Box Score | Highlights

SPOKANE, Wash.—For the second time in as many nights, the Gonzaga baseball team mounted a late comeback against BYU. On Friday night, however, the Zags managed to come all the way back, scoring one run in the seventh and five in the eighth to eliminate a 6-1 deficit and take down the Cougars 7-6 at Patterson Baseball Complex & Washington Trust Field. The comeback win is the Zags' biggest since April 24, 2009, when they also overcame a five-run hole, beating Santa Clara 6-5.

Third baseman Mitchell Gunsolus started the rally in the seventh with a leadoff homer to right center, but the rally came into full effect in the bottom of the eighth inning. Justin Jacobs and Jeff Bohling, the first two batters to the plate, both reached base with a walk, and first baseman Taylor Jones brought both of them home with a double to the warning track in right center. Tyler Frost and Gunsolus also drew walks, but not before Frost and Jones moved up two bases on a BYU throwing error and a wild pitch which plated Jones and put Frost on third. The Zags re-loaded the bases with a walk from Gunsolus and another BYU error, and then both Cory LeBrun and Jacobs drew RBI bases on balls to take the 7-6 lead.

In all, the Bulldogs drew six walks in the eighth and took advantage of two BYU errors, one of which prevented an out.

That one run advantage was all Gonzaga needed as closer David Bigelow came in for the top of the ninth and retired the Cougars in order for the save. Sean-Luke Brija, who entered the game before the seventh inning in place of Brandon Bailey took the win, his first of the year.

BYU scored the first runs of the game in the fourth inning with a three-run homer from Eric Urry. The Zags got one of those back in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single from Bohling, but the Cougars scored three more on three hits in the top of the sixth inning to get their five-run advantage.

Both teams saw plenty of opportunity for more runs as BYU left 12 runners on base while Gonzaga stranded 11. Each team left the bases loaded in the eighth inning.

Bulldog Bites

• As noted above, Friday night's comeback win was the first time Gonzaga had successfully erased a five-run deficit since 2009. On April 20 at Santa Clara, Gonzaga scored three runs in the sixth and ninth innings after the Broncos claimed the first five runs of the game. GU scored their sixth-inning runs without tallying a single hit in the frame, and their ninth-inning scores came on two RBI doubles: a 2-RBI knock by Ryan Wiegand and a 1-RBI hit from Anthony Synegal.
• Two Zags tallied three hits on the day as both Gunsolus and Jones picked up a trio of base knocks. Gunsolus was just a double away from a cycle as he tripled to lead off the game and singled in the fifth inning to go along with his seventh-inning homer. He also scored two runs on the day. Jones, meanwhile, made a case for more playing time with three hits in his first start since Feb. 22. He hit a pair of singles in the first four innings, and his two-RBI double in the eighth put him atop the team's RBI totals for the night.
• Brija collected his first win of the season after throwing two shutout innings. The redshirt junior fanned two batters while allowing just one hit, but he also issued three walks on the night. Those two strikeouts equaled a career high, and he made his first appearance since Feb. 22 when he started at UC Davis.
• Bailey kept BYU off the scoreboard for through the first 3.1 innings, running his scoreless inning streak to 20.0 innings. That stretch ended, however, when Urry homered with one out in the fourth. The Zag did see one long streak continue, however, as Dustin Breshears' on-base streak was extended to 22 games. The short stop reached successfully with a walk in the first inning.

Zag Speak
Mitchell Gunsolus on a hitter's perspective of the game
"We were on [BYU's starter Jeff Barker] all day. We hit a lot of balls hard at people…We just had trouble finding the holes at first. We kept patient, stuck with the process, and you finally saw the results of that in the eighth inning."

Assistant Coach Steve Bennett on Bailey and Brija
"What we've been talking about with the pitchers is making sure that if we're not at our best, to keep the runs at the minimum. There were a lot of innings Bailey could have given up multiple runs and made that a laugher, but he kept us in the game for six innings. Same thing with Sean-Luke; he kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win."

Next Up
Gonzaga (11-11, 2-3 WCC) will look to take the series with BYU Saturday, March 21, with the rubber match between the two squads at 12:00 p.m. Junior right hander Andrew Sopko will get the start for the Zags while BYU will send RHP Brandon Kinser to the mound. That game will again take place at Patterson Baseball Complex.