Tournament Central

Gonzaga Notes | BYU Notes | Pepperdine Notes | Saint Mary's Notes

ABOUT GONZAGA:

• The Zags enter the WCC Championships as one of the three regular season champions, but they're the No. 3 seed due to series losses to Saint Mary's and BYU, both of which were on the road. Overall, the Zags have the second-best record in the league at 33-17, and their RPI of 30 tops the conference. Last weekend, they took two of three games at San Diego to clinch a share of the title, and they ended the regular season Monday at UCSB with a 6-5 walk-off loss, their fifth such loss of the season.
• Head coach Mark Machtolf is in his 13th season at the helm of the program. He's put together a 381-315-2 record (including this season's results) as manager and is the second in program history in terms of wins and third in win percentage (.547). He's also the second-longest tenured coach in program history behind Steve Hertz (24 years, 1978, 1981-2003). Before becoming head coach, Machtolf was an assistant for 13 years as well; this is his 26th season with Gonzaga baseball.

JUST LIVIN' THAT AIRPORT LIFE:

• The Zags are well-accustomed to flying these days as 40 of their 50 regular season games were away from Spokane, and 36 of those were true road games. They finished the year with a 23-13 away record, sweeping three-game series at UTSA, Pacific, and LMU and two-gamers at Oregon and Washington State, and they also won a single-game series at Arkansas. Their 23 road wins are tied with Wright State for second-most in the nation (Bryant leads D1 with 24), and they are the program's most since at least 2003.
• The Zags have only played four neutral site games, going 2-2 at the Alamo Irish Classic in San Antonio during the second week of the season. Their neutral wins came over Texas Southern and Incarnate Word while both losses - one to Bradley and one to Notre Dame -came via a walk-off.
• After returning from the WCC Championships, the Zags will have travelled 28,828 miles and made four trips out of the Pacific time zone this season. They've had two road trips of at least 13 games: a 15-game stretch to begin the year and a 13-game trip that ended the regular season. Gonzaga went 8-2 in their abbreviated home schedule, and their final home game took place April 24.

WCC CHAMPIONS...AND CHAMPIONSHIPS:

• Gonzaga now has three WCC regular season titles after winning the league pennant outright in both 2009 and 2013. This is also their third berth to the WCC Championships, the four-team tournament to decide which club gets the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This is the fourth year of the WCC Championships as the Zags were the top seed in its first year (2013) and were the three-seed one year later; they were the only team to make the conference tournament during its first two years.
• The Zags have played five games at the WCC Championships, going 0-2 in 2013 and 1-2 a year later. Steven Halcomb ('10-'13) has the top batting average at Banner Island Ballpark, going 4-for-7 (.571) with a run and an RBI in 2013. Payden Cawley Lamb ('11-14) played in all five games, starting four of them, with seven hits and 4 RBIs, both program highs. On the mound, Kenny Smith ('11-'14) has the best qualifying ERA at the WCC Championships, allowing two earned runs over 8.0 innings and two outings, including one start. He and David Bigelow ('12-'15) are the only two GU pitchers to make multiple appearances at the tournament.
• Of current Zags, Sam Brown, Joey Harris, and Jimmy Sinatro have played in three games; Brown and Sinatro both started all three in 2014 and Harris played twice that year and once as a freshman in '13. Brown is the only one with multiple hits, going 3-for-12 (.250) as a redshirt freshman, adding one RBI as well. Harris, Sinatro, Jeff Bohling, and Taylor Jones each have one hit, while Nick Brooks saw one at bat in 2014. RHP Brandon Bailey started the club's first game in 2014, tossing all 8.0 innings and allowing five runs during a 5-1 loss to Loyola Marymount. Bailey and Jones are the only two current Zags that have pitched at Banner Island as Jones started the final game in 2014.

ALL-WCC HONORS:

• 3B Jeff Bohling was named WCC Player of the Year Tuesday after a breakout 2016 season. It's the fifth time a Bulldog has won Player of the Year honors, although he's the first to take it outright since 2004. Three more Zags joined him as First Team All-WCC: RHPs Brandon Bailey and Eli Morgan, and Tyler Frost. 1B Taylor Jones was named to the Second Team All-Conference squad, and 2B Justin Jacobs received Honorable Mention accolades. Redshirt freshman and RF Jace VanDeBrake also was named to the All-Freshman team.

THROWING CHAIRS:

• Gonzaga's pitchers have been retiring batters themselves all season, combining for 442 Ks in 49 games. They're second in the conference in strikeouts and have already broken the program record for Ks in a season, which fell May 19 in San Diego. The Bulldogs lead the conference and are 18th in the nation with 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings, and their 2.31 staff strikeout/walk ratio also tops the conference.
• Two Zags are among the WCC's Top Four in strikeouts as junior Brandon Bailey has fanned 103 batters (second in the WCC, 15th in D1), and RHP Eli Morgan's sat down 95 (4th WCC, 42nd D1). Bailey and RHP Hunter Wells are among the WCC's Top 10 in strikeouts per nine innings as Bailey averages 10.99 Ks per nine (2nd WCC, 27th D1) and Wells fans 9.44 every 9.0 innings, (6th WCC, 96th D1).
• Junior RHP and closer Wyatt Mills leads the bullpen with 35 strikeouts in relief, and after a career-high seven strikeouts May 17 at Washington State, LHP Calvin LeBrun is second with 32. Burland leads the relievers with a 4.00 strikeout/walk ratio in relief appearances (12 Ks, 3 BBs), while RHP Sam Hellinger's 2.17 K/BB mark is second. (26 Ks, 12 BBs).

SLASH IT OUT:

• Gonzaga's batters have posted an impressive slash line on the year at .292/.385/.422, placing second in the WCC in all three categories. Their .422 slugging percentage is the team's best since 2010, and their .385 on base mark is best since '09. As a team, they've drawn 225 walks, the most since at least 2008, and both their combined doubles (118) and home run (28) marks are the club's highest since 2010.
• During conference play, they Zags posted a slash of .291/.373/.432, again finishing second in both on base percentage and slugging. Individually, 3B Jeff Bohling finished second in the conference by slugging .647 (while leading the conference with 77 total bases), and CF Tyler Frost finished among the Top 10 in batting average. Both 1B Taylor Jones and 2B Justin Jacobs are ranked Nos. 8 and 9 in on base percentage.

PITCHING LINE:

• RHP Brandon Bailey's season strikeout totals have been covered already, but the junior is 11th among all active players and third among juniors with 256 career strikeouts, and he's tied for 16th overall with 22 career wins. The Broomfield, Colo., native has started 13 games this year, striking out at least five batters in 11 of them and allowing two runs or fewer in nine; he's posted nine quality starts this year as well. The three-year ace has allowed just one earned run or fewer in seven of his nine conference starts. The Zags are 9-4 when Bailey has started this year and 10-4 when he's pitched at all.
• Bailey's 103 strikeouts are seventh-most in a single season in program history, and he's only six strikeouts shy of a place in the Top 5. Darin Blood has the school record with 144 Ks during the 1995 season; Steve Bennett is fifth with 109 in 2000.
• The sport management major was also selected Academic All-Region 8 last month.

LAST GAME'S STARTING LINEUP: