BSB | Saint Mary’s Drops Back-and-Forth Affair in Portland, 8-5

Saturday, March 28

Portland, OR

3:00 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

14-12, 2-3

Portland

16-8, 4-1

Saint Mary's

Portland

#5 Diego Castellanos: 3-for-5 (team high three hits) vs. Portland in game two

Photo by: Carson Proudfoot (@cwpfoot_camera)

BSB | Saint Mary’s Drops Back-and-Forth Affair in Portland, 8-5

3/28/2026 7:18:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Saint Mary's baseball team dropped a seesaw affair Saturday afternoon in a competitive West Coast Conference contest that featured five lead changes en route to the 8-5 Portland victory.

The Gaels held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom half of the third inning but the Pilots hit three home runs in the game including two in that third inning to pull away for the three-run victory. The bottom half of the order for Saint Mary's (14-12, 2-3 WCC) was solid, combining for six of the team's nine hits in the game including a game high three hits from Diego Castellanos.

The Gaels also got back into the power category as senior shortstop Jared Mettam hit his second home run of the season, a solo-shot in the fourth, and sophomore catcher Ian Armstrong got into one in the seventh inning for his sixth homer of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Sophomore southpaw Talin Gardini made his second consecutive start for Saint Mary's and completed three innings allowing four runs while striking out a game high five batters. Despite the four runs surrendered, the Gaels would tie the game at four in the top of the fourth with a solo home run from Mettam into the left field corner for his second of the season. Portland retook the lead in the bottom half of the frame with an RBI ground out as there were five lead changes over the first four innings.

The Pilots plated two more in the sixth with a two-run homer to take a 7-4 lead but Armstrong found a way to answer and keep his hot streak going, homering to deep center field in the seventh inning for his sixth home run of the season and third over his last three games, cutting the deficit to two. Saint Mary's got runners to the corners in the ninth with two outs after a leadoff double from Makoa Sniffen and a two-out knock from Diego Castellanos, but the potential game-tying run and pinch-hitter Micah Nicholson would strikeout to end the game and set up the series rubber match on Sunday.

Castellanos led the Gaels with three hits while Mettam added a pair of hits and two RBI to his day, bringing his season average to .325. Sophomore right hander Sam Kretsch took the loss in his three innings of relief, allowing three runs off of just two hits while Luis Martin Romero and Lukas Sarantos combined to close the game, allowing just one run over the final two frames.

GAME NOTES

Saturday's game featured five lead changes all coming over the first four innings
The Gaels' offense recorded their ninth game of the season with multiple home runs
Jared Mettam hit his second home run of the season and 14th of his career
Ian Armstrong belted his sixth home run to move into second place on the team
Armstrong has now recorded three home runs over his last three games
Diego Castellanos led the team with three hits for his now team leading fifth three-hit game of the season
Luis Martin Romero made his eighth appearance and pitched a scoreless inning, his fifth outing of the season without allowing a run
Castellanos and Mettam combined for five of the team's nine hits
Saint Mary's pitching recorded a game high nine strikeouts and have now recorded at least seven strikeouts in four consecutive games

LOOKING AHEAD

Saint Mary's will close out its three-game series in Portland on Sunday at 1 p.m. and the game can be streamed live on ESPN+.

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