SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga baseball took a 4-2 lead into the eighth, but six Minnesota runs proved to be the difference in an 8-5 loss at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona, in GU's season opener.
 
Gonzaga starter Casey Legumina was lights out with a no-hit bid into the sixth, and Nick Nyquist hit a two run homer for Gonzaga (0-1), but Minnesota got to the GU bullpen in the eighth to flip the score from 4-2 to 8-4.
 
"We feel like we did some good things tonight, but had the one rough inning," head coach Mark Machtolf said. "The biggest thing we need to do is learn each day and keep getting better going forward."
 
Legumina was hitting all of his spots to start the game, going through the first five-plus innings without allowing a hit. He struck out seven Gophers in 6.0 innings pitched, while giving up two runs (one earned) and just two hits while walking three.
 
Ernie Yake, Austin Pinorini and Troy Johnston had two hits apiece to lead the offense.
 
Gonzaga got on the board in the first inning when Pinorini knocked home Yake on a groundout. Nyquist then brought the lumber in the second with a two-run blast to make it 3-0 Zags.
 
The Gophers answered with two in the sixth when they broke up Legumina's no-hit bid on a single up the middle and an RBI double. They later added another on a throwing error by Pinorini.
 
GU made it 4-2 on an RBI double from Troy Johnston, but the Gophers had a monstrous eighth inning to take a big lead. Minnesota had six runs on seven hits in the inning with three off of Michael Spellacy and three off Nick Trogrlic-Iverson.
 
Gonzaga mounted a rally in the ninth with the bases loaded and no outs, but was only able to scratch across one run on an RBI groundout by Johnston.
 
Gonzaga continues play at the Collegiate Baseball Classic against defending national champion and fifth-ranked Oregon State on Saturday at Noon PT/1 p.m. MT in Surprise, Arizona. Live stats are available at GoZags.com