The Husky baseball team travels to face Portland today for one last game before resuming Pac-10 play against USC on Friday.

The Huskies (19-15) come into the game against the Pilots (14-20) fresh off a three-game sweep of UC Riverside over the weekend. The Pilots will try to recover from being swept by No. 21 San Diego.

Friday night, Washington scored seven runs off James Simmons, who came into the game with some of the best pitching numbers in the nation. They eventually won 8-2.

On Saturday, the game was tied in the sixth before senior Curt Rindal drove in two runs and led his team to a 12-6 victory.

Rindal came through with the big hit again Sunday, when he hit in the winning run during the bottom of the ninth to give the Huskies the 6-5 win.

In their two previous meetings this season, each team has won one game.

Portland beat the Huskies 13-11 in their first match-up Feb. 27 at Husky Ballpark. The Huskies got their revenge when they met the Pilots March 20 at Joe Etzel Field, winning 14-5.

Sophomore Jason Erickson will start on the mound for the Huskies today. So far this season, Erickson has a 1-1 record and has only started one game. He has a 3.56 ERA over his 12 appearances.

After the wins this weekend, coach Ken Knutson hopes his team can turn it around on the road.

"We've struggled on the road this year," Knutson said. "We're 5-9 on the road, I think, this year ... so it's an opportunity to go down there and get better."

Last week, the Huskies fared poorly on the road, as they dropped two games to BYU and two of three to UCLA. The team did show improvements on defense against the Highlanders over the weekend.

"We made some key double plays [this weekend]," Rindal said. "When you can make some key plays and get some outs, we've got a great chance of winning."

The improved pitching played another key role for the Huskies over the weekend. Starter sophomore Jorden Merry (6-3) held the Highlanders scoreless for six innings Friday and ace reliever junior Nick Hagadone picked up the win Sunday, allowing just one run in 4.2 innings.

Using a combination of offense and defense will play a key role as the Huskies resume Pac-10 play at home against USC on Friday.

"Every weekend is huge," Knutson said. "For us, we [have] got to win 13 games in the Pac-10 to get to the post season, at least."

Last year, the Huskies missed the playoffs by one game, so a definite goal for this year is to not let that happen again. While they did play well over the weekend they still have plenty of tough Pac-10 opponents to play.

"We just have to play our best baseball all the time," Knutson said. "That's our job. ... We've improved over the course of the season, but we've got to keep getting better."

Reach reporter James Schleicher at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.