May 2, 2009
Box Score
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University suffered a 12-8 setback to Saint Mary's College in the second game of a West Coast Conference weekend series Saturday afternoon.
With the Bulldogs loss and the win by Loyola Marymount University over the University of San Diego Saturday, Gonzaga and LMU will enter Sunday in a tie for first place in the WCC standings.
Tyson Van Winkle led the way for the Bulldogs (29-14, 11-6 WCC) with two hits and three RBI. Anthony Synegal and Jason Chatwood each hit home runs for the Zags. Gonzaga starting pitcher Steven Ames (7-1) lost for the first time this season after allowing six runs and striking out five in six innings. Saint Mary's (27-22, 8-9 WCC) never trailed in the ball game and scored in each of the last four innings to earn the win.
Saint Mary's was the first to get on the board, using back-to-back two-out doubles off of Ames to bring a run across in the fourth inning.
The Bulldogs came right back with a run of their own in the fourth inning as Wells and Heid led off the inning with back-to-back hits. Both runners then moved up to second and third on wild pitch. Van Winkle followed with a pop fly to shallow centerfield which was caught by the Gaels' second baseman who turned at fired home but Wells came hustling down the line and slid in ahead of the throw to tie the game at 1-1.
The Gaels strung a couple of good at-bats together to score five runs in the sixth. A base-hit, a walk, a fly ball and a wild pitch put runners on second and third. Then SMC used and RBI single to centerfield one run home and then added another run on a safety squeeze that resulted in a SMC base-hit. Later in the inning, with two runners on, Ryan Young provided the big blow with a three-run home run to left center to push the SMC lead to 6-1.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Zags again battled back with two runs as Ryan Weigand came up with the big hit for the Bulldogs. Heid got things going with a one-out line drive single back up the middle and Van Winkle followed with a sharply hit base-hit of his own to centerfield to put two runners on for Wiegand. Gonzaga's all-time leader in hits, RBI and doubles then lined a 3-2 pitch down the right field line for a two-run double to cut the Saint Mary's lead to 6-3.
Just as the Bulldogs made it a three-run ball game, Saint Mary's again used the long ball to open up another five-run cushion. Pre-season All-American Kyle Jensen put the Gaels up 8-3 with his two-run home run to left field in the seventh inning.
Chatwood's home run came with one out and nobody on in the seventh inning to make it 8-4 but Saint Mary's took advantage of two Bulldog errors to score three runs in the eighth and build their lead up to 11-4. Synegal then hit his two-run homer in the eighth and Van Winkle had a two-run double in the ninth to make it 12-8 but SMC reliever Brandon Berl got Wiegand to fly out to the left field wall to preserve the win.
Gonzaga wraps up its weekend series with the Gaels 1 p.m. Sunday.
