March 8, 2009

Box Score

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - Eight players recorded hits in Gonzaga University's 10-1 non-conference win over the University of San Francisco in the Zags final game at the Palm Springs Classic Sunday afternoon.

Senior Ryan Wiegand and junior Drew Heid each tallied three hits and two RBI in support of junior starting pitcher Steven Ames who earned his team-leading third win of the season. Ames improved his record to 3-0 after allowing just one unearned run and struck out four over six innings. Three Gonzaga pitchers did not allow a walk and combined to strike out nine USF hitters.

After the Gonzaga offense had struggled to score runs in the past two games, scoring just one run in the last 18 innings, the Bulldogs scored 10 runs on 13 hits off of 11 USF (4-10) pitchers.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring on a junior Tyson Van Winkle RBI single that scored senior Evan Wells in the first inning. GU later opened up a 3-0 lead after a two-run single by Heid in the second inning. USF got its lone run in the fourth but the Zags answered right back with two runs in the fifth to make it 5-1.

Gonzaga put the game out of reach with three runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth. Senior designated hitter Anthony Synegal had a run-scoring double and senior third baseman Jason Chatwood's RBI base-hit highlighted the scoring in the seventh. Wiegand and freshman right fielder Royce Bolinger then picked up RBI's in the eighth inning to cap the Bulldog scoring.

The Zags begin an 11-game homestand Tuesday, hosting the University of Washington for two-game series with first pitch on Tuesday set for 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday's start time set for 2 p.m.