Gonzaga University
Portland
Clelland Pitches Baseball To 11-3 Win Over Portland
4/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 17, 2004
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University senior left-hander Ed Clelland had one of his best performances of the season on Saturday afternoon as he worked eight solid innings to lift the Bulldogs (14-21, 7-7 WCC) to an 11-3 victory over the University of Portland at Avista Stadium. The win secured the weekend series for the Bulldogs who will look to sweep the three-game set from the Pilots starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
Clelland (2-5) allowed 12 hits to Portland batters on the afternoon but only a handful made it out of the infield as Clelland struck out six batters while allowing three runs, two of them earned. The Pilots (7-28, 3-11 WCC) scored a run in the first on a Bulldogs error and a run in the second on an infield single by Travis Vetters off the glove of Bulldogs second baseman Mike Rundle. The final Pilots run scored in the seventh with the game well in hand as Vetters again singled, this time back up the middle.
Gonzaga scored two runs in the first inning on a bases loaded walk by Jeff Culpepper and a bases loaded double play with no outs. The Bulldogs then blew the contest open with six runs in the second chasing Pilots starter Sean Sargent (2-5) after only 1.2 innings of work. Marshall Bratton started the onslaught with a two-run double to left followed by another Culpepper RBI on a double to right. David Johnson added a sacrifice fly and Bobby Carlson an RBI single to put the Zags in front 8-1.
Johnson added to his RBI total in the fourth as he hit his fifth home run of the season against Pilots relief pitcher Joe Jones. The three-run shot capped the Bulldogs scoring for the game and pushed Johnson's RBI total for the season to 42. Trent Kristjanson was finally able to stop the Gonzaga offense as he tossed 4.2 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game for Portland.
Culpepper and Kiel Thibault led the Gonzaga offense with each player collecting three hits. The 3-for-5 day raised Thibault's average to .459 on the season while Culpepper is hitting .833 for the weekend series. Vetters, Nik Kosach and Jesse Rodgers each had three hits to lead the Pilots offense as both teams reached double digit hits.
