PORTLAND, Ore. – Behind redshirt junior
Zach Todd's dazzling performance, the Pacific baseball program threw a one-hitter in securing a 7-5 victory in game one of the West Coast Conference series over Portland on Thursday night at Joe Etzel Field.
The Tigers' (23-26-1, 15-9-1 WCC) offense jumped out early and weathered the late stages to earn the program's first victory over the Pilots (25-25, 11-14 WCC) since May 17, 2019.
Todd turned in his strongest outing as a Tiger to date, going a career-best 7.0 innings, and allowing just two runs on one hit with five strikeouts. Todd and the Tigers allowed just one hit in a victory for the first time since March 6, 2014, when John Haberman pitched a one-hit complete game in a 5-1 victory at San Jose State. With now 80 strikeouts on the year, Todd is the first Tigers pitcher to have 80 or more strikeouts in a season since Shelby Lackey during the 2018 campaign. Todd has won four straight conference games with his fifth quality start of the season.
Redshirt sophomore
Robert Orr was a catalyst of the offense on Thursday night, blasting a two-run home run for his seventh big fly of the year. Orr ties Chaz Myers (2023) and Brett Sullivan (2015) as Pacific shortstops with the most home runs in a single season since Pacific joined the WCC in the 2014 season. Orr is three home runs back of Todd Bramble (2000), who had ten home runs in a single season as a shortstop, the most by a Pacific shortstop in this century.
Senior
Jake Tandy collected a 2-for-4 performance at the plate, extending his hitting streak to a season-best 13 games. Tandy drove in his 43rd RBI of the 2026 campaign during a five-run spot for Pacific in the third inning. Tandy is now four RBIs away from tying Jason Vorhauer (1998) for the tenth most RBIs in a single season in program history.
With Orr's opposite field home run in the fourth inning, the Tigers carried a 7-0 lead after four frames. Portland would not go away easily, scoring twice in the sixth and three more in eighth inning. However, junior
Regan Carter closed the door shut on the mounting pressure by earning his second save of the season. As a team, the Tigers have 14 saves on the year, which has already surpassed the most (12) in a single season in program history (2005, 2006 & 2010).
With the series-opening victory and Thursday's league results, the Tigers currently sit in second place with a half-game lead over Pepperdine, who lost 10-0 at Santa Clara tonight.
Pacific and Portland compete in game two of the final WCC series of the regular season tomorrow night with a first pitch slated for 6 p.m. from Joe Etzel Field.
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