May 13, 2016 Box Score
LOS ANGELES--After another outstanding start from junior ace Brandon Bailey, Gonzaga University baseball is back atop the West Coast Conference standings after a 4-1 win over Loyola Marymount Friday night at Page Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Zags got all the offense they'd need in the first inning, scoring twice in the frame. Third baseman Jeff Bohling gave GU a base runner with a one-out single to center field, and first baseman Taylor Jones joined him on the base paths after getting hit by a pitch. Two batters later, Justin Jacobs ripped a double down the right field line to plate Bohling, and shortstop Dustin Breshears followed up with a single to right that allowed Jones to score.
Loyola Marymount scored their lone run in the third with a two-out rally off Bailey. After Bailey retired the frame's first two batters, Seaver Whalen doubled down the left field line, and Phil Caulfield brought him home with an infield single.
After LMU's third-inning run, Bailey settled into a rhythm. From the end of the third inning to the eighth, he retired 14 of 15 batters faced, including a stretch of eight in a row from the fifth to the eighth. With one down in the eighth, Whalen hit a triple off the wall in left center to snap that run of batters retired. In the next at bat, Whalen was taken off the base paths after Caulfield hit a grounder to Jacobs at second. The Auburn, Wash., native then threw Whalen out at home, keeping the Zags ahead. Bailey got out of the inning with a strikeout, his 10th on the night.
The Zags saw plenty of scoring opportunities previously in the game, but they broke through with a couple of insurance runs in the ninth when Breshears went to the plate with bases loaded. He sent a 3-2 pitch rolling up the middle, but the ball bounced off the bag at second for a base hit, scoring two and giving Gonzaga a 4-1 lead.
Bailey came out for the bottom off the ninth, allowing a leadoff double but retiring the next three batters to finish off the complete game and the victory, his eighth of the season.
Bulldog Bites:
- Bailey pitched a gem Friday night, striking out 10 in nine innings with zero walks and just one run allowed. It's his third double-digit strikeout game of the year, and the big night puts him at 100 for the season. He's the first Zag with 100 strikeouts since 2011 and tied for eighth on the program's single-season strikeouts list. The Broomfield, Colo., native entered the game second in the WCC and 22nd in the nation in strikeouts.
- Bailey's complete game was also his first of the season and the third of the year by a Gonzaga pitcher. He now has six career complete games, tying for 23rd-most among active pitchers in Division I.
- Breshears tied his career high with three RBIs after he drove in the second run of the first inning and both of the Zags' scores in the ninth. He also drove in three runs March 9 at Arkansas, which was a career high for the redshirt senior. Breshears now has six multi-RBI games on the year, tied for third-most on the team.
- Gonzaga returns to the top of the WCC standings after Friday's win and a loss by Saint Mary's. The two clubs are tied at 14-8 in conference play, a half-game ahead of third-place BYU and two games up on fifth-place San Francisco. Loyola Marymount is in sixth at 13-12.
Mac Talk: Thoughts from Gonzaga head coach Mark Machtolf:
- "Huge effort by Bailey tonight. Not only obviously with the win and having another great performance, but also he allowed us to keep our bullpen fresh for the next two games. It was just an outstanding effort from one of the best Friday night starters on the West Coast."
Next Up:
Gonzaga (28-15, 14-8 WCC) and Loyola Marymount continue the key three-game series with game two Saturday, May 14, again at 6:00 p.m. in Page Stadium. Junior righty Eli Morgan will toe the rubber for Gonzaga while the Lions still have yet to determine their starter.
