SPOKANE, Wash. — Coming off a series upset of then-No. 11 TCU in Fort Worth, Gonzaga baseball heads down to the Bay Area to open West Coast Conference play with three games against Santa Clara. The matchup is the first of the 27-game conference pennant race for both teams, but not GU's first against a conference opponent — the Bulldogs (8-8)  previously played three games with Portland, but those matchups do not count toward conference play.
 
The Broncos (6-9) have beaten each opponent they've faced in a series at least once — highlighted by a 13-0 win over Stanford Feb. 28 — but are still without a series win in the non-conference after matchups with the Cardinal, UC Santa Barbara, Sacramento State and UC San Diego. GU will be the first team Santa Clara plays from outside the state of California this season.
 
Santa Clara has a .254 batting average as a team on the season to GU's .272, but eight different Broncos have combined for 15 home runs in as many games, paced by seniors Mike Bowes (8 runs, 15 hits, 11 RBI, 3 HR) and Jason Dicochea (10 runs, 17 hits, 10 RBI, one HR). 
 
Of GU's 10 homers on the season, Gonzaga catcher/DH Stephen Lund has four. Lund, the reigning WCC Player of the Week after hitting three homers on a team-high 11 hits and seven runs last week, finished with a slam in both of the Bulldogs' wins over TCU. Despite a 2-3 week down south, two close battles with No. 9 Texas Tech and the series upset over the Horned Frogs gave the Zags momentum going into their WCC opener. GU ranks 34th nationally in total runs, led by Brett Harris (.410, 20 runs, 25 hits, one HR), whose team-leading .556 OBP is 34th in the NCAA as well.
 
Inside the Series
The Bulldogs are 46-28 against SCU all time but didn't meet during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. They last played in 2019, in a conference series the Zags won 2-1.
 
Pitching Battle
SCU's two most-used throwers, Cole Kitchen (16.1) and Freddie Erlandson (15 IP) both have the lowest ERAs on the team with 2.76 and 2.40 respectively. But GU's staff has played its last five games against two of the Big 12's best offensive teams, with this weekend's probable starters Gabriel Hughes and Alec Gomez both earning wins against TCU.
 
Probable Series Starters
Friday
RHP Gabriel Hughes (2-2, 22.2 IP, 21 K, 5.56 ERA) vs. LHP Russell Grant (0-1, 12.0 IP, 18K, 6.00 ERA)
Saturday
RHP Alec Gomez (2-0, 15 IP, 9 K, 4.80 ERA) vs. RHP Freddie Erlandson (0-2, 15.0 IP, 14K, 2.40 ERA)
Sunday
TBA vs. TBA
 
Notes
West Coast Conference Outlook
- Gonzaga is one of three teams to have played at least 16 games during the non-conference slate. The Zags join Saint Mary's (17 games) and San Francisco (16 games) with at least 16 games played.
- The Bulldogs rank third in the WCC in hitting percentage at .272. San Diego claims the top spot (.325), while Pacific ranks second (.275). Santa Clara, GU's upcoming conference-opening series opponent, ranks sixth hitting .254.
- The Zags rank second in RBI with 94. Brett Harris ranks fifth in the conference with 15 RBI, while three other Zags rank inside the top 10: Guthrie Morrison, Andrew Orzel and Stephen Lund all have 12.
- GU also ranks second in runs with 111.
- Gonzaga was picked to finish the WCC second behind Pepperdine.

Last Time Out
- Gonzaga won the series against then-No. 11 TCU 2-1 for its first series win against a ranked opponent in nearly a decade.
- Brett Harris led the way with a .583 batting average with seven hits, six runs and one RBI.
- Stephen Lund finished with a team-high five RBI off seven hits including one home run. He finished with a .467 batting average to rank second on the team, but led with a whopping .867 slugging percentage.
- On the mound, Bradley Mullan posted a 2.45 ERA--the lowest among GU pitchers over the course of the series--in 3.2 innings pitched with two strikeouts, three walks and one error giving up three hits and one run.
- GU racked up 24 runs over the three-game series.
 
Zags at a Glance
- Brett Harris leads the Zags in batting average (.410) and OPS (.556), while Stephen Lund ranks second in batting average and OPS at .375 and .463, respectively.
- Lund was recently named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week for his performances at Texas Tech and TCU. Lund hit .440 in two games against TTU and three games at TCU, racking up a team-high 11 hits and a team-high tying seven runs.
 
Nationally Speaking...
- Brett Harris has been hit by pitches nine times in the young season, the top mark in the country.
- As a team, GU batters have been hit by pitches 33 times; that number ranks fifth in the country.
- Currently, Gonzaga ranks tied for ninth in the nation in double-plays, with 15 on the season.