Zags Prepare For Crucial 4 Game WCC Road Trip

March 22, 2000

SPOKANE, Wash. -

Gonzaga (11-10, 4-3 WCC)
vs.
San Francisco (15-10, 2-4 WCC)
March 24-26 @ Benedetti Diamond
(San Francisco) 2:30 / 1:00 / 1:00
Series Record:
(San Francisco Leads Series 13-11)

Gonzaga vs. Santa Clara
March 27 @ Buck Shaw Stadium
(Santa Clara) - 7 PM
Series Record:
(Santa Clara Leads Series 17-9)

THE WEEK AHEAD: Gonzaga travels to the Bay Area for a crucial four game road trip against Coast Division foes San Francisco and Santa Clara. The Bulldogs will open up with a three game series against San Francisco with single games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Gonzaga will then stay over for a Monday night game against Santa Clara. The single game against the Broncos will conclude a three game series the two schools started following GU's spring break trip to Fresno State. The Zags and Broncos split the first two games of that series making this rubber match game important to both teams division title hopes.

ZAGS CLOSE GAP IN COAST DIVISION RACE: The Bulldogs made a statement in the Coast Division race over the weekend as they took two out of three from Loyola Marymount to stand just a half-game behind the Lions. The Zags held on for a tough 5-4 victory to open the series on Friday, receiving clutch two out hitting from Jason Bay and Barry Matthews. Gonzaga actually took a half-game lead in the division race on Sunday afternoon following a 19-4 dismantling of LMU. Steve Bennett tossed seven shut out innings in the victory. In the final game of the series, LMU posted six runs early on Gonzaga starter Barry Matthews and the Lions held on for a 8-4 victory to avoid being swept by the Bulldogs.

VS. THE DONS: San Francisco comes into the series versus the Bulldogs two games out of first place and a game and a half behind Gonzaga. The Dons led by All-America Tag Bozied, were selected to finish second in the Coast Division in most pre-season publications. Bozied currently leads USF with a .433 average and 8 HR. One area of note is this weekend series will be the speed of the Dons who have collected 49 stolen bases on the season, while the Zags have allowed 36 opponents to swipe a base.

HERTZ QUEST FOR 600 CONTINUES: Steve Hertz is in the midst of his third decade of coaching at Gonzaga as he leads the Bulldogs for his 21st season as head coach. An All-Conference pitcher at Gonzaga in the early 1970's, Hertz guided the Bulldogs to an NCAA Regional Final in his first season as head coach in 1978. Following a two-year stint as head coach at UC-Irvine, Hertz returned to his alma mater in 1981 and has guided the Bulldogs through three different conferences. In his 20 years at Gonzaga, Hertz has compiled a 535-533-5 mark while his 22-year career record stands at 594-595-5.

ZAGS BASEBALL ON THE AIR: Gonzaga baseball will have its first radio broadcasts of the season when the Zags travel to San Francisco for a weekend West Coast Conference series. Veteran broadcaster Bob Robertson (Spokane Indians) will call several Gonzaga games on Spokane radio station KTRW AM 970. Robertson's first two games will be the Bulldogs Saturday and Sunday contests against the Dons. Start time for both games is at 1 p.m. with a pre-game show starting 10 minutes prior to first-pitch. The first two games will not be available on the internet but hopefully games at the conclusion of the season will be on the web. The Zags will have 13 road contests on the radio.

DUCKING BULLDOGS: While the Bulldogs banged out 27 hits in their weekend series win over Loyola Marymount, Bulldog batters were almost hit by pitches as often during the three game set. Ten Gonzaga batters were hit by pitches during the weekend series, bringing the Zags season total to 35 free passes courtesy of the brush back pitch. The highlight or low-light of the three games was during Gonzaga's 19-4 victory in which the Zags were hit eight times during the game. Adam Stokey and Jared Hertz led the way for Gonzaga each being hit twice during the contest.

BIG BAY WEEKEND: Senior outfielder Jason Bay got things cranked up this past weekend as he helped guide Gonzaga to a series win over front running Loyola Marymount. Bay drove home seven runs over the weekend while hitting .500 at the plate. His .800 slugging percentage was helped by his team leading fourth home run of the season and seventh double of 2000. Bay currently leads the Zags with a .388 batting average and has put together a nine game hitting streak.

BENNETT WINS THIRD WCC HONOR: Senior right-hander Steve Bennett collected his third Rawlings / WCC Pitcher of the Week honor after tossing seven shut out innings in the Bulldogs 19-4 victory against No. 23 Loyola Marymount on Sunday. Bennett scattered four hits on the afternoon while striking out four as he improved to 3-2 on the year. Bennett currently leads the West Coast Conference in both strikeouts, 62, and earned run average, 2.47. Bennett had previously won the WCC Award after an opening week victory over Washington State and a record-tying 18-strike out performance against Washington. Bennett was also the WCC Pitcher of the Month for February.

BAY CLOSING IN ON RBI LIST: Senior outfielder Jason Bay has moved within striking distance of the career top ten in runs batted in after moving his season total to 21 with seven RBI's against Loyola Marymount. Last season, Bay set the single season RBI record with 74 RBI's, knocking former Major Leaguer Lenn Sakata from the top of the record book. Bay is once again in pursuit of Sakata for 11th place on the career list. Earlier this season, Adam Stokey moved past Sakata into tenth place. Stokey now stands seven RBI's behind Clete Wise for ninth place on the career list.

Career RBI's
1.  Jeff Hainline    186 (84-88)2.  Jerrod Wong  183 (93-96)3.  Dan R. Murphy    165 (82-85)4.  Jim Carnell  161 (80-83)5.  Mac Gebbers  154 (78-82)6.  Don Lyons    152 (73-76)7.  Bill Hainline    151 (76-79)8.  Carter Masterson 143 (92-95)9.  Clete Wise   124 (85-88)10.     Adam Stokey     117 (98-pres)11. Lenn Sakata  108 (73-74)12.  Jason Bay    95 (99-pres)

HARA HEATING UP: Senior shortstop Kevin Hara is starting to find his swing as the Bulldogs make a run at the Coast Division championship. In his last five games, all against division foes, Hara is hitting .437 with 7 RBI during the Zags 3-2 division run. Hara has currently put together a five game hitting streak. In those five games, Hara has improved his batting average over 60 points from .167 to .237. Hara also has a 1.000 fielding percentage during the five game stint, cleanly fielding 24 chances for the Zags.

WE HAVE A CLOSER: After playing with various pitching match-ups and situations through the opening month of the season, the Zags may have finally founder a closer. David Hixson a projected No. 3 starter at the start of the season seems to have laid claim to the Bulldogs closer role. Hixson has become a force out of the Gonzaga bullpen in his four relief appearances. Hixson is 1-0 with 1 save during relief appearances while putting up a solid 0.90 earned run average in those four games.

STOKEY CLIMBS DOUBLES CHART: Adam Stokey moved up the career doubles leader board hitting just his second double of the season. Stokey now has two, two baggers for the season and has tied current San Francisco Giants farmhand John Tsoukalas in ninth place for career doubles. Stokey continues to come out of an early season slump hitting .400 during the Zags series win over Loyola Marymount.

Career Doubles
1.  Jerrod Wong  59 (93-96)2.  Jim Carnell  50 (80-83)3.  Jeff Hainline    49 (84-88)4.  Mac Gebbers  43 (78-82)5.  Don Lyons    42 (73-76)6.  Bill Hainline    37 (76-79)7.  Carter Masterson 36 (92-95)8.  Dan R. Murphy    35 (82-85)9.   Adam Stokey    33 (98-pres.)9.  John Tsoukalas   33 (89-91)

WHERE THEY STAND IN THE WCC:

Team Batting Average: .285 (6th)
Team Earned Run Average: 5.09 (3rd)
Fielding Average: .949 (8th)

Jason Bay - .388 batting average (8th)
Barry Matthews - 8 doubles (6th)
Barry Matthews - 27 RBI (6th)
Steve Bennett - 2.47 ERA (1st)
Steve Bennett - 62 strike outs (1st)
Barry Matthews - 4 wins (2nd)
Steve Bennett - 43.2 IP (5th)
Matt Siwek - 2 saves (2nd)

WEST COAST CONFERENCE STANDINGS

WCC Games Only
Coast Division      W L   GBLoyola Marymount  4 2   ---Gonzaga           4 3   0.5Santa Clara   2 3   1.5San Francisco     2 4   2.0
West Division W   L   GBPepperdine  7   1   ---San Diego   3   2   2.5Portland    1   4   4.5Saint Mary's    1   5   5.0

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