Feb. 28, 2009
Box Score
PHOENIX, Ariz. - The Gonzaga University baseball team banged out 17 hits en route to posting an 11-3 win over Creighton University in the second day of the Phoenix Classic at Marich Field in Phoenix, Ariz. Saturday afternoon.
Eight Bulldogs (5-1) recorded hits and six players scored at least one run led by junior catcher Tyson Van Winkle who finished with four hits and senior first baseman Ryan Wiegand who added two hits and drove in four. Junior centerfielder Drew Heid also finished with three hits and senior lead-off hitter Evan Wells scored three runs, stole two bases and reached base five times.
Junior pitcher Steven Ames (2-0) earned the win for the Zags with four solid innings of relief work after sophomore starter Cody Martin walked six and struck out three in four innings. Ames pitched well in his second appearance of the season, limiting the Blue Jays (0-6) to just two earned runs on three hits and struck out three to preserve Gonzaga's fifth consecutive victory.
The Bulldogs were the first to get on the board, scoring two runs in third inning on senior third baseman Jason Chatwood's RBI fielder' choice that scored freshman shortstop Ernesto Ortiz and then on an Heid's RBI single that brought Chatwood home for a 2-0 GU lead.
The Gonzaga bats heated up in the middle innings, scoring runs in each of the next three innings to build up a 9-1 lead through six complete innings. Senior left fielder Mark Castellitto came across for the Zags' single run in the fourth on freshman right fielder Royce Bolinger's RBI ground out. In the fifth inning, Wiegand's RBI single to right field scored Wells and two batters later, Castellitto's infield single brought home Wiegand to make 5-1 after five innings.
The big inning came in the sixth as Gonzaga scored four runs in the inning, two coming home on a two-out two-run double by Wiegand followed by a two-run single from Van Winkle to make it 9-1. After Creighton scored two runs in the seventh, the Zags put game away with two more runs in the eighth as Wiegand drove home his fourth run of the game on a groundout and Castellitto later singled home Chatwood to make it 11-3 Gonzaga.
Wiegand, Van Winkle and Castellitto, the 4, 5, 6 hitters in the Bulldog lineup combined to drive in eight runs and finished with nine hits. Wiegand's four RBI give him 13 in six games this season and 165 for his career, tying him for third on Gonzaga's all-time career RBI list with Dan R. Murphy.
Gonzaga will close out play at the Phoenix Classic against the University of Dayton 1 p.m. Sunday.
