Baseball Hosts CSUN in First Home Series Friday

Friday, March 6

Spokane, Wash.

3 p.m.

Gonzaga University

CSUN

Photo by: Zachary Lucy Photography

Baseball Hosts CSUN in First Home Series Friday

3/5/2020 2:06:00 PM | Baseball

GU will play four against the Matadors over the weekend

Gonzaga (3-8) vs. CSUN (8-3)
Friday-Sunday, March 6-8 | Spokane, Wash. | Patterson Baseball Complex and Coach Steve Hertz Field
Live Stats | Game Notes

Probable Starting Pitchers
Fri., March 6 | 3 p.m. | Live Video
CSUN - RHP Blake Sodersten (2-1, 4.76 ERA) vs. GU - LHP Mac Lardner (0-2, 2.41 ERA)

Sat., March 7 | 1 p.m. | Live Video
CSUN - RHP Blaine Traxel (2-0, 3.32 ERA) vs. GU - RHP Alek Jacob (1-1, 3.38 ERA)

Sat., March 7 | 4 p.m. - Doubleheader | Live Video
CSUN - RHP Gavin Lizik (1-0, 3.97 ERA) vs. GU - RHP Nick Trogrlic-Iverson (0-2, 6.08 ERA)

Sun., March 8 | 12 p.m. | Live Video
CSUN - TBA vs. GU - TBA

Home Opening Notes
- Gonzaga is 14-2 all-time under Mark Machtolf in home openers, including 14 wins in a row after dropping the
first two of his head coaching career.
- Last season, GU took a 5-4 win over Washington in its home opener.
- GU is 7-1 when starting the home schedule with a non-conference matchup under Machtolf.

Last Time Out
- Gonzaga went 1-2 in a three-game set in Mobile, Ala., winning the middle game against South Alabama.
- In the win, GU scored 13 runs, including nine in the final two innings, after erasing a 3-1 deficit for a 13-3 win.
- Eight Zags had multiple hits in the win, led by a 3-for-5, 3-run, 2-RBI performance from Ernie Yake.

Designated Hitter
- Gonzaga DH Tyler Rando has impressed in his first month in a Zag uniform, reaching base safely in all 11 games thus far and leading the team in hitting with 13 hits and a .333 batting average.
- The Mission College transfer also has drawn a team-best six walks and has a team-leading .417 on-base pct.
- Rando, a right-handed batter, is hitting .419 off right-handed pitchers so far this season.

Heating Up
- As a team, Gonzaga .296 in its three-game series at South Alabama with five players hitting . 333 or better.
- 1B/OF Ryan Sullivan hit .417 for the series (5-for-12) with three doubles, four runs scored and three RBI.
- Ernie Yake and Stephen Lund each hit their first home runs of the year. For Yake, it came off the first pitch of the game in GU's win, and for Lund, the homer was the first of the redshirt freshman's career.
- Tyler Rando hit .400 and drew four walks for the series, while Brett Harris, Josh Bristyan and Yake all hit .333.

Clutch Hitters
- Gonzaga's Ernie Yake has been the team's best with runners in scoring position, hitting .500 (4-for-8) on the year.
- Brett Harris is 4-for-11 (.364) and Ryan Sullivan has been solid at 5-for-15 (.333) with RISP.
- Redshirt freshman Alex Shanks has also taken advantage of his opportunities, going 2-for-5 (.400) with RISP.

K-Rates
- For the series at South Alabama, GU's pitching staff had 32 strikeouts in 25.1 innings, putting them at 102 Ks in 92.1 IP for the season, a ratio of 10 Ks per nine innings.
- Redshirt junior Alek Jacob had 11 strikeouts in 6.1 innings against USA, while senior Mac Lardner had 10 Ks in 7.2 innings in his start over the weekend. Lardner leads the team with 25 Ks, while Jacob has 23.

Youth in the 'Pen
- Freshman phenom Gabriel Hughes has also been impressive on the mound with 10 Ks in his 9.2 innings of relief, including a save with three K's in 2.2 innings of GU's win at South Alabama.
- Hughes is holding opposing hitters to 3-for-29 (.103) on the season and has yet to allow a run.
- Freshman Trystan Vrieling has pitched 5.2 innings out of the pen and allowed just one run on the season while holding opposing hitters to a .158 batting average.
- Newcomer Alec Gomez has thrown 7.2 innings out of the pen with a 3.52 ERA and 8 Ks on the year, while holding opposing hitters to a .233 batting average.
Fayetteville Series
- Gonzaga dropped all four games at red-hot then-No. 7 Arkansas in a series in Fayetteville, Ark.
- The Zags kept it close in game one in a 7-5 loss, but the Razorbacks pitching staff kept GU's bats at bay throughout the series.
- Stephen Lund hit .385 for the series and Brett Harris hit .313, each with five hits.
- Harris, Tyler Rando and Gabriel Hughes each drove in three runs, while Ernie Yake scored a team-high four times in the series.

Surprise Opening Weekend
- The Zags went 2-2 in an up-and-down opening weekend that featured a lot of new faces.
- Ten total players, including seven pitchers made their Gonzaga debuts over the four games in Surprise.
- GU defeated No. 25 Oregon State once (in two meetings) and took their single game against New Mexico, while dropping the opener to BYU.
- The end to GU's win over New Mexico came in wild walk-off fashion: after losing a 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth to face a 4-2 deficit, GU loaded the bases in the bottom half, scored one with a sacrifice fly and then scored two after a chopper to shortstop was thrown wide of first base. Ernie Yake was hustling all the way from second to score on the play in which the ball never left the infield.
- Jack Machtolf reached base eight times in 15 plate appearances with four hits and four walks on the week.
- Newcomers Tyler Rando and Gabriel Hughes, along with Ryan Sullivan, each collected five hits in four games.
- Sullivan knocked in five runs, including a three-run homer to seal the game against No. 25 Oregon State.
- Sullivan hit for the cycle over the course of the weekend, collecting a double and a triple, and he also stole a team-high two bases on the weekend.
- Sullivan and Hughes each had a four-hit game in the win over Oregon State on Saturday.
- Ryan Sullivan made his first start as a Zag in the outfield - after playing only first base last season - and showed his range with a highlight reel diving catch.
- Redshirt freshman Stephen Lund started behind the plate in three of the four games and came in the late stages of the fourth to put the ball in play that eventually scored the two runs for the walk-off win.
- Josh Bristyan started in centerfield - after playing only middle infield last season - due to injury to last season's everyday centerfielder Guthrie Morrison.
- Freshman Gabriel Hughes played first base in the first three games and then started on the mound in the fourth game. He also batted in the middle of the lineup in the game he pitched.
- As a team, Gonzaga made just two errors in four games for a .987 fielding percentage.
- The Gonzaga staff had 39 strikeouts, but walked 21, in 35.0 innings, holding hitters to a .262 batting average.
- Gonzaga's upperclassman trio of seniors Mac Lardner and Nick Trogrlic-Iverson and junior Alek Jacob is line to serve as the weekend rotation.
- Lardner turned in a fantastic outing against BYU on Friday, going 6.0 innings with 0 ER, 1 H, 9 K and 2 BB.
- Freshman Gabriel Hughes started his first career game and went 6.0 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with six strikeouts and three walks.
- With Hughes start against New Mexico, GU was one strike away from an all-freshman shutout with Reagan Haas and William Kempner out of the bullpen. New Mexico got to Kempner for four runs with two outs in the ninth before GU came back to win.
- Out of the pen, freshman Reagan Haas and Jacob Rutherford each turned in scoreless appearances, facing two batters each. Alec Gomez also was solid, going 4.0 innings in relief and allowing just one run on three hits with four strikeouts.

GU Picked to Win WCC
- Gonzaga baseball was once again tabbed the favorite to win the West Coast Conference, while three Zags were named Preseason All-WCC in the league's preseason poll, voted on by the 10 head coaches.
- Junior righthander Alek Jacob – a 2019 Preseason All-American – headlines three Bulldogs on the 2020 WCC preseason squad. Junior infielder Brett Harris and senior infielder Ernie Yake earned spots and all three earned 2019 All-WCC honors.
- Gonzaga earned 71 points in the poll with two first-place votes, just three points ahead of BYU, who earned five first-place votes and 68 total points.
- LMU was third with three first-place votes and 65 total points. Pepperdine and San Diego finished tied for fourth with 52 points.

Jacob Named Preseason All-American
- Junior right-hander Alek Jacob was named a Preseason All-American by three different outlets, including a First Team not by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
- He was named Second Team by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Third Team by Perfect Game.
- A two-time All-WCC honoree pitched in 25 games with four starts in 2019. He compiled a 7-3 record in 78.2 innings with a 2.17 ERA.
- Jacob had 12 saves and 87 strikeouts, leading the team in both categories.
- Jacob follows last season's Preseason All-America nod earned by Casey Legumina. Prior to Legumina, Jeff Bohling was the last Zag to earn Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-America honors in 2016. Marco Gonzales was also a preseason All-American ahead of the 2013 season.
Returning for 2020
- RHP Alek Jacob was named to the All-WCC First Team and led a group of six returning players recognized by the league last season.
- SS Ernie Yake was named to the Second Team and LHP Mac Lardner, 3B Brett Harris and CF Guthrie Morrison were named Honorable Mention.
- Mason Wells was named to the All-Freshman Team.
- Jacob, Yake and Harris were all named to the 2020 All-WCC Preseason squad.
- Jacob ranked 23rd nationally with his 12 saves, but will move into a full-time starting role in 2020.
- Yake was the third toughest-to-strikeout nationally last season, going down on strikes only once every 17.3 at-bats.
- Lardner led the squad and was 62nd nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.60.

Strong 2020 Schedule
- Gonzaga head coach Mark Machtolf has put together another strong schedule with 15 games against NCAA Tournament teams from last season.
- The non-conference schedule is highlighted by a four-game series on the road against 2019 College World Series participant Arkansas and four total games against last year's regional host and No. 1 seed Oregon State.
- Three-game sets against Loyola Marymount and Cal, as well as a single mid-week game late in the season at Stanford round out the matchups against some 2019's most successful squads.
- Machtolf on the schedule: "Our goal every year is to play as competitive of a schedule as we can that will put us in the best position to win the WCC, advance to the NCAA tournament and ultimately make it to Omaha. We feel this non-conference schedule accomplishes that goal on paper, our players will have the opportunity to play in some big-time venues and atmospheres throughout the season. We also look forward to giving our great fans in Spokane 24 opportunities to see us play at Patterson Baseball Complex."

30 Wins Again in 2019
- Gonzaga hit the 30-win barrier for the fourth straight season and seventh time in the last nine years in 2019, combined for a 31-24 overall record.
- During head coach Mark Machtolf's now 16 years at the helm, GU has won at least 30 games 10 times.

2019 Recap
- Gonzaga is made its sixth trip to the WCC Tournament in the seven-year history of the four-team format, falling to Saint Mary's a game shy of the championship.
- GU finished in second in the West Coast Conference with an 18-9 league record.
- Gonzaga finished ninth nationally in doubles per game at 2.22, led by draftee Troy Johnston's 27 on the year. Returners Guthrie Morrison (13), Ernie Yake (12) and Brett Harris (12) had the next three highest totals.
- Gone from the 2019 squad are three MLB draftees, including eighth-round selection Casey Legumina, 17th-round pick Troy Johnston and 22nd-rounder Austin Pinorini.