's offensive barrage came against a Bruin side that entering the weekend was leading the nation with a team 2.38. Washington tagged UCLA starter Austin Kelly for three runs, the same amount he had allowed all season. The Huskies racked up a career-high nine hits on Kelly, five more than he had surrendered in any game in 2023.
PAC-ING A PUNCH
Washington has come out victorious in each of its last five Pac-12 series, including three against top-10 ranked foes. U Dub finished the 2022 season with series wins against No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 UCLA and USC and have begun the 2023 conference campaign with 2-1 series wins against Utah and No. 7 UCLA. The last league opponent to win a series over the Huskies? This weekend's opposition, Oregon State.
WILL POWER
After pummeling a pair of dingers during the midweek against Tulane for his first career multi-homer game, Will Simpson crushed another big fly on Sunday at UCLA, extending his Pac-12 lead with 10 for the season. Sunday's bomb was the 28th in a Husky uniform for Simpson, putting him in a tie for eighth most in program-history.
Simpson, who is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, has recorded 11 multi-hit games this season, compared to 10 games in which he has registered less than two base knocks. The Sammamish, Washington, native has recorded three knocks in two of the last four games.
CASE CLOSED
When righty flamethrower Case Matter is summoned from the Husky bullpen, a Washington victory is nearly a matter of fact. The UW closer has made seven straight appearances without allowing a run, totaling 10 innings. During the stretch, Matter has struck out 15 batters, while issuing just three hits, collecting four saves this season.
WHIP IT GOOD
Washington boasts two of the nation's top 33 pitchers in terms of WHIP, with Stu Flesland III ranked 20th at 0.88 and Kiefer Lord ranking 33rd at 0.92. Flesland is leading the Pac-12 with a 5.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while Lord's 43 total strikeouts are the second most in the conference.
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
Cam Clayton and Will Simpson have been on a tear over the last 10 games. Over that period, Clayton leads the Huskies with a .444 average, scoring 13 runs and with 10 RBIs. Meanwhile, Simpson has driven in 17 runs, crossing the plate 10 times. In those 10 games, Clayton and Simpson have combined for eight home runs.
STARTING STRONG
The Dawgs have gotten off to fast starts to innings, having the leadoff hitter to a frame reach 44.0 percent of the time. Seven different Huskies are reaching base at least half the time when leading off an inning. 43 of the 84 leadoff baserunners have come around to score.
CHIEF KIEF
Throwing six perfect innings with 10 strikeouts against Northern Colorado, Kiefer Lord was named the Week 3 Perfect Game National Pitcher of the Week and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week. The righty hurler was the first Husky to earn a national pitching award since Joe DeMers in 2018 and the first Husky pitcher to earn a Pac-12 weekly award since Josh Burgmann in 2019.
THAT'S OFFENSIVE
The Dawgs put up astonishing numbers during their four-game series with Northern Colorado. Most notably was the school-record 32 runs scored in the series opener. Those 32 runs are the second most scored by one team in an NCAA Division I game this season (William & Mary, 33 runs). The Huskies outscored the Bears 57-12 for the series, batting .388 as a team with 15 doubles, six home runs, 51 RBIs, 26 walks, 16 HBPs and a .513 team on-base percentage.
HOMEGROWN DAWGS
Nearly half of the Husky roster, 19 of 39 players overall, are homegrown talents from the state of Washington. Of those 19 local products, 16 hail from the greater Seattle Metropolitan area. Below is a breakdown of the counties UW's Washington natives call home.
UW Washington Natives by County
King County - 14
Clark County - 2
Pierce County - 1
Snohomish County - 1
Spokane County - 1
HEEEEEEERE'S JOHNNY
After earning All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors in 2022, Washington catcher Johnny Tincher was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 team as voted on by the conference's head coaches.
A redshirt junior, Tincher enters his fourth season at UW coming off of a campaign in which he ranked second on the team with a .314 average. He drove in 35 runs and scored 27 more while posting 19 extra-base hits, including 13 doubles, five home runs and a triple. Defensively, Tincher threw out 10 of 31 runners attempting to swipe a bag last season, while garnering a .989 fielding percentage.
POSITION RANKINGS
Washington has five players listed in D1Baseball.com's position rankings, released ahead of the start of the 2023 season. The full list of UW players ranked is below.
UW in D1Baseball's Position Rankings
Johnny Tincher - No. 22 catcher
AJ Guerrero - No. 52 outfielder
Kiefer Lord - No. 100 starting pitcher
Jared Engman - No. 154 starting pitcher
Stu Flesland III - No. 166 starting pitcher
RUN IT BACK
Washington returns nearly the entirety of its offense from the 2022 season with seven of eight positional starters returning that started more than 40 games, the Dawgs are poised once again to put up big numbers on the scoreboard.
Percentage Return from 2022
โข Games Started - 88.5%
โข Runs - 87.7%
โข Hits - 91.4%
โข Doubles - 92.3%
โข Triples - 87.5%
โข Home Runs - 93.8%
โข RBIs - 90.9%
โข Walks - 82.5%
THE JUCO JUMP
Washington has 10 junior college products on its roster. Four players come from the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system, with four California Community College system products and two players from Arizona's Maricopa County Community College District.
15 GAMES TO AIR ON PAC-12 FAMILY OF NETWORKS
15 Washington baseball games have been selected to air across the Pac-12 family of networks this season. Six home games from Husky Ballpark will air on your television set, while nine road games are set to be broadcasted. Of the 15 TV games for the Dawgs, 10 will air on Pac-12 Washington.
2018 OMADAWGS
2023 marks the five-year anniversary of Washington's 2018 team that became the first squad in program-history to reach the College World Series. The Huskies ran through the Conway Regional, sweeping three games against UConn and host Coastal Carolina. UW then took a decisive Super Regional Game 3 at Cal State Fullerton, erasing a one-run deficit in the ninth to force extras and walking off the Titans on Kaiser Weiss' sacrifice fly to score Levi Jordan and send the Dawgs to Omaha.
For more information on the UW baseball team, follow @UW_Baseball on Twitter and Instagram.
ย
General admission tickets are available for just two dollars. Those not in attendance can watch the game on Washington Live Stream 2, while a link to live stats is available at HuskyStats.com.
DAWG BITES
โข Riding the wave of a series win at No. 7 UCLA, Washington returns to Seattle for a short four-game homestand, beginning with a Tuesday battle with Portland.
โข It was the third straight series win over the Bruins for U Dub, all coming against top-10 ranked UCLA sides.
โข The Huskies racked up 21 hits in Sunday's matinee finale, their most against the Bruins since at least 1999. It was the second time this season Washington has posted more than 20 hits in a game.
โข Washington's 16-6 record is its best through 22 games since going 16-5-1 in 2014.
โข The Dawgs have won five consecutive Pac-12 series, posting a 12-3 record over the 15 games.
โข It will be a reverse fixture of an earlier matchup in Stumptown, where the Huskies came away with a 6-2 road victory.
โข The Pilots have momentum behind them too, having posted back-to-back WCC sweeps over Pepperdine and Pacific.
โข Washington has won six of the last eight meetings against Portland. However, the Pilots have taken two of the previous three games played in Seattle, including a 5-4 win last season.
โข Washington has won 28 of its last 33 games during the regular season, including 18 of the last 20 home games at Husky Ballpark.
โข While not-yet cracking the top-25 in any national poll, UW is ranked 30th by Collegiate Baseball and is receiving votes in the USA Today and NCBWA polls.
SERIES HISTORY VS. PORTLAND
Having played each other dating all the way back to 1939, Washington and Portland have met up 154 times, with the Huskies holding a 102-51-1 advantage in the all-time series. Tuesday's meeting at Husky Ballpark will be the 86th matchup between the two sides in Seattle, with UW coming out on top in 61 of those games. Washington has won the last two meetings and four of the last five, including a 6-2 win in Portland earlier this season. However, the last time the Pilots visited Seattle, they came away with a 5-4 win last season.
LAST WEEK WAS A MOVIE
The Huskies went into Hollywood and made a statement at No. 7 UCLA, taking the final two games to capture their third straight series win over the Bruins, all with UCLA ranked inside the top-10. After posting its second shutout of the season for a 3-0 win in 10 innings on Saturday, the Dawgs pulled out a wild 11-10 shootout on Sunday. UW racked up 21 hits on Sunday, its most against the Bruins since at least 1999.
Sunday's offensive barrage came against a Bruin side that entering the weekend was leading the nation with a team 2.38. Washington tagged UCLA starter Austin Kelly for three runs, the same amount he had allowed all season. The Huskies racked up a career-high nine hits on Kelly, five more than he had surrendered in any game in 2023.
PAC-ING A PUNCH
Washington has come out victorious in each of its last five Pac-12 series, including three against top-10 ranked foes. U Dub finished the 2022 season with series wins against No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 UCLA and USC and have begun the 2023 conference campaign with 2-1 series wins against Utah and No. 7 UCLA. The last league opponent to win a series over the Huskies? This weekend's opposition, Oregon State.
WILL POWER
After pummeling a pair of dingers during the midweek against Tulane for his first career multi-homer game, Will Simpson crushed another big fly on Sunday at UCLA, extending his Pac-12 lead with 10 for the season. Sunday's bomb was the 28th in a Husky uniform for Simpson, putting him in a tie for eighth most in program-history.
Simpson, who is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, has recorded 11 multi-hit games this season, compared to 10 games in which he has registered less than two base knocks. The Sammamish, Washington, native has recorded three knocks in two of the last four games.
CASE CLOSED
When righty flamethrower Case Matter is summoned from the Husky bullpen, a Washington victory is nearly a matter of fact. The UW closer has made seven straight appearances without allowing a run, totaling 10 innings. During the stretch, Matter has struck out 15 batters, while issuing just three hits, collecting four saves this season.
WHIP IT GOOD
Washington boasts two of the nation's top 33 pitchers in terms of WHIP, with Stu Flesland III ranked 20th at 0.88 and Kiefer Lord ranking 33rd at 0.92. Flesland is leading the Pac-12 with a 5.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio, while Lord's 43 total strikeouts are the second most in the conference.
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
Cam Clayton and Will Simpson have been on a tear over the last 10 games. Over that period, Clayton leads the Huskies with a .444 average, scoring 13 runs and with 10 RBIs. Meanwhile, Simpson has driven in 17 runs, crossing the plate 10 times. In those 10 games, Clayton and Simpson have combined for eight home runs.
STARTING STRONG
The Dawgs have gotten off to fast starts to innings, having the leadoff hitter to a frame reach 44.0 percent of the time. Seven different Huskies are reaching base at least half the time when leading off an inning. 43 of the 84 leadoff baserunners have come around to score.
CHIEF KIEF
Throwing six perfect innings with 10 strikeouts against Northern Colorado, Kiefer Lord was named the Week 3 Perfect Game National Pitcher of the Week and Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week. The righty hurler was the first Husky to earn a national pitching award since Joe DeMers in 2018 and the first Husky pitcher to earn a Pac-12 weekly award since Josh Burgmann in 2019.
THAT'S OFFENSIVE
The Dawgs put up astonishing numbers during their four-game series with Northern Colorado. Most notably was the school-record 32 runs scored in the series opener. Those 32 runs are the second most scored by one team in an NCAA Division I game this season (William & Mary, 33 runs). The Huskies outscored the Bears 57-12 for the series, batting .388 as a team with 15 doubles, six home runs, 51 RBIs, 26 walks, 16 HBPs and a .513 team on-base percentage.
HOMEGROWN DAWGS
Nearly half of the Husky roster, 19 of 39 players overall, are homegrown talents from the state of Washington. Of those 19 local products, 16 hail from the greater Seattle Metropolitan area. Below is a breakdown of the counties UW's Washington natives call home.
UW Washington Natives by County
King County - 14
Clark County - 2
Pierce County - 1
Snohomish County - 1
Spokane County - 1
HEEEEEEERE'S JOHNNY
After earning All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors in 2022, Washington catcher Johnny Tincher was named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 team as voted on by the conference's head coaches.
A redshirt junior, Tincher enters his fourth season at UW coming off of a campaign in which he ranked second on the team with a .314 average. He drove in 35 runs and scored 27 more while posting 19 extra-base hits, including 13 doubles, five home runs and a triple. Defensively, Tincher threw out 10 of 31 runners attempting to swipe a bag last season, while garnering a .989 fielding percentage.
POSITION RANKINGS
Washington has five players listed in D1Baseball.com's position rankings, released ahead of the start of the 2023 season. The full list of UW players ranked is below.
UW in D1Baseball's Position Rankings
Johnny Tincher - No. 22 catcher
AJ Guerrero - No. 52 outfielder
Kiefer Lord - No. 100 starting pitcher
Jared Engman - No. 154 starting pitcher
Stu Flesland III - No. 166 starting pitcher
RUN IT BACK
Washington returns nearly the entirety of its offense from the 2022 season with seven of eight positional starters returning that started more than 40 games, the Dawgs are poised once again to put up big numbers on the scoreboard.
Percentage Return from 2022
โข Games Started - 88.5%
โข Runs - 87.7%
โข Hits - 91.4%
โข Doubles - 92.3%
โข Triples - 87.5%
โข Home Runs - 93.8%
โข RBIs - 90.9%
โข Walks - 82.5%
THE JUCO JUMP
Washington has 10 junior college products on its roster. Four players come from the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system, with four California Community College system products and two players from Arizona's Maricopa County Community College District.
15 GAMES TO AIR ON PAC-12 FAMILY OF NETWORKS
15 Washington baseball games have been selected to air across the Pac-12 family of networks this season. Six home games from Husky Ballpark will air on your television set, while nine road games are set to be broadcasted. Of the 15 TV games for the Dawgs, 10 will air on Pac-12 Washington.
2018 OMADAWGS
2023 marks the five-year anniversary of Washington's 2018 team that became the first squad in program-history to reach the College World Series. The Huskies ran through the Conway Regional, sweeping three games against UConn and host Coastal Carolina. UW then took a decisive Super Regional Game 3 at Cal State Fullerton, erasing a one-run deficit in the ninth to force extras and walking off the Titans on Kaiser Weiss' sacrifice fly to score Levi Jordan and send the Dawgs to Omaha.
For more information on the UW baseball team, follow @UW_Baseball on Twitter and Instagram.
Players Mentioned
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