Box Score

SAN ANTONIO, Texas--The Gonzaga University baseball team wrapped up the Alamo Irish Classic Sunday, falling 7-6 to Notre Dame in yet another tight game at Nelson Wolff Stadium in San Antonio.

The Bulldog bats got going in the third, scoring three runs for a 3-0 lead. Shortstop Dustin Breshears led the inning off with a strikeout, but he reached first base on a wild pitch from Notre Dame starter Michael Hearne. Breshears moved over on a sacrifice bunt from Branson Trube, and he stole third base as Sam Brown got aboard via a walk. Patrick Chung brought in the short stop with a single through the right side, and Taylor Jones ripped a ground rule double that one-hopped the wall in left, plating Brown. Justin Jacobs capped off the frame with a sacrifice fly to center, allowing Chung to score.

GU plated another one in the fourth. With one out, second baseman Jake Roberts was issued first base after taking a pitch from Hearne in the back. Two batters later, Trube posted his first career extra-base hit as he doubled off the wall in left field, allowing Roberts to score from first.

Notre Dame countered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, getting all three on five straight base hits. GU starting pitcher Eli Morgan got out of the inning, however, by forcing the last two batters to pop out to Roberts at second. In the fifth, the Irish got three more runs to take a 6-4 lead, one on an RBI fielder's choice from Kyle Fiala and two from a Matt Vierling single. That two-RBI base knock chased Morgan from the game, but reliever Calvin LeBrun got Connor Stutts to ground into a double play on his first pitch to end the inning.

The Zags tied the game with one run in each of the seventh and eighth innings. Chung posted yet another RBI single to plate Roberts in the seventh, and third baseman Jeff Bohling homered to left in the eighth to level the score at 6-6.

Notre Dame got a walkoff winner in the bottom of the ninth, however, as the first three Irish to bat reached base. With the bases loaded and no outs, Ricky Sanchez sent a single up the middle to plate the winning run.

Bulldog Bites:

• The Zag defense produced four double plays Sunday, doubling up the Irish in the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. That's the most GU has turned since posting five two-for-ones April 13, 2013 against Saint Mary's. Jones and Roberts were involved in three of Sunday's double-ups, while Breshears assisted on two. Brown even got into the two-fer action from left field, making a diving catch in the seventh to put out Fiala then then throwing out Sanchez at second base.
• Chung wrapped up a strong weekend in San Antonio by going 2-for-5 with two RBI singles and a run scored. He and Bohling were the only two Zags with multiple hits Sunday against Notre Dame. Over the four-game tournament, Chung hit .529 with a team-leading nine hits and seven RBIs while adding three runs. Bohling, meanwhile, hit .438 (7x16) with a double, triple, home run, six RBIs, and four runs scored.
• Jones is now riding an eight game hit streak as he's now posted at least one hit during all eight games in 2016. A double in the third inning gave Jones his first hit of the day, while he brought in a run on that two-bagger as well. Bohling also tied a career best by extending his current hit streak to five games Sunday with a double in the second. Brown, meanwhile, saw his seven game hit streak snapped, but he has safely reached base during all eight games of the year.
• GU went 2-2 at the tournament, beating Texas Southern and Incarnate Word while dropping one-run games to Bradley and Notre Dame. The Irish won the tournament with a 3-1 record while Texas Southern and Bradley also went 2-2. The Cardinals were 1-3 on the weekend.

Mac Talk: Thoughts from Gonzaga head coach Mark Machtolf:

• "We're not satisfied with being 2-2 here; we were a couple of plays or pitches away from having a really good weekend. We need to get better in a couple of aspects, which should allow us to be better moving forward. We have a really good feeling about this team, we just need to keep getting better each weekend from here on out."

Next Up:

The Bulldogs (4-4) will continue their season-opening road trip with another flight to Texas next weekend. They'll jet to Fort Worth for a three-game stint at No. 17/11 TCU next Friday; first pitch in the series' first game is slated for 4:30 p.m. Pacific (6:30 p.m. Central) at Lupton Stadium.