Box Score March 24, 2018 Box Score
PROVO, Utah - Gonzaga baseball pitched well and pushed across three runs in the eighth on the way to a 4-3 win at BYU on Saturday to salvage a win in the series.
After BYU (12-10, 2-4 WCC) took the first two games of the series, GU starter Mac Lardner put the Zags (12-10, 3-3 WCC) in position to win going 6.0 innings and giving up just one unearned run on two hits with six strikeouts and four walks. Casey Legumina came on in the seventh and pitched the final 3.0 innings to get the win. He allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits with four strikeouts and zero walks.
"We did a great job of digging out a win today," head coach Mark Machtolf said. "Mac Lardner was phenomenal for the third week in a row. We did enough offensively to get the lead and we got two big-time defensive plays from Jake Vieth and Daniel Fredrickson to secure the win."
On offense, Brendan McClary got his first start of the season and delivered in a huge way, leading off both of GU's run-scoring innings with singles. He came around to score both times on what were his first two hits of the year in only four total plate appearances. Gunnar Schubert also reached twice on a hit-by-pitch and RBI infield single to push his on-base streak to all 22 games and his hit streak to 16 games.
After BYU grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third, Lardner kept GU in the game until his offense was able to breakthrough in the sixth inning. McClary collected his first hit of the season with a single in the sixth. Ernie Yake followed with a double to push McClary to third where he came home on a groundout by team RBI leader Branson Trube to tie the score, 1-1.
In the eighth, it was McClary and Yake again getting things started. McClary ripped a leadoff single, and then Yake reached on an error by the BYU second baseman that put runners on second and third with nobody out. Schubert knocked home a run on an RBI infield single, Austin Pinorini pushed across another with a bases loaded walk and Daniel Fredrickson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for a 4-1 GU lead.
The Cougars added two more in the bottom of the eighth off of GU closer Casey Legumina, who entered to begin the seventh. Legumina then induced a 3-6-3 double play to get out of the jam and keep the lead heading to the ninth, where he put the Cougars down in order to get the win.
The Zags continue West Coast Conference play on Thursday when they begin a three-game set at Saint Mary's at 3 p.m. in Moraga, Calif. Check the baseball schedule page at GoZags.com for available links to live coverage.
