Box Score DALLAS, Texas — Damp conditions prevailed as Gonzaga's methodical offense battled with Dallas Baptist's hyper-productive hitters through a 30-minute lightning delay Thursday in Dallas, but GU's bullpen took control as the game stretched into Friday morning and the Zags rallied from a disastrous five-run first inning to win 10-7.
 
DBU righty starter Kyle Rich shut down the Bulldogs' lineup in the first round, throwing three strikeouts in 2.1 innings pitched. But Rich gave up three runs after the weather delay in the third, and DBU's relievers didn't throw a strikeout until the sixth as the Zags (3-2) chipped away at the lead, benefiting from 13 walks while loading the bases in three separate innings.
 
"Really proud of how our guys answered back after a tough first inning tonight," said Head Coach Mark Machtolf. "A quality resilient effort all around the diamond to dig out a big win on the road."


GU batters picked up eight hits — led by Guthrie Morrison (3-for-6, 2 runs, 4 RBI) and Ernie Yake (1-for-3, 3 runs, 1 RBI). Andrew Orzel, Brett Harris, Stephen Lund and Gabriel Hughes all finished with a hit each. Hits from Morrison keyed in three-run third and seventh innings and a two run fifth that swung momentum in GU's favor.


Zags starter Trystan Vrieling allowed five runs and walked three DBU hitters but struck out six. Six different Gonzaga pitchers kept the nation's most prolific home run-hitting team from sending a single ball out of the park through eight innings while combining for 14 strikeouts. Vrieling (1-0) earned the win, and Gomez the save. 


After play resumed, RHP Bradley Mullan pitched one inning of relief, posting two strikeouts and largely kept the Patriots' bats at bay. Regan Haas threw four strikeouts in two scoreless innings after Mullan, and Brody Jessee, Michael Spellacy, and Alec Gomez all combined for the final 3.3 innings to close out the game.
 
The Action


DBU's offense was surgical in a five-run first frame, buoyed by three walks on 53 pitches from Vrieling. Six players got on base despite Vrieling striking out three, including Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Week Blayne Jones with the bases loaded. On all three Patriots' base hits in the first, Vrieling had pitched two strikes on the batter before the last slipped away.
 
Rich doubled up on GU's struggles in the next frame with three quick outs on only nine pitches — strikeouts on Stephen Lund and Gabriel Hughes, and a first base putout for Jack Machtolf.
 
But Vrieling started gaining momentum in the bottom of the second, striking out two more hitters and stranding one on base to slow DBU's roll before weather became a factor.


The Zags' disciplined offense found its gear in the next inning as well — collecting walks and opportunistic hits and capitalizing on errors. In three at-bats, Grayson Sterling was walked, Ernie Yake was hit by a pitch and Guthrie Morrison singled down the right field line for Sterling to score GU's first run. Harris was hit by a pitch again, and he and Morrison were both on base when the game was halted due to weather (lightning). 


After the half-hour delay, Patriots reliever Chandler Arnold inherited a difficult situation in the heavy rain, and GU made the most out of his difficulty finding the strike zone in the damp conditions. Tyler Rando singled to load the bases, Lund was walked to send Yake home, and Morrison reached home on a wild pitch to put the game at 5-3.  
 
Bradley Mullan threw in relief after the break, throwing two strikeouts before a double from Ryan Wrobleski got Andrew Benefield home to tack on another run. A diving catch from Grayson Sterling in right field ended the third.
 
Sophomore RHP Reagan Haas replaced Mullan going into the fifth and immediately proceeded to throw three-straight strikes for his first K. He emphatically closed the inning with the Zags' 10th and 11th strikeouts of the night as the wind and rain started to die down for a brief period.


Even as the weather improved, the Bulldogs' offense kept trudging along while the Patriots' stalled. The tying runs finally came in the fifth, when GU loaded the bases once again — Yake was walked to send Lund home to put it at 5-6, and Morrison split second and third with a grounder that sent Sterling home to put it at 6-all — but three runners were left on base after a double play controlled the damage. DBU righty Zach Heaton's first strikeout and another difficult double play from the Patriots infield ended the sixth before the Zags could muster a run.


RHPs Brody Jessee and Michael Spellacy filled in the bottom of the sixth as the wind picked again, keeping DBU's bats quiet despite four more flies. The Zags took a 10-6 lead with a four-run seventh that saw a bases-loaded RBI double deep into the corner of left field from Morrison and walks from Rando and Andrew Orzel that drove in runs.


DBU's Zane Russell made his 2021 mound debut in the eighth with a 1-2-3 inning, and Jackson Glynn hit a solo homer for the first RBI for the Patriots since the third. Russell held GU scoreless again in the ninth with 3 strikeouts, but DBU still couldn't generate the runs needed to make up the distance even after hits from Andres Sosa and Jace Grady: With runners on second and third, Alec Gomez came in to close the game with a strikeout, a groundout and a final pop fly.
 
Next Up
 
Gonzaga faces the Patriots for game two at 4:30 pm PT Friday. DBU RHP Dominic Hamel (1-0, 3.60 ERA, 5.0 IP, 7 K) is set to face Zags RHP Gabriel Hughes (0-0, 2.70 ERA, 6.2 IP, 7 K).
 
Follow the Game


Up-to-date game time information is available on GoZags.com, and free live streaming will be available via DBU. GU is set to start the series at 4:30 p.m. PT on Friday, Feb. 26.
 
Series Background
This was the third-ever meeting between Gonzaga and Dallas Baptist on the diamond, the last being a 6-4 win in Frisco, Texas in 2007. The series is now 2-1 all time.
 
Notes
-GU had 11 runners left on base; DBU finished with 14.
-Spellacy was the only Zags pitcher to throw for more than 2.0 innings, with 2.1.
-DBU started the season with a knack for the long ball, leading the NCAA with an average of 3.7 per game. Jackson Glenn's solo slam tacked one more onto the Patriot's total, but they didn't send a baseball out of the park until the eighth inning.
-Grayson Sterling led off on three separate innings for GU.
-Before this game, DBU had not committed an error in 102 opportunities. In the wet conditions, Patriots infielders committed three errors while GU committed one.
-Blayne Jones, a .417 hitter with 4 home runs coming into this game, struck out a career-high four times.
-DBU didn't get a hit from the third inning until the sixth, when Jeffrey David doubled for his first hit of the season. 
-Haas has yet to give up a run this season in his two appearances.