Baseball to No. 23 Southern Miss for Weekend Series

Saturday, March 2

Hattiesburg, Miss.

11 a.m. PST

Gonzaga University

#23 Southern Miss

Photo by: Zachary Lucy

Baseball to No. 23 Southern Miss for Weekend Series

2/28/2019 4:33:00 PM | Baseball

Baseball Game Notes

GU in middle of 17-game road swing to start season

Gonzaga (2-6) at No. 23 Southern Miss (4-3)
Hattiesburg, Mississippi | Pete Taylor Park

Saturday, March 2 | 11 a.m. PT (moved from Friday due to rain)
RHP Casey Legumina (0-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. LHP Stevie Powers, Jr., (1-1, 5.87)
Live Video |  Live Stats

Saturday, March 2 | 2 p.m. PT (moved later as part of doubleheader)
RHP Nick Trogrlic-Iverson (0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. RHP Mason Strickland, Sr. (1-0, 5.79)
Live Video |  Live Stats

Sunday, March 3 | 11 a.m.
LHP Justin Blatner (1-0, 3.60) vs. RHP Walker Powell, Jr. (0-0, 0.77)
Live Video |  Live Stats

Sullivan Continues to Mash
- Newcomer Ryan Sullivan hit three more home runs in four games at CSUN and is now leading the Zags with a .375 batting average. He's got four homers, seven RBI and 14 runs scored in eight starts.
- He hit .389 with a 1.000 slugging percentage at CSUN in four games, totaling three homers, six RBI and nine runs scored.

Newcomers Stepping Up
- Along with Sullivan's big weekend at CSUN, Gonzaga newcomers Guthrie Morrison and Josh Bristyan also stepped up. Sullivan joined the Zags from Iowa Western CC, while Morrison came from Edmonds [Wash.] CC and Bristyan from Paradise Valley [Ariz.] CC.
- At CSUN, Morrison hit .375 with six hits in four games, knocking in three and scoring three times.
- For the series at CSUN, Bristyan hit .316 with six hits, including four doubles, two RBI and two runs.

Rotation Changes
- After going with the rotation of Legumina-Jacob-Lardner as he had the first three games of each weekend, Gonzaga head coach Mark Machtolf is moving Nick Trogrlic-Iverson into the rotation and Alek Jacob to the back end of the bullpen. Jacob did close the end of a restarted game at CSUN for his first win of the year, just before he started a game that immediately followed.
- Casey Legumina will hold down the Friday role, while Justin Blatner will move into the Sunday role after a pair of solid starts to the season.

Lights Out Legumina
- Casey Legumina, who returned to GU after being drafted in the 35th round of the MLB Draft last summer, is torching hitters with 17 strikeouts in 12.0 innings pitched across two starts.
- He's allowed hitters to bat just .156 against him and has a 1.00 WHIP and 1.50 ERA on the season so far.

2019 Is Underway
- The Zags had a tough weekend at CSUN, going 1-3 for the second straight week. GU took the opening game in a two-day marathon that featured a stoppage due to darkness, a restart the next morning, and 13 total innings.
- Gonzaga went 1-3 at the Collegiate Baseball Classic in Surprise, Arizona, to open the season. The Zags fell to Minnesota on Friday, No. 5/8 Oregon State on Saturday and New Mexico on Sunday, but defeated Minnesota on Monday.
- LHP Justin Blatner went 6.0 innings with 11 strikeouts in a career-best performance, allowing just two unearned runs on one hit with one walk.
- Newcomer Ryan Sullivan was 5-for-14 (.357) on the week, scoring five times and hitting one home run. INF Ernie Yake also had five hits and knocked in four runs in four games.

Bright Spots in Surprise
- Along with Ryan Sullivan's five-hit opening week, newcomer Brett Harris started the final two games and reached four times with two hits, a walk and a HBP. He also drove in two runs and scored twice.
- Troy Johnston returned after missing most of last season with a hand injury to collect four hits with a team-high three doubles. He also had three RBI and reached twice via walk to collect a .353 on-base percentage.
- In the bullpen, Emory transfer Billy Dimlow threw 2.0 innings of shutout relief, allowing just one hit and striking out three.
- Left-handed Trent Schulte also returned after a late-season hand injury last year to throw 1.2 innings of shutout relief, allowing just one hit and striking out two.

Season Opening Notes
- The Zags return 20 players from 2018 (35 on roster).
- GU was selected as the preseason West Coast Conference favorite by the league's 10 head coaches. GU earned five first-place votes.
- RHP Casey Legumina and 3B Ernie Yake were named to the Preseason All-WCC Squad.
- Head coach Mark Machtolf is entering his 16th season at the helm of the program, and his 29th season on the Gonzaga coaching staff overall. He has a career record of 450-363-2.

Closer to Starter
- Friday starter Casey Legumina enters the season as a Preseason All-America Second Team selection by Collegiate Baseball.
- Legumina closed games for the Zags in 2018 to the tune of a school-record 13 saves.
- The Chandler, Arizona, native appeared in 26 games overall in 2018, finishing with a 3-3 record in 48.2 innings pitched. He had 52 strikeouts with only seven walks and recorded a 2.77 earned-run average on the year, while being named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list.
- Legumina was drafted in the 35th round by the Cleveland Indians in the 2018 MLB Draft.

2018 Recap
- GU went 33-24 last season and won the West Coast Conference Tournament title to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. GU outscored its opponents 34-5 in three games at the league tournament.
- At the Minneapolis Regional, GU went 1-2 with a pair of losses to UCLA and a win over Canisius as the No. 3 seed.
- The NCAA bid marked GU's second in the last three seasons after earning an at-large bid in the 2016 season.
- It also marked the third straight year with a WCC title. GU won a share of the regular season title in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Returning Pitching
- Along with Legumina making the leap from closer to starter, the Zags return two of the league's best from 2018 in Alek Jacob and Mac Lardner.
- Jacob, a sophomore right-hander, went 7-5 with a 2.88 ERA and .199 batting average against in his freshman season.
- Lardner, a junior left-hander, was 7-4 with a 2.95 ERA.

Offensive Production Returning
- Sophomore 3B Ernie Yake was the Zags' top threat on offense as a freshman in 2018. He hit a team-leading .322 with 76 hits, including 15 doubles, both team-highs. Yake struck out only 20 times in 236 at-bats.
- Senior C Austin Pinorini will also provide some offensive punch after turning in on down the stretch last season. He earned both WCC All-Tournament and NCAA All-Region honors, going 7-for-13 with a homer at the WCC Tournament and 4-for-10 at the NCAA Regionals.

New Faces
- SS Josh Bristyan comes to Gonzaga after a stellar career at Paradise Valley [Ariz.] Community College. He was named NJCAA Division II First Team All-American in addition to being named to the 2018 ABCA/Rawlings NJCAA Div. II Gold Glove Team, making him a two-time recipient of the award.
- RHP Nick Trogrlic-Iverson chose the Zags over pro ball after being drafted in the 15th round by the Milwaukee Brewers. The Oakville, Ontario native spent two seasons at Central Arizona College, going 8-3 on the season with six complete games. In 76.2 innings pitched, he posted a 2.35 ERA with 91 strikeouts and 20 earned runs.

Follow the Zags
- Follow all the action for Gonzaga women's tennis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with @zagsbaseball or on GoZags.com.