Box Score March 9, 2018 Box Score
HOUSTON - Gonzaga baseball put together a big inning early on offense and then held off a Rice rally down the stretch to win the opener of a four-game set on Friday night in Houston, Texas.
Gonzaga (7-4) scored four runs in the third, and built a 7-3 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh, but Rice (6-8) wouldn't go away quietly, scoring one in the seventh and one in the eighth to pull within two. The Owls put the tying run at the plate in the ninth, but Casey Legumina closed the door for his third save of the season.
Gunnar Schubert and Austin Pinorini led the offense with big days. Schubert went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Pinorini had two hits, including his second home run of the season. Schubert extended his hit streak to five games and his on-base streak to 11 games.
Three more Zags had multiple hits in the game with Daniel Fredrickson, Branson Trube and Carson Breshears collecting two each. GU did most of its damage against Rice starter Matt Canterino, who entered the game with 36 strikeouts in 25.0 innings on the year. GU roughed up Canterino for six runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings, even though he struck out nine Zags.
GU's Taylor Davis made his first-career start as a Zag after appearing in relief this season. He went 4.0 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits with three strikeouts. Calvin LeBrun got the win in relief, going 4.0 innings of two-run ball with five strikeouts before giving way to the closer Legumina for the ninth.
"It was an outstanding effort offensively against one of the premier Friday night arms in the country in Matt Canterino," head coach Mark Machtolf said. "We played good team defense and had good outings from Davis and LeBrun, and Legumina came in and shut the door. We need to bring that same energy and focus into tomorrow's doubleheader."
In that big third inning, GU got RBI singles from Jace VanDeBrake and Breshears, an RBI double by Pinorini and an RBI triple from Trube.
GU added a single run in the fifth, sixth and seventh. Pinorini's homer came in the fifth, Yake had a sacrifice fly in the sixth and Schubert doubled down the right field line to cap the scoring for the Zags in the seventh.
Gonzaga continues its four-game series at Rice with a doubleheader on Saturday at Reckling Park at Noon PT/2 p.m. CT. Live coverage links are available on the baseball schedule page at GoZags.com.
