May 11, 2001

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - The defending Coast Division champions Loyola Marymount (19-37, 6-22 WCC) are not quite ready to relinquish their title as they proved on Friday afternoon stopping current division leader Gonzaga (26-23, 17-11 WCC) from clinching with a 18-7 win over the Zags at August/A.R.T. Stadium in Spokane. Gonzaga was still able to drop its magic number to one as San Francisco defeated Santa Clara 4-2 in earlier Friday action.

Gonzaga looked destined to run away with the game as Barry Matthews cruised through the top of the first and Nate Gold hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the frame to stake the Bulldogs to an early 2-0 lead. Loyola Marymount responded with a two spot of their own in the second inning as Joshua Whitesell homered to right and Mark Carroll dropped in an RBI single to left.

The Lions continued the hot hitting in the third as Kris Zacuto connected for the first of his five extra base hits on the afternoon with a two-run home run to left. Kayzell Milton would add an RBI double to give LMU a 5-2 lead. Loyola Marymount scored three more runs against Matthews (8-2) in the fourth as Zacuto again hit a two-run home run and Jonathan Higashi added an RBI single.

The Bulldogs climbed back in the contest with two runs in the fourth on a two-run single by John Gebbers. Gold pushed across two more runs with a double that barely missed getting out in right field in the fifth. That would be all for LMU starter Whitesell as James Clelland (6-1) closed out the inning and pitched through the seventh to collect his sixth win of the season. Loyola Marymount would blow open the contest with eight runs in the seventh inning, Jeff Walker hitting a two-run home run and Billy Lockin singling home two runs in the frame.

Zacuto led all batters with a 5-for-6 afternoon and five RBI's. Walker and Higashi each followed with 3-for-6 games. Gonzaga was led by Eric Rodland with a 3-for-5 day and Gold finished 2-for-4 with four RBI's. The teams will continue this three-game West Coast Conference series on Saturday at 1 p.m.