Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash.-The Gonzaga baseball team played the first of three games against local foe Washington State Monday night, beating the Cougars 9-4 at Patterson Baseball Complex & Washington Trust Field.

Gonzaga wasted no time in taking the lead, plating a pair of runs in the first inning. Left fielder Sam Brown began the frame with a single, and Tyler Frost added a double two batters later. Second baseman Justin Jacobs allowed Brown to score with a rip to right field, and Jeff Bohling followed up with an RBI grounder to plate Frost.

Two frames later, the Bulldogs sent all nine batters to the plate and scored four more runs. WSU relief pitcher Joe Rosenstein walked the bases loaded to begin the frame and then issued another to Jake Vieth for the first run. The Cougars then went back to the bullpen, and Jace VanDeBrake greeted the newly-minted Caleb McAlister with a single to center field, allowing the leading two runners to score. Gonzaga got another tally on a WSU throwing error for a 6-0 lead.

Washington State got its first run with its first hit â€" a double down the right-field line from James Rudkin in the fourth â€" but Gonzaga countered in the bottom of the frame with a sacrifice fly from Vieth.

Gonzaga starter Daniel Bies, meanwhile, kept the Cougar offense down into the seventh inning. The redshirt sophomore allowed just that fourth-inning run and four hits total on the night. He also benefited from a trio of nice defensive plays, seeing a home run pulled back by Daniel Fredrickson, getting a nice diving grab in foul territory from Bohling, and having a Cougar runner thrown out at home by Frost.

The Bulldog offense wasn't done, adding runs in the sixth and seventh for a 9-1 lead. Southpaw Calvin LeBrun came on in relief of Bies in the seventh, inheriting a pair of runners but stranding them on base. He also pitched a shutout eighth inning before Washington State scored three in the ninth to put the game at its 9-4 final.

Bies got the win, his second of 2017, and LeBrun earned his third save in the effective three-inning outing. Cougar starter Isaac Mullins took the loss, his first of the season.

Bulldog Bites:

• Bies saw the best start of his career, pitching into the seventh inning for the first time and tying a career best with five strikeouts. He retired the side in order in the first, second, and sixth innings, and didn't allow a hit until the fourth.
• Gonzaga has now won four straight games against their local rival after sweeping the three-game series last season. The Bulldogs are also 11-3 against the Cougars since 2012, and they've either won or tied the Inland Northwest series in each of the last five seasons. The Zags and Cougars will play two more games against each other this year: Tuesday, April 25 in Pullman, and Tuesday, May 16 back at Patterson Baseball Complex.
• Gonzaga's bats once again came alive Tuesday night, scoring nine runs and posting 13 hits. They've scored at least seven runs in each of their last four games, a feat they did only eight times in the first 31 games of the season. Brown led all players with three hits Monday night, while Frost and Jacobs added two apiece. In all, nine Bulldogs collected a hit against the Cougars.

Zag Speak:

Associate Head Coach Danny Evans:

• "Our goal coming in was to come out and deliver that first punch. We were looking to take the lead early, and we did that, and we had an opportunity to add on there. We were able to do that on offense tonight."
• "I was really pleased with a lot of really good two-strike quality at-bats. Those are the at-bats that will lead into the weekend and conference series for us. That's encouraging, to come out in a mid-week game and to roll up really good at-bats and have a really good approach throughout the game."

Redshirt sophomore Daniel Bies:

• "I felt pretty good out there. I was throwing the fastball where I wanted to, which set up my other pitches. I actually only needed the curveball outside of the fastball, but my defense also really helped me out tonight."

Next Up:

Gonzaga (21-14, 11-4 WCC) returns to conference action with three games at Portland this weekend. The stint against the Pilots will be GU's final road conference series of the year. That Pacific Northwest showdown will begin on Friday, April 21, at 6:00 p.m. at Portland's Joe Etzel Field.

The Zags were originally slated to host Seattle U on Tuesday, April 18, but that game was cancelled due to forecasted weather in the Spokane area. There has been no make-up date announced.