SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga baseball used some timely hitting and answered each Washington rally on the way to a 5-4 win on Tuesday night at Patterson Baseball Complex and Coach Steve Hertz Field.

Ernie Yake came up with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to break a four-all tie, and Michael Spellacy came on in the ninth to close it out. Yake went 3-for-5 with with two runs, and knocked home Brett Harris in the eighth, who also had three hits in the game.

"This was a good midweek quality win against a quality UW team," head coach Mark Machtolf said. "We battled through some sloppy play in the fifth, but showed some good team toughness to dig out a win."

Freshman Daniel Naughton got the start on the mound, and in his first collegiate action, threw 2.0 perfect innings with two strikeouts. Michael Spellacy got the save with a perfect ninth, his first of the season.

Nick Nyquist also had two RBI and scored twice for the Zags offense.

Gonzaga jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a run in the first and two more in the second. Nyquist started the scoring with a sac fly in the first and an RBI single in the third. Pinorini then followed up in the third with an RBI double.

After a scoreless first four innings for the Huskies, it was a Gonzaga error with two outs that kept the inning alive and loaded the bases. The next ball in play was lost in the lights by the right fielder and all three runs scored to tie the game.

Brett Harris then gave the lead back to Gonzaga in the sixth with an RBI single.

The Huskies answered with a run in the top of the eighth to tie the score at 4-4 before Yake came through for Gonzaga with a single to the first baseman's left that scored Harris from third.

Gonzaga will be back at home for the weekend with a series against San Diego beginning Friday at 6 p.m. The game will be televised locally on SWX with links to live coverage available on GoZags.com.