Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash.-The Gonzaga baseball team went to extra innings Saturday night at Portland, and their patience was rewarded with a 7-4 win over the Pilots and a share of first place in the West Coast Conference.

Gonzaga scored three times in the top of the 10th inning Saturday night at Joe Etzel Field, getting those runs on four hits and a walk. Jake Roberts led the frame off with a single to right field, moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt, and came around to score when Daniel Fredrickson sent a 1-0 pitch up the middle for a base knock. After Tyler Frost drew a five-pitch walk, both he and Fredrickson scored on a drive to center from Jeff Bohling.

In the bottom of the frame, GU reliever Wyatt Mills earned the win after pitching around a one-out single. Mills struck out the final two batters, his fifth and sixth strikeouts of the night. The senior from Spokane entered the game in the seventh, allowed one run in the eighth to tie it up, but shut out the Pilots in the ninth and 10th for the win, his second of the year.

Portland took an early lead, getting a second-inning solo home run from Cody Hawken. That 1-0 scoreline held until the sixth inning when the Bulldogs tied the game without a base hit. Roberts led the Zags' half of the frame off with a walk, and he moved over to third on a grounder from Sam Brown and a Portland throwing error. Fredrickson then drove him in with a short chopper to the left side of the infield.

The Bulldogs took a lead with a three-run seventh inning. They tallied three hits in the seventh, two of which were doubles, and benefitted from a Portland error which would have ended the frame. Justin Jacobs led off with a single, and he scored on a double from Jake Vieth two outs later. GU shortstop Gunnar Shubert then reached on a throwing error from the Portland shortstop Matt Kelly, and Roberts made the Pilots pay for the miscue with a two-RBI double down the left field line.

Portland responded immediately, getting two runs in the bottom of the inning on a single from Kelly. The home team tied the game at 4-all one inning later with a base hit up the middle from Jason Rosen.

Bulldog Bites:

• With the win, the Bulldogs advanced to 13-4 in WCC play. They're now tied atop the conference ladder with Loyola Marymount. Both teams are a half-game ahead of San Diego and a full game ahead of BYU. Gonzaga hosts both the Lions and the Cougars later on in the season.
• Roberts extended his hit streak to eight games, a career best. During the streak, the senior from Plainfield, Ill., is hitting .519 (14x27) with four doubles, 10 RBIs, and nine runs scored. With the go-ahead single in the ninth, Fredrickson also extended a long hit streak Saturday night. He's now hit safely in the last 11 games, the longest such streak by a Bulldog this season.
• Right-hander Justin Vernia started the night on the mound for Gonzaga, throwing 6.2 innings and allowing three runs on eight hits. The Issaquah, Wash., native used his six strikeouts to great effect, stranding six Pilot runners on base, five in scoring position. Through the first six innings, he allowed just the solo home run and didn't even give up the RBI hit in the sixth; that came on a pitch from Mills.
• Gonzaga hitters combined for just eight hits on the night, their lowest total during the recent six-game win streak. Half of those base knocks came in the 10th inning, and three more came in the seventh. Frost tallied the other hit - a single to center field - in the first.

Mac Talk: Thoughts from Gonzaga head coach Mark Machtolf

• "On a night we weren't overly offensive, we continued to execute and come up with timely hits. The confidence is continuing to grow with our hitters. When we need to come up with quality at-bats late in tight games, everyone is contributing."

Next Up:

Gonzaga (23-14 overall) will wrap up the series Sunday, April 23, with a 1:00 p.m. contest, their final road conference game of the year. The Zags will send RHP Casey Legumina to the mound while Portland will counter with RHP Kevin Baker.