Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday @ 6 p.m. | (PEPP) RHP Wil Jensen (3-0, 0.62) vs. (GONZ) RHP Daniel Bies (2-1, 2.89)
Saturday @ 6 p.m. | (PEPP) RHP Christian Stoutland (3-0, 1.61) vs. (GONZ) RHP Alek Jakob (1-1, 3.33)
Sunday @ 12 p.m. | (PEPP) RHP Jonathan Pendergast (0-2, 4.02) vs. (GONZ) LHP Mac Lardner (1-1, 3.33)

WEEKLY RECAP
- Gonzaga's two midweek road games featured a come-from-behind win by the home team with a big inning late. At Oregon, Gonzaga gave up six runs in the seventh to fall 6-3, and then one day later, gave up three in the seventh and one in the eighth to lost 6-4.
- Against the Ducks, starting pitcher Justin Blatner was solid for the Zags, going 6.0 innings, giving up just one run on two hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
- Jace VanDeBrake and Nick Nyquist paced the offense in the two games, going 3-for-6 each with VanDeBrake collecting two RBI and Nyquist scoring twice.
- Keaton Knueppel got his first start and went 3.0 innings without allowing a hit. The Seattle U Redhawks did manage two earned runs without the benefit of a hit, as Knueppel walked three, hit two batters and had a wild pitch. SU scored a run on a groundout and one on a sacrifice fly.

WCC OPENER AND HOME OPENER
- The weekend series in Spokane between Gonzaga and Pepperdine will be each team's West Coast Conference opener, and will be GU's first game at home after starting the season with 16 straight road or neutral-site games.
- The Zags' original home opener was scheduled for March 2-4 against Milwaukee, but weather forced GU to move those games out of the area. They ended up in Sacramento with two games against Sac State and one against Milwaukee. The Panthers also played Sac State twice on the weekend. GU won all three games they played.

OFFENSE:
- Despite the two losses, Gonzaga had a combined 21 hits and batted .309 as a team against Oregon and Seattle U, while getting on base at .380 clip.
- GU's .289 batting average on the season is tops in the WCC heading into the weekend.
- Five Zags with enough qualifying at-bats are hitting over .300 this season, led by Branson Trube's .371 mark.
- Gunnar Schubert is second on the team with a .361 batting average, and has reached base in all 16 games this season, along with a current 10-game hitting streak. He's only had two games out of GU's 16 without a hit, but reached via a walk or hit-by pitch in each.
- 1B Jake Vieth leads the team with a .479 on-base percentage and is the most-patient Zag, leading the team with 14 walks, five more than any teammate.
- Trube is tied for the team lead with 23 hits and runs with 10, while posting a team-best 14 RBI and three home runs. Trube has been even better this season with runners on base, going 15-for-35 (.429). - Of Trube's 14 RBI, six have come with two outs, a team high.
- Trube also leads the team with eight multi-hit games this year, followed by seven for Schubert and six each for Ernie Yake and Vieth.
- Redshirt freshman 3B Ernie Yake broke out in a huge way to start the season, going 4-for-6 in his collegiate debut against Cal Poly on Feb. 16. That's one of Gonzaga's two four-hit games on the season, and one of six games in which Yake has multiple hits. He went 7-for-18 last weekend vs. Rice with four RBI.
- Trube and Yake are each on nine-game hitting streaks heading into the series, just one behind Schubert's current 10-gamer.
- Nick Nyquist has stepped up at plate for the Zags over the past few games, hitting .368 (7-for-19) with four RBI, two doubles, four walks and a .481 on-base percentage. His OBP would be the team high if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. Nyquist is also 2-for-2 as a pinch hitter.

DEFENSE:
- Gonzaga's .982 fielding percentage is also second in the WCC and ranks 18th nationally.

PITCHING:
- Justin Blatner posted one of the best starts of his career against Oregon with his 6.0 inning effort in which he allowed just one run on two hits while striking out five and walking just two.
- Mac Lardner had his best start of the season against perennial national power Rice, getting the win by going 7.0 innings of one-run ball and giving up seven hits while walking two and striking out one.
- Calvin LeBrun pitched 5.0 solid innings of relief in the four-game Rice series, striking out eight with zero walks, giving up just two runs and holding the Owls to a .211 batting average in his time on the mound.
- In the three-game sweep in Sacramento against Milwaukee and Sac State, the GU staff combined for a 2.00 ERA and struck out 29 batters against just three walks. They held opponents to just a .211 average on the weekend.
- RHP Daniel Bies broke a career-high for strikeouts for the second straight game and collected his first-career complete game in a 4-1 win over Milwaukee.
- Freshman RHP Alek Jacob struck out a team-high 11 over 7.0 innings against Sac State in the second half of a doubleheader following Bies' complete-game performance.
- GU pitchers have held opponents to just a .240 batting average with two outs, including a .154 mark (2-for-13) from reliever Calvin LeBrun.
- The Gonzaga bullpen has collected five victories and five saves on the season. Casey Legumina has four of those saves, including two against Rice last weekend.
- The GU staff has a 3.61 ERA on the year and has combined for 131 strikeouts in 137.0 innings against just 53 walks.