Feb. 9, 2004
Gonzaga Baseball Release, 2-9-04
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FRIDAY - February 13
Gonzaga vs. Oklahoma, 2p.m.
SATURDAY - February 14
Gonzaga vs. Oregon State, 2 p.m.
SUNDAY - February 15
Gonzaga vs. Utah, 11 a.m.
MONDAY - February 16
Gonzaga at No. 7 Arizona State, 6 p.m.
NEW ERA IN BULLDOGS BASEBALL BEGINS: Gonzaga will begin a new era of baseball when the Bulldogs open the season on Feb. 13 as Mark Machtolf will take over as head coach after 11 years as a GU assistant. Machtolf replaces former Bulldogs skipper Steve Hertz who moved into an administrative position in the athletic department on Aug. 7, 2003. Hertz had patrolled the Bulldogs dugout for nearly 30 years as a player and coach, including two stints as the head coach in 1978 and from 1981 through 2003. Hertz compiled 637 wins as the Bulldogs head coach including two appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 1978 and 1981. Machtolf stated upon taking over the program "It's every coaches dream to have his own program, but there's something special about becoming the head coach at a place you've already played a part in developing."
HEAD COACH Mark Machtolf: Considered one of the Top 10 rising starts in the Division I coaching ranks by Baseball America in its 2000 publication, Mark Machtolf gets his first head coaching opportunity this season. Machtolf, an 11-year assistant at Gonzaga, was officially handed the coaching reigns on August 7, 2003, from 24-year head coach Steve Hertz who moved into an administrative position at the school. During his 11 years at Gonzaga, Machtolf has coached the Bulldogs hitters and outfielders as well as serving as the Bulldogs recruiting coordinator. Under his guidance Gonzaga has become one of the top power hitting teams in the nation setting a West Coast Conference and school record with 92 home runs in 2002, the seventh best home run per game average in the nation. Machtolf also coached Bulldogs slugger Nate Gold who led the NCAA with 33 home runs in 2002 en route to All-American honors. A 1987 graduate of Stanford University, Machtolf was a member of the Cardinal's 1987 College World Series championship team and an All-CWS selection. A 4-year baseball letterman and 2-year football letterman he graduated from Stanford in 1987.
BULLDOGS COACHING STAFF: Gonzaga has also added two new assistant coaches this season as Gonzaga alums Scott Asan (2000) and Danny Evans (2003) join Mark Machtolf's staff. Asan will oversee pitchers and catchers while Evans will work with Bulldogs outfielders. Both players were All-WCC performers during their playing careers at Gonzaga.
OKLAHOMA SOONERS (0-0): Gonzaga opens the 2004 against the University of Oklahoma. This will be the second meeting between the two schools with OU winning the previous meeting 4-1 during the 1991 San Jose Spartan Classic. The game will serve as the season opener for both schools with Oklahoma picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 preseason poll. Last year the Sooners compiled a 23-31 record under head coach Larry Cochell. The Sooners offense is led by first baseman Matt Bose with 34 RBI in 2003 while the pitching staff will rely on closer Jarod McAuliff with 9 saves.
OREGON STATE BEAVERS (0-0): The Bulldogs face Northwest opponent Oregon State on Saturday in the first of four games with the Beavers in 2004. Oregon State won last year's contest between the schools in Surprise with a 5-1 decision. OSU finished the 2003 season with a 25-28 record under head coach Pat Casey. This season Oregon State is picked to finish eighth in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Beavers are led by shortstop Tony Calderon who hit .362 with 43 RBI in 2003.
UTAH UTES (0-0): The Bulldogs will conclude play in the Coca-Cola Baseball Classic on Sunday afternoon with a meeting against Utah. The Utes are coming off a 24-32 season under head coach Tim Esmay and are predicted to finish fourth in the Mountain West Conference for the 2004 season. Gonzaga leads the all-time series 3-0 with the last meetings coming in 1982 when Gonzaga won 10-5 and 13-9 at the Lewis-Clark State Tournament. The Utes return four players that hit over .300 last season with outfielder Eric Chevalier leading the pack with a .374 average.
No. 7 ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS (3-0): Gonzaga stays an extra day in Arizona to take on the seventh-ranked Sun Devils on Monday night. ASU won both contests last year after playing 15 games prior to meeting Gonzaga for the Bulldogs season opener. This season ASU will only have one weekend of action under their belts before head coach Pat Murphy leads his squad into the game. Arizona State opened the season with a 3-game sweep of Florida State as the Sun Devils are led by Player of the Year candidate Dustin Pedroia who hit .404 with 52 RBI last season as a first-team All-American shortstop.
BANANA BELT SCHEDULE CHANGE: Gonzaga has made a change in its 2004 road schedule at the Banana Belt Classic in Lewiston, Idaho. The Bulldogs will now open the tournament on Friday afternoon against Utah Valley State at 1 p.m. followed by the scheduled game against host Lewis-Clark State at 4 p.m. Gonzaga will then wrap up the tournament with single games on Saturday against Portland at 10 a.m. and Sunday against Washington State at 11 a.m. All four games will be available on GameTracker on GoZags.com.
2004 GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE: Gonzaga will once again have GameTracker statistics available for selected games during the 2004 baseball season. Fans can go to GoZags.com and click on the baseball schedule to see which road games are available throughout the season. The first road game on GameTracker will be on Feb. 16 at Arizona State. Gonzaga will once again carry all 20 home games on GameTracker in addition to all four games at the Banana Belt Classic and selected road games at Lewis-Clark State and Washington State.
ARIZONA OPENER PART II: Gonzaga will open the baseball season at the Coca-Cola Baseball Classic in Surprise, Ariz., for the second consecutive season. Last year the Bulldogs went 0-3 during their trip to the Desert with losses to Arizona State, Oregon State and Oklahoma State. This season the Bulldogs will face Oklahoma, Oregon State and Utah at the three-day tournament. Also playing in the tournament are Arizona State are Cal State Northridge, the Bulldogs will stay an extra day to face ASU on Monday night in Tempe. The event is in its second year of existence and takes place the spring training complex shared by the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers.
BULLDOGS TO LOG A LOT OF MILES: On the road again might become the theme song of the 2004 Gonzaga Bulldogs as the team will log more than 9,000 miles prior to playing their first home game on March 22. After opening the season in Arizona, the Bulldogs have two more plane trips to California in addition to three bus trips to Seattle, Corvallis, Ore., and Lewiston, Idaho with the shortest trip being the 200-mile jaunt to and from Lewiston.
CULPEPPER SKIPS THE MINORS: A professional career will have to wait for Bulldogs outfielder Jeff Culpepper, at least for one more year as the redshirt-junior returned to school for the 2004 season. Culpepper was selected in the 39th round of the 2003 draft by the Boston Red Sox but chose to come back to school making him the first GU underclassman to skip minor league baseball after being drafted since left-hander Gregg Harris was drafted by Kansas City in 1985 and returned for his senior season in 1986.
OUTFIELD RETURNS INTACT: The Bulldogs will have one of the most experienced outfields in college baseball this season as they return all three starters, two of which earned honorable mention All-WCC honors in 2003. Seniors David Johnson and Chris Sinner will return in left and center field while junior Jeff Culpepper starts his third season in right field. Johnson and Culpepper each earned honorable mention All-WCC honors and were both named to their All-Summer League teams with Johnson playing in the Great Lakes League and Culpepper playing in the Alaska League. In 2003 Culpepper ranked fourth on the Bulldogs squad with a .330 average while driving in 40 runs. Johnson returns as the Zags top power hitter with 8 home runs in 2003 to go along with a .309 average. Sinner hit .267 on the season after getting off to a slow start in non-league play. The senior improved that average to .307 once the Bulldogs entered WCC action. All three players possess good speed as they ranked second through fourth on the team in stolen bases last year combining for 20 steals in 26 attempts.
GU TO PLAY AT AVISTA STADIUM: Gonzaga will play its 2004 home games at Avista Stadium, home of the Northwest League Spokane Indians. The Bulldogs will play at Avista until a new on-campus stadium is built, construction on that stadium is expected to begin in the late Summer or Fall of 2004.
ZAGS VETERAN PITCHING STAFF: The Bulldogs return a veteran pitching staff in 2004 as the Bulldogs lose only two pitchers from last season, the biggest loss was junior left-hander Errol Simonitsch taken by the Minnesota Twins in the sixth round. Despite the loss of one solid starter Gonzaga still has three established pitchers to send to the mound Friday through Sunday. Leading the way are junior Eric Dworkis and senior Ed Clelland who combined to win or save 15 of Gonzaga's 26 wins last season. Dworkis was a second-team All-WCC selection after posting an 8-5 record with a 2.88 ERA and 81 strikeouts, the 2.88 ERA the lowest by a Bulldogs pitcher since the 1995 season. Clelland was a work horse for the staff last season splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen with 16 total appearances. Clelland picked up 4 wins with 2 saves on his way to a 3.51 ERA. The Bulldogs final weekend starter is slated to be sophomore Patrick Donovan who posted a 2-4 record during six starts in 2003.
HISTORIC CLOSERS: Gonzaga University will have the luxury of having the services of two of the top closers in school history as the Bulldogs enter the 2004 season. Returning to bolster the Zags bullpen are seniors John Gonzalez and Eric Everson. Gonzalez, a left-hander from Camarillo, Calif., earned honorable mention All-WCC honors last season after saving six games. The six saves were the second highest single-season total in school history and moved Gonzalez into fourth on the all-time list. Leading that list is right-handed closer and Spokane native Everson. Everson picked up only one save in 2003 but has collected 11 during three years at GU. Despite only picking up one save last year, Everson did lead the team with a 0.93 ERA in 13 appearances. The duo gives first-year head coach Mark Machtolf the advantage of closing a game from either side of the mound.
NEW SIGNAL CALLER: After several years of placing a veteran catcher behind the plate Gonzaga will have a new signal caller as sophomore Kiel Thibault will assume the catching duties to start the season. Thibault appeared in nine games last season with one start, but will shoulder most of the catching duties this season. He will be joined in the mix by redshirt sophomore Jason Wederspahn, sophomore transfer Jason Anderson and freshman Andrew Mannex. The Bulldogs have built a solid history of quality catchers with the last three catchers, Brian Munhall, Kevin Richardson and Sam Hess all signing free agent contracts and playing last season. The Gonzaga catching legacy also continued to grow at the Major League level as from Zags catcher Mike Redmond was a member of the World Champion Florida Marlins appearing in one World Series game.
OLD PLAYERS, NEW POSITIONS: While Gonzaga will rebuild most of its infield from the 2003 season, some players will be new to their positions but not new to the program. Moving from third base to shortstop in 2004 will be senior Brad Welker. Welker started at third base in 2003 prior to suffering an arm injury which relegated him to the designated hitter role. Also switching positions for 2004 is redshirt sophomore Jackson Brennan. Brennan moves from a crowded outfield to the starting first baseman after hitting .429 in limited action last year. Also moving into a new starting position will be senior outfielder Marshall Bratton. Bratton is slated to be the Bulldogs designated hitter this year after hitting .263 in 29 games last season.
BATTLE AT THIRD: One of the most interesting battles to come out of the early spring work outs is, who will be the starter at third base. Currently a three-way battle is taking place for the most open position on the team. Two true freshman and a junior college transfer are currently working hard to get the starting nod come mid-February. Aaron McGuinness, a freshman from Glendale, Calif., and Matt Hibbitts, a freshman from Portland, Ore., and Travis Ingram, a junior from Kent, Wash., are all in the early mix. Ingram is currently the only player to have previously played the position while at Big Bend Community College while McGuinness is a converted shortstop and Hibbitts a converted outfielder.
BULLDOGS SIGN SIX PLAYERS IN FALL: Gonzaga head coach Mark Machtolf signed six players in the fall early signing period to open his first recruiting class after being named GU's head coach in August. Signing with the Bulldogs are left-handed pitcher Jay Bryner from Bellevue (WA) Community College, third baseman Darin Holcomb from Spokane's Shadle Park High, right-handed pitcher Brian Ouelette from Kamiak (WA) High, utility player Dan Ramsay from Spokane's Mead High, first baseman/right-handed pitcher Shawn Wayt from Westview (OR) High and left-handed pitcher Matthew Wickswat from Issaquah (WA) High.
ZAGS TABBED SIXTH IN WCC POLL: Gonzaga was picked to finish sixth overall in the West Coast Conference in the preseason poll of WCC coaches. Gonzaga received 22 total points to finish one point behind San Francisco in the overall poll. In divisional play Gonzaga was tabbed to finish third in the WCC Coast Division behind San Diego and Loyola Marymount. The WCC has once again flip-flopped the WCC Divisions with Gonzaga playing against San Diego, Loyola Marymount and Saint Mary's in the Coast Division. Pepperdine, Portland San Francisco and Santa Clara now comprise the WCC West Division. The WCC Champion will be determined in a WCC Playoff between the two divisional champions at the site of the team which wins the regular-season series between the two schools.
BULLDOGS PLACE TWO ON PRESEASON ALL-WCC SQUAD: Gonzaga has placed two players on the preseason All-WCC squad as released by Baseball America. The publication has selected juniors Jeff Culpepper and Eric Dworkis to the preseason list with each being listed among the Top Draft Prospects in the WCC. Dworkis was named the No. 1 draft prospect in the league after posting a 8-5 record with a 2.88 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 2003. Culpepper was selected the WCC's best pure hitter and the sixth best draft prospect after hitting .330 with 1 home run and 40 RBI last year.
BULLDOGS HAVE BREAK OUT YEAR IN THE BIGS: Gonzaga celebrated its best season at the Major League level since 1987 when three Bulldogs played in the Big Leagues during the same season. In 2003 Gonzaga had two players make their Major League debut as Bo Hart joined the St. Louis Cardinals and was named to the Topps' All-Rookie team. Jason Bay also made his debut with the San Diego Padres prior to being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the Pirates Bay set a Major League record for Canadian-born players as he knocked in 8 runs against the Chicago Cubs. Gonzaga's season of celebration in the Majors was capped in October as Mike Redmond was a member of the World Champion Florida Marlins.
BASEBALL ALUMNI EVENTS: Gonzaga University baseball alumni are invited to take part in 12 events being put on by the 2004 GU baseball alumni committee. The events will take place after selected home and away games throughout the season with social events following the selected game. GU alumni, friends and family of the baseball program are invited to attend these events. For more information on specific alumni functions please visit the Gonzaga Baseball Alumni website at gubaseball.com
February & March Baseball Alumni Events
Day Date Location Opponent & Game TimeSat. Feb. 14 Surprise, AZ Oregon State 2 p.m.Sat. Feb. 21 Seattle, WA Washington 1 p.m.Sat. Feb. 28 Irvine, CA UC Irvine 1 p.m.Sat. Mar. 13 Corvallis, OR Oregon State 1 p.m.Sat. Mar. 20 Moraga, CA Saint Mary's (DH) NoonSat. Mar. 22 SPOKANE Washington 2 p.m.
