Feb. 19, 2002

SPOKANE, Wash. -

Gonzaga Baseball Weekly Release
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2002 Gonzaga Baseball Statistics
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SATURDAY - Feb. 23 (August/A.R.T. Stadium)
Whitworth at Gonzaga, 1 p.m.

SUNDAY - Feb. 24 (August/A.R.T. Stadium)
Whitworth at Gonzaga, 1 p.m.

GONZAGA DOWNS WSU FOR SERIES WIN: Gonzaga won its first baseball series of the season in wild fashion, downing Washington State in two of three weekend games at Columbia Basin College. Gonzaga fell behind on three different occasions during Friday's opener, but scored three runs in the seventh and another in the eighth as GU held on for an 8-7 win. Greg Brooks picked up the win with three innings of relief in his first appearance of the season. Nate Gold powered the offense with two homeruns while Brian Munhall added a solo shot. On Saturday Kevin Richardson hit a two-run homerun in the first inning, but the Gonzaga offense would be held in check the remainder of the game falling 4-2. In the series finale, Washington State jumped on Gonzaga starting pitching for eight runs in the first inning. Gonzaga chipped away at the Cougars lead with three runs in the second, four runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth to tie the contest at 10-10. Brian Munhall and Kemp Quackenbush then delivered back-to-back two-run hits to give Gonzaga a 14-10 win. Garth Blumberg had a big game with 4 RBI on a three-run homerun and RBI double. Eric Dworkis pitched 4.1 innings of relief to collect his third win of the season.

GONZAGA OPENS HOME SEASON AGAINST WHITWORTH: The Bulldogs will open their 2002 home season this Saturday and Sunday against the Whitworth Pirates. This will be the only scheduled meetings between the two Spokane based schools. The Pirates are 2-4 on the season after opening last weekend at a collegiate tournament in Chandler, Arizona. Keith Ward is in his fifth season coaching the Pirates.

EARLY HOME OPENER: This will be the first time since the 1999 season that Gonzaga has opened its home season in the month of February. In 1999 the Zags also opened against Whitworth College with a 13-4 win on February 28.

February 28, 1999   W   13-4    vs. Whitworth College
February 23, 1991   W   5-3 vs. University of Portland
February 24, 1990   W   12-1    vs. Eastern Oregon University
February 25, 1989   W   8-7 vs. Eastern Oregon University
February 27, 1988   W   9-0 vs. Albertson's College

HERTZ ENTERS MILESTONE YEAR: Gonzaga University head coach Steve Hertz enters his 25th year of college coaching and his 23rd year as the Bulldogs head man. Hertz has compiled a 647-640-5 record while posting a 588-578-5 mark at Gonzaga. Last season Hertz earned his fifth Coach of the Year honor as he was named the WCC Coach of the Year, becoming the first non-California school coach to win the award. A 1972 Gonzaga alumnus, Hertz played three years of professional baseball in the Minnesota Twins organization before starting his coaching career. He was named the head coach at Gonzaga in 1978 guiding the Bulldogs to a NCAA Regional appearance. After two seasons at UC-Irvine, Hertz returned to Gonzaga in 1981 and coached the Zags to their last NCAA Regional appearance.

DWORKIS NAMED WCC PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Gonzaga freshman pitcher Eric Dworkis was named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week following his performance against Washington State. The 6-5 righthander picked up a win and a save as the Bulldogs won the weekend series over the Cougars. On Friday Dworkis worked a 1-2-3 inning to preserve a 8-7 Gonzaga win and pick up his first save of the year. On Sunday, Dworkis was once again summoned from the bullpen and followed with 4.1 innings of shutout baseball. In the outing Dworkis picked up his third win of the season and extended his scoreless innings streak to 13.1 innings. Opponents are hitting just .116 and Dworkis has allowed only five hits while striking out 11 opposing batters.

GONZAGA AND THE LONG BALL: The Gonzaga offense appears off to a good start in chasing its school record 82 home runs set three seasons ago. Through nine games this season the Bulldogs have smashed 12 home runs including six against Washington State pitching over the weekend. Senior first baseman Nate Gold leads the power attack with four homeruns including a two homerun game on Friday against the Cougars. Garth Blumberg and Kemp Quackenbush each follow with two homeruns. For Gold the four homeruns bring his career total to 17 which places him five homeruns shy of cracking the Gonzaga Top 10. Clete Wise (1985-88) and Scott Burkhardt (1983-86) are currently tied in 10th place on the career list with 22 career homeruns. Gonzaga's career leader is Jeff Hainline with 54 homeruns from 1984-88. The 54 homeruns stood as a Pac-10 record tied with Mark McGwire until Stanford's Paul Carey passed both players with 56 homeruns from 1987-90.

RALLY CAPS GO TO WORK FOR ZAGS: The Bulldogs used the most of the rally cap during Sunday's come from behind victory over Washington State. After falling behind 8-0 in the first inning, Gonzaga slowly climbed back into the game scoring three runs in the second inning and four more in the fourth. After WSU jumped extended the lead to 9-7, Gonzaga added three more runs in the fifth inning to take a 10-9 lead. WSU used a solo homerun in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 10-10. The Zags then used a pair of two-run hits by Brian Munhall and Kemp Quackenbush to win the contest 14-10. During the game Garth Blumberg and Eric Rodland each smacked 3-run homeruns to keep the rally hopes alive. Kyle Nearhood and Eric Dworkis combined to pitch 8.2 innings of relief with Nearhood giving up two runs and Dworkis shutting the door on the Cougars. Last year Gonzaga used a similar rally in the first game of the WCC Playoffs as the Zags scored six runs in the ninth inning to comeback for a 7-6 victory.

OFFENSIVE STARTER: Gonzaga lead off hitter Eric Rodland has been doing his part this season to start up the Bulldogs offense. For the season he has scored seven runs to rank third on the team. Rodland is also doing his part in run production currently leading the team with nine RBI.

HOVERING AROUND .300: While the Gonzaga team batting average is hovering around the .300 line at .298, several starters are above the standard hitting number. During Sunday's line-up card batting order, eight of the nine Gonzaga starters were hitting above .300 for the season. Only two players who have started more than half the Zags games are under the .300 mark.

SUNDAY'S LINE-UP CARD .300 HITTERS: SS - Danny Evans - .400
CF - Garth Blumberg - .353
RF - Kemp Quackenbush - .345
C - Brian Munhall - .344
DH - Kevin Richardson - .333
2B - Eric Rodland - .333
1B - Nate Gold - .308
LF - Jeff Culpepper - .308

WORKING OUT OF JAMS: Gonzaga's defense has been helping its pitching staff work out of several jams early in the season. To date Gonzaga has turned 14 double plays and 1 triple play as a defensive unit. Compared to the past three seasons Gonzaga is on pace to have its best double play season in recent years. Gonzaga is currently fielding .964 as a team with 12 errors in nine games.

RECENT DOUBLE PLAY NUMBERS
Year    After 9 Games   Year Totals
2002         14             ---
2001          9             57
2000          7             31
1999         13             48

GONZAGA ANNOUNCES RADIO PACKAGE: Gonzaga baseball returns to the radio once again this season as Brett Sports and Entertainment along with the Citadel family of radio stations will air a minimum of 21 Gonzaga baseball games. The current schedule will begin on Friday April 5 with the Zags series against the University of Portland. All remaining West Coast Conference series will then be aired in addition to any postseason games involving the Gonzaga Bulldogs. A play-by-play announcer and local radio station are still to be determined.