March 24, 2010
Gonzaga (8-12)
vs.
Utah Valley(6-8)
Orem, Utah
Thursday - 5 p.m. (PST), Friday - 5 p.m. (PST), Saturday - Noon (PST),
GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE
Game Notes in PDF Format 
THIS WEEKEND: Gonzaga University heads to Orem, Utah for the three-game series against Utah Valley University beginning Thursday and running through Saturday.
ON DECK: After its three-game series with Utah Valley University, Gonzaga University returns to Spokane to host Washington State University at the Patterson Baseball Complex and Washington Trust Field next Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. That game will be the first of five home games that will be broadcast on Spokane's SWX-TV.
FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS LIVE: All Gonzaga University home games and selected away games will be available via Gametracker on the internet at http://www.gozags.com. Selected Gonzaga home games will be video streamed and also available on the radio at 1510 AM with Tom Hudson and former Gonzaga head coach Steve Hertz calling the action. Gonzaga's first home radio broadcast is tentatively scheduled for the Mar. 30 match up against Washington State University.
EARLIER THIS WEEK: Gonzaga University dropped a 7-5 decision to Pacific-10 Conference foe Washington State University in Pullman this past Tuesday. Drew Heid finished with three hits and Andy Hunter produced his team-leading sixth home run of the season in the loss.
LAST WEEKEND: Last weekend Gonzaga University ran into a tough No. 15 UC Irvine team that took all three games of its the series in Irvine, Calif. Gonzaga brought the potential tying runs to the plate in two of the contests but the Anteater bullpen buckled down and made some good pitches to preserve the win in each game. Drew Heid again led the way, posting two hits in each game of the series.
LAST SEASON: Last season Gonzaga University claimed its inaugural West Coast Conference regular-season and WCC Championship Series titles, earning the program's eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1981. The Bulldogs finished the year with a 36-18 overall record, marking the third consecutive season that Gonzaga has finished with 30-plus wins. GU also finished the season ranked No. 22 by Baseball America.
ABOUT THE UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINES: Utah Valley University enters the weekend with a 6-8 overall record after beating the University of Utah 6-4 Tuesday night. Gonzaga University leads the all-time series with UVU 13-3 after posting a four-game sweep in Spokane last season. Chris Benson enters the weekend with a team-high .492 batting average and a team-best seven doubles. Head coach Eric Madsen is in his second season at UVU and owns a 26-47 career record at the school.
LEADING THE WAY: A couple of players have put together a solid first couple weeks of the season for Gonzaga University. Starting pitcher Cody Martin owns a 1-2 record through four starts but the sophomore right-hander enters the weekend leading the West Coast Conference with 41 strikeouts in 31.2 innings. Martin has recorded nine strikeouts in six innings of the Zags season-opening win over University of Missouri Feb. 19 and followed that performance with a 13 strikeout game against Sacramento State University Feb. 28. Drew Heid and Andy Hunter have paced the Zags offense this season. The preseason All-WCC selection Heid leads the WCC with 36 hits and paces the club with a .409 batting average, a .469 on-base percentage, scored 19 runs and recorded five stolen bases. Hunter is among the WCC leaders with six home runs and 23 RBI and is tied for the team lead with six doubles.
MARTIN NAMED TO NCBWA PRESEASON STOPPER WATCH LIST: For the second consecutive season Gonzaga University pitcher Cody Martin has been named to the Preseason Stopper of the Year Watch List by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Forty players were named to the initial watch list for the sixth annual NCBWA award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I baseball. Martin received the same recognition prior to last season and later appeared on the midseason list before earning an invite to the Team USA National team trials this past June. In 23 appearances for the Zags last year the Dos Palos, Calif. native posted a team-best 3.07 ERA while going 5-4 with six saves and recording 68 strikeouts in 58.2 innings. In 2008, Martin set the school record for saves in a season with nine and later garnered Freshman All-America third team honors, All-West Coast Conference honorable mention and a spot on the All-WCC Freshmen team. The initial list will be updated with a mid-season release the week of April 19, including the national saves leaders. At the conclusion of the regular season, the Division I national saves leader and four other relief pitching standouts will be selected as finalists and released Wednesday, June 2, prior to start of NCAA regional tournament competition.
WHO'S BACK?: Gonzaga University has a couple key players returning off of last season's West Coast Conference championship and NCAA Tournament team. In the field, seniors Drew Heid and Mark Castellitto return to play centerfield and left field respectively. Heid was placed on the All-WCC Preseason team after leading the conference in triples (8) and finishing second in hits (83) in 2009. Last season he posted a .355 batting average, drove in 41 runs and also stole 10 bases. Castellitto has led the Zags in the homers the past two seasons, hitting eight in 2008 and nine last season. On the mound, juniors Cody Martin and sophomore Ryan Carpenter return after playing huge roles in the Bulldogs success last year. Martin has been the stopper out of the bullpen the past two seasons, recording nine saves in 2008 and six last year and is coming off an impressive summer, receiving an invite to pitch at the Team USA National Team Trials. Carpenter finished with six wins while making 12 starts as a freshman including making one start in the NCAA Tournament.
NEWCOMERS MAKING EARLY IMPACTS: Gonzaga University welcomes 14 newcomers this season, eight freshmen and six transfers will look to play huge roles in the Zags defense of their West Coast Conference crown. Junior college transfer Sean Wilson has produced early on for the Zags, starting all 20 games at third base and has driven in 13 runs while another junior college transfer and Australian left-hander Liam Baron has made ten appearances including one 7.2 inning start and recorded one save. A couple freshmen who have already made an impact are starting second baseman Clayton Eslick and left-handed pitcher Billy Moon. Eslick has started 19 games and driven in 11 runs while Moon earned his first career win with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief in the 9-3 win over New Mexico State University Feb. 20. and has moved into the closer role after posting three saves during a four-game stretch earlier this season.
ZAGS PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH BY WCC COACHES: The West Coast Conference announced its 2010 preseason baseball poll Jan. 25 as defending WCC regular season and WCC Championship Series champion Gonzaga University received one first place vote and was picked to finish fourth by the conference's coaches. San Diego was picked as the favorite to win this year's WCC regular season title as the Toreros received six first place votes for a total of 48 points. Pepperdine was picked second with 38 points. San Francisco totaled 33 points for third, followed by Gonzaga who just edged out 2009 runner-up Loyola Marymount, which received 28 points for fifth. Rounding out this year's preseason poll are Santa Clara, which received the last first place vote with 20 points, Saint Mary's with 17 points, and Portland with 11 points.
CARPENTER AND HEID PRODUCE BIG SUMMERS: Gonzaga University's Ryan Carpenter and Drew Heid have been named by Baseball America as two of the top prospects out of the Alaskan Summer League.Carpenter, a sophomore left-handed pitcher, was ranked the second best prospect in the league while Heid, the Zags senior centerfielder was ranked as the 10th best prospect. Each player produced very impressive seasons for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots who earned a second place finish at the NBC World Series. Carpenter was named to the Alaskan All-League team after leading the league in strikeouts (54) and posting the league's second lowest earned run average (0.67). The Peoria, Ariz. native went 2-2 in his 10 appearances including nine starts and allowed just three earned runs in 40.1 innings pitched. Heid earned a number of honors this summer, taking home the Alaskan League's Most Valuable Player award, earning the league's Silver Slugger Award and was also named to the All-League team after posting league-highs in batting average (.427), hits (73) and doubles (18). In 44 games, the Touchet, Wash. native also scored 41 runs, hit four home runs, stole 11 bases and finished with 31 RBI. It is the second consecutive summer that Heid has earned MVP honors of a summer league after he took home the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League's MVP award last summer.
MARTIN INVITED TO USA BASEBALL NATIONAL TEAM TRIALS: Gonzaga University sophomore pitcher Cody Martin was invited to the Team USA National Team trials held at the National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. this past June. Players participated in daily practices and drills at the trials, as well as in modified intrasquad Blue vs. Red games. Martin was not included in the final Team USA National Team roster. Three Straight 30-Win Seasons: Gonzaga University's 6-4 win over Saint Mary's College May 3, 2009 was its 30th win of the 2009 season, marking the Bulldogs third consecutive 30-win season. It is the first time Gonzaga has accomplished the feat since the 1980-82 teams each recorded at least 30 wins. The Zags finished with a 36-18 overall record last season, the most by a Gonzaga club since the 1990 team finished with 37 wins.
ZAGS PUNCHED TICKET TO NCAA TOURNAMENT WITH WCC TITLE IN 2009: The 2009 season saw the Gonzaga University baseball team claim the program's inaugural West Coast Conference regular-season and Championship Series titles, clinching their eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament, the first since 1981. Chris Sturdivant's pinch-hit walk-off RBI double in the ninth inning against Loyola Marymount University May 16 claimed the regular-season title, giving the Zags the right to host the WCC Championship Series. The following weekend, Ryan Wiegand's walk-off RBI infield single gave the Zags a 4-3 game one win over LMU. The Bulldogs kept things rolling in game two, punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 14-3 series-clinching rout of the Lions behind Wiegand's three-homer eight-RBI performance.
BULLDOGS AT 2009 NCAA REGIONAL: Gonzaga University was placed in the Fullerton Regional bracket of the NCAA Tournament, hosted by No. 2 national seed Cal State Fullerton and also comprised of No. 2 seeded Georgia Southern University, the No. 3 seeded Zags and No. 4 seeded University of Utah. Gonzaga made its presence known in the first inning of its opening round matchup against No. 29 Georgia Southern, putting up seven runs in the inning only to have GSU comeback to tie it at 8-8 in the third inning. GU went on to score a run in each of the final six innings to claim a 19-10 win. In the winners bracket matchup the next night against Cal State Fullerton, the Zags built a 2-0 lead then went on to trade leads with CSF for the next couple innings before the Titans brought single runs across in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to hand GU a 7-4 defeat. The following afternoon Gonzaga was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament after suffering a 9-7 loss to Utah. The Zags posted a 1-2 record at the NCAA Tournament, marking their first NCAA Tournament win since 1980.
PROGRAM-BEST FIVE PLAYERS SELECTED IN 2009 MLB DRAFT: Following the record-setting season, a program-best five Gonzaga University Bulldogs were taken in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft this past June, marking the most for the Zags since the 2003 team had four players taken in the draft. Junior catcher Tyson Van Winkle was selected in the 10th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, junior pitcher Steven Ames was taken in the 17th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers, senior pitcher Matt Fields was drafted in the 22nd round by the Toronto Blue Jays, senior first baseman Ryan Wiegand was selected in the 25th round by the Tampa Bay Rays and senior pitcher AJ Proszek went in the 38th round to the San Francisco Giants. Both Ames and Van Winkle elected to forgo their senior seasons and signed professional contracts.
ZAGS CLOSE OUT SEASON RANKED NO. 22: Gonzaga University closed out its record-setting season ranked No. 22 in the Baseball America final rankings. The Zags appeared in rankings four times last season, first breaking in at No. 22 April 13 and later moving up to No. 19 in late May. It is the highest ranking the Bulldogs have received since the 1981 team reached a No. 9 ranking. Following the NCAA Tournament the Zags were again ranked No. 22 before the final season polls were released June 30 with Gonzaga again sitting at No. 22.
