DALLAS, Texas — After a demoralizing loss on Friday night, Gonzaga's offense made a statement against Dallas Baptist Saturday afternoon, racking up 14 hits and a season-high 19 runs to take the third game of the series. GU came into the game without a single home run on the season, but Jack Machtolf, Brett Harris, Gabriel Hughes and Stephen Lund all went yard against the Patriots — with Machtolf going the distance twice for a total of five homers in the 19-7 victory. GU now leads the four-game series 2-1.
 
After drawing first blood for the first time this series with a three bases-loaded walks in the third inning -- and Jack Machtolf's homer that drove in Tyler Rando, Brett Harris and Ernie Yake. Stephen Lund hit the game's second home run to send Orzel home and enter the next frame with a 9-0 advantage. In the fifth, Gabriel Hughes batted in another home run for Orzel to tack on two more.
 
"Great response today, that's a quality win vs a very good Dallas Baptist team," said GU coach Mark Machtolf. "A lot of big individual efforts offensively, but also very happy with the whole group's energy and resilience after a tough loss last night."

Righty starter Alek Jacob was dominant for GU in 4 1/3 innings pitched, throwing 11 strikeouts and giving up two earned runs on four total hits before being dismissed from the game due to a foreign substance on his glove. In his stead, GU turned to Nico Zeglin and William Kempner for the remaining four-odd innings. Kempner again shouldered much of the relief workload, throwing as many pitches as Jacob (75) with a lower ERA (2.45) and three strikeouts.

DBU's starting RHP Ray Gaither struggled on the mound after holding the Zags scoreless in the first two frames, giving up nine runs and seven hits in 13 at-bats without a strikeout. Cole Reeves threw three K's in relief, but GU's deep hitting became insurmountable even after Jacob's departure and a Patriots' grand slam in the sixth brought hope of a comeback.
 
Along with both homers, Machtolf finished 3-for-6, scoring two runs and batting in six. Andrew Orzel finished 3-for-5 with an RBI, and eight different Zags earned at least two runs. Rando (3 runs, 3 RBI), Guthrie Morrison (2-for-6, one run) and Harris (1-for-5, 3 runs, 3 RBI) added three more off a fielder's choice, a wild pitch, and a single from Orzel in the eighth, and Harris and Machtolf both added two more 2-RBI homers to the total in the ninth to put the game out of reach.
 
Next Up
The time for the final game of the Gonzaga-Dallas Baptist series on Sunday has been changed to 10 a.m. PST. GU leads the series 2-1, and now leads the all-time series 3-2. GU is set to start LHP Bradley Mullan (0-1, 27.00 ERA, 2.0 IP, 3 K), while LHP Jared Pettitte (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3.1 IP, 4 K) is set to make the start for the Patriots.
 
Follow the Game
Up-to-date game time information is available on GoZags.com, and free live streaming will be available via DBU. 
 
Series Background
This was the fifth meeting between Gonzaga and Dallas Baptist on the diamond, the first two being in 2005 and 2007, respectively. The series is now 3-2 all time.


Notes
-A day after starting on the mound, Gabriel Hughes went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI, 2 runs and one of the game's five homers.
-Jack Machtolf doubled his career HR total today from 2 to 4.
-The Zags matched their hit total from Friday by the third inning.
-Guthrie Morrison has the only stolen base of the game for GU.
-Today's home run total ties for the program's second-highest in history at 5. GU's 19 runs tie for fourth-most in history.
-Despite going without a homer until today this season, GU now ranks No 23 amongst teams for total HRs nationally.
-With 17 batters HBP this season, GU is still No. 1 in the nation in that stat.
-Brett Harris fell to No. 19 in the country in on base percentage, but has logged more at bats than any of the players before him.