Six Zags Record Multiple-Hits In 7-4 Victory
Los Angeles, Calif. – The bottom four batters in Gonzaga University’s line-up accounted for 10 of the Bulldogs’ 14 hits Friday as the Zags posted a 7-4 victory over Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Tyson Van Winkle led GU at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double and one run scored. The game was the opening contest of a three-game West Coast Conference series with the Lions.
With two games remaining in the season, Gonzaga (29-22 overall, 9-9 WCC) is now one game short of 30-wins. Should the Zags hit the mark, it would mark the second consecutive season with 30-plus wins. It would also mark the first time in27 years that GU has won 30 or more games to back-to-back years. Gonzaga last accomplished the feat during the 1981 and 1982 seasons.
Bulldog starter Matt Fields (8-3) posted an impressive outing to earn the win. The junior threw a perfect game through four innings and did not surrender a hit until the sixth inning, as Fields finished the contest allowing three runs on five hits, while striking out seven over 7.2 innings. CJ McClure earned his second save of the season for GU, allowing only one hit during the final 1.1 frames of the game. LMU (22-31 overall, 6-13 WCC) starter Martin Viramontes (3-6) suffered the loss, allowing five runs on nine hits, seven walks, over 6.0 innings.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 2-0 start in the first inning. With one out, Jason Chatwood singled to left, before advancing to second on a walk to Drew Heid. Ryan Wiegand then drew a walk to load the bases. The next batter, Marcus McKimmy, then hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Chatwood. Heid remained at second and scored on the next play, as Mark Castellitto hit a single up the middle.
Gonzaga added another pair of runs in the top of the second. Van Winkle led off the frame with his first hit of the game, a single, before advancing to second on a single by Bryan Winston. Following a walk to Evan Wells, Chatwood hit into a double play that brought Van Winkle in for the third run of the game. On the next play, Heid doubled down the right field line, scoring Winston and brining the score to 4-0 in favor of the Zags.
GU continued adding runs to its total in the top of the third. Grant Kveder, who reached on a single and advanced to third on a Van Winkle double, scored the lone run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Winston.
The score remained 5-0 until the top of the seventh, when the Zags added an addition two runs to their score. Castellitto led off the inning reaching second on a two-base error before scoring on a triple to right center by Kveder. Kveder would then eventually score on a single by Winston.
The Lions broke the shutout in the bottom of the seventh, as Angelo Songco hit a solo home run to center field to lead off the inning.
LMU added three more runs in the top of the eighth, thanks to a one-run single by Songco and a two-run home run by Ryan Wheeler.
In addition to Van Winkle’s three hits, Chatwood, Heid, Castellitto, Kveder and Winston each recorded multiple hits, while Winston drove in a team-leading two runs.
Santa Clara Tops Pepperdine in Game One of Deciding Series, 6-3
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara baseball team defeated conference rival Pepperdine University, 6-3, in game one of the deciding weekend series. The winner of the series will determine the second place seed in the West Coast Conference and who will face No. 1 seed, University of San Diego, in the conference championships in San Diego, Calif.
Matt Long answered the Waves first inning run with a lead off homerun to tie the game, for his ninth homer of the season. The tie was short lived as Pepperdine answered back with two runs in the second inning; the first on a pitch that passed catcher Tommy Medica, followed by an RBI by Eric Thames off of Nate Garcia.
The Waves pitcher Nathan Newman kept the Broncos at bay and held the Pepperdine two-run lead for almost four innings until Medica hit an two-run RBI to get Santa Clara’s first lead of the day, 3-2. The Broncos were not done scoring in the fifth, as Jon Karcich hit a two-run homerun to end the four-run inning for the Broncos.
The Broncos will host the Waves tomorrow, May 17, at 6:00 p.m., where they look to get one step closer to playing in the championship series, and head coach Mark O’Brien will look to get his 200th career win. Prior to the game Santa Clara will be celebrating Senior Day.
Bullpen the Key in Baseball’s Win over Portland
Portland, OR – Saint Mary’s (24-26-1/ 6-13 WCC) pitching staff struck out seven batters on the day, but none were bigger then Brian Justice’s strike out in the bottom of the first, as the junior struggled early walking the first three batters before getting the first out; eventually leaving the bases loaded. Over three hours later, the Gaels defeated the University of Portland (21-31/ 3-16 WCC) by a final score of 10-5 at Joe Etzel Field Friday afternoon.
After walking the first three batters to start the game, things did not look good for Justice and the Gaels, but the junior dug deep and struck out designated hitter Chase Powell on a 2-2 count. A foul out to Anthony Aliotti and a 6-4 fielders choice ended the early Pilots threat and set the tempo for the game. On the day Justice went 4.2 innings, surrendering three hits, three runs, all earned, with five walks and three strike outs.
Offensively the Gaels jumped out early scoring a run in the top of the first, when Kyle Jensen singled through the right side scoring Kenny Fuglerud from second. Fuglerud lead off the game with an infield single and advanced to second on Brian Hawkins ground ball to the second baseman.
They would add another run in the top of the fourth, and three in the top of the fifth, another run in the seventh, and put the game away with four runs in the top of the ninth. On the day the Gaels scored 10 runs off 14 hits.
Earning the win for the Gaels tonight was senior Alex Jensen (3-2) who went two complete innings, surrendering three hits, one earned, run, one walk and struck out one. Following Jensen’s strong performance off the mound was Alex Schmarzo who earned his second save of the season, going 2.1 innings pitched, giving up three hits, one earned run, no walks and struck out three.
Taking the loss for the Pilots was starter Mark Triolo (5-6) who was took the hard luck loss, as three Pilot errors lead to the Gaels five runs. On the day Triolo went 4.2 innings, surrendering eight hits, five runs, two earned, with two walks and one strike out.
Collecting hits for the Gaels today was Jensen who went 2-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBI’s. He runs his team leading total to 48 on the season. Anthony Aliotti had an excellent day from the plate as well going 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, Aliotti also clubbed his career high, 11th double on the season. Kenny Fuglerud remains white hot down the stretch, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two knocked in. Justin Fazio went 1-for-2 with a run scored and a run knocked in, Fazio also drew two walks.
DBU Blows Late Lead but Victorious, Scoring Four Runs in the 10th
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–The Patriots took a one run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning but the Dons from San Francisco managed to score a run to force extra innings. DBU then answered the call in the top half of the 10th by scoring four runs, which gave them an 11-7 lead, proving to be too much for USF to overcome.
The 10 inning 11-7 victory improved the Patriots record to 36-17, while USF fell to 31-25.
DBU scored seven runs in the first six innings of the game to take a 7-5 lead heading into the final three innings of play. Three of the seven runs for the Patriots came off the bat of Senior Nick Santos who drove a pitch over the right field wall.
USF, who had scored five runs heading into the bottom of the seventh, cut the Patriots lead to 7-6 after they scored one run on an RBI single to left field. The Dons then tied the score in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases and scoring on a sacrifice RBI fly to centerfield.
The Patriots who had not scored since the sixth inning woke the bats up in a big way in the top of the 10th inning. Junior Trevor Head started the four run rally with a double and scored on an RBI single by Sophomore Austin Knight. Knight then scored when Sophomore Ryan Goins was hit by a pitch, which forced Knight in from third base. The final two runs of the inning scored when Junior Evan Bigley hit a two RBI single to left center field.
The Patriots pitching staff, who combined to strike out 16 USF batters was led by Senior Tyson Bagley, who allowed the tying run to score in the ninth inning, but shut the door on the Dons in the bottom of the 10th inning to pick up the victory for DBU. Bagley pitched 2.0 innings, allowing one run, on one hit, while striking out five. Freshman Chris Haney had a strong performance in relief for DBU throwing 1.2 innings, allowing one hit, no runs, and striking out three.
The first five hitters in the Patriots line up had at least two hits, with three of them having three hits, including Santos, who finished his night three for five, with four RBI, and a run scored. Bigley went three for six, with three RBI, while Sophomore Ryan Enos finished three for five, with four runs scored, and an RBI.
