May 12, 2003
Box Score
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Gonzaga University scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning Monday to break open a tight game and go on to an 11-4 West Coast Conference baseball victory over Santa Clara University at Buck Shaw Stadium.
The Bulldogs (24-24-1; 12-15) won the rubber game to take the three-game series from the Broncos (28-26, 18-9) and also eliminated the Broncos from the Coast Division race. West Division champion University of San Diego will face Coast Division winner Pepperdine University in the WCC Championship series in two weeks.
Holding a 3-0 lead going to the fifth, the Bulldogs sent 10 men to the plate in the decisive frame. With one run already in on David Johnson's single to center and the bases loaded, Jeff Culpepper greeted reliever Joe Diefenderfer with a bases-clearing triple down the right field line to score Sam Hess, Johnson and Gordon Corder. Danny Evans followed with a single to right to score Culpepper and give the Bulldogs the 8-0 lead.
Immediately following the inning the game was stopped for 25 minutes as emergency medical services were called into duty to attend to Gonzaga head coach Steve Hertz who had collapsed in the Bulldog dugout. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was diagnosed with dehydration and was released to fly home with the team. The game resumed after Hertz was taken to the hospital, and the team maintained its focus following the incident.
The eight runs were all Gonzaga starter Patrick Donovan would need as he worked eight innings, allowed six hits, one earned run, walked one and fanned five in running his record to 2-4. Nate Williams pitched the ninth inning and was touched for three runs. Bronco shortstop Michael Lange singled to left with the bases loaded to drive home two of the runs.
Gonzaga built an early 3-0 lead as Johnson's double down the left field line in the first inning scored Marshall Bratton who was aboard on a one-out single and advanced to second on a Corder single. The Bulldogs pushed across two more runs in the second. Evans opened the inning with a single and later scored on a Nick Froman single, and Bratton's single plated Kemp Quackenbush who had reached on a single.
Donovan, the freshman from Spokane's North Central High, was in control. Until the Broncos ruined the shutout in the eighth, only one runner had advanced as far as second base and he was picked off by the catcher Hess to end the SCU second.
After the Bulldogs pushed across a single run in the sixth to make it 9-0, Corder delivered a two-run homer in the eighth, his 14th of the season, to increase the lead to 11-0.
Gonzaga pounded five Bronco pitchers for 18 hits, Evans going 4-for-5 to lead the hit parade. It was the fifth time this season Gonzaga exploded for 18 ore more hits, the Bulldogs with a season-high 21 against the University of Portland.
The Bulldogs return home to complete the WCC schedule this weekend for a three-game series against Pepperdine. The teams will play Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Spokane Falls Community College. Gonzaga will end the season May 23-25 when Oregon State University visits for a three-game non-conference series.
