SPOKANE, Wash. — No. 14 Gonzaga baseball (33-14, 20-5 WCC) came into the final West Coast Conference series of the regular season on Thursday at Patterson Baseball Complex and Coach Steve Hertz Field needing just one win over second-place San Diego (31-11, 17-8) to clinch its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2018.
And unfortunately for the Toreros, the Bulldogs didn't seem to feel like waiting.
RHP
Alek Jacob held the team with the best hitting average in the conference scoreless in seven frames of work and the Zags' offense erupted in the fifth after 11 consecutive hitless at-bats, scoring five runs to chase USD ace Jake Miller from the game and hand him his first loss since Feb. 20.
Brett Harris and
Andrew Orzel both hit homers in the seventh to score three more and stretch the lead further, and Jacob and reliever
Trystan Vrieling slammed the door on any hope of a comeback in the final two frames for a 10-0 shutout win.
"So proud of our team!" Head Coach
Mark Machtolf said. "Just a dominant effort in all three phases today. Our guys have sacrificed a lot and put in the work. So proud."
The victory also sealed GU's first regular-season WCC title since 2017, when the Zags swept No. 18 BYU at home to clinch the title but fell to the Cougars in consecutive games in the WCC Tournament. In 2018 and 2019, they finished second in the conference standings, and a pandemic-shortened 2020 season ended before WCC play began.
And just like that title-clinching win in 2017, the Zags celebrated on Hertz Field with a dogpile that felt like a catharsis of a year that saw an unrelenting procession of all kinds of setbacks and tribulations.
By the Numbers
Fanning eight batters, Jacob reached 100 K's on the season for the first time, inching closer to cracking the top ten in program history for most in a single season with at least one more start to go for the rest of the season. Miller was just as dominant until the Bulldogs' fifth-frame outburst, striking out two and inducing nine outs with balls in play while holding GU to just one hit in the first four.
Vrieling entered in the eighth and kept the score clean through the rest of the game, picking up a strikeout in a hitless ninth that ended the game on a double play.
Harris' three-hit, five-RBI night lifted the Zags in crucial moments in tandem with Orzel (two hits, two runs, one RBI) and
Ernie Yake (three hits, one RBI, one run).
Guthrie Morrison (one run),
Grayson Sterling (one run) and
Mason Marenco (two runs) all finished with a knock apiece to round out an 11-hit performance.
The Action
A game that was slated to be a tight contest between two of the WCC's premier throwers certainly was shaping up that way through four.
Both teams picked up base hits in the first frame — Shane McGuire for USD and
Ernie Yake for GU — but Jacob and Miller both halted their respective progress, with Jacob striking two straight to end the top of the inning and Miller inducing a flyout and a groundout with Yake caught stealing at second to match him.
Things got more dicey for the Bulldogs in the top of the second, when Adam Lopez was walked and Tora Otsuka singled to push him to scoring position. Pinch-running for Otsuka, Max Jung-Goldberg was put out at second while Kevin Sim reached on a fielder's choice in the next at-bat, but Lopez advanced to third with two outs. However, a flyout from Paul Kunst stranded both runners on base.
Miller and Jacob continued to gain momentum, battling to a scoreless standstill until the Zags snapped back into focus in the fifth, scoring five runs on four hits and four walks to abruptly chase Miller and transform the complexion of the game completely.
Back-to-back singles from Orzel and Morrison to start the frame put a GU runner on second for the first time of the game. Both stole second and third in the next at-bat, when
Grayson Sterling was walked to juice the bases with no outs and
Mason Marenco up next — a situation more promising than any the Zags found in the first four frames.
And Marenco delivered, finding the gaps in center field to get Orzel home for the first run of the game and reload the bases, still threatening to go for more. After
Jack Machtolf got to a full count in the next at-bat, reliever Connor Thurman replaced Miller on the mound but walked him to score run No. 2 — still no outs, with the bases loaded yet again.
Ryan Sullivan flied out to score Sterling to give GU more breathing room with a 3-0 advantage, but the Zags still had plenty left in the tank.
As the lineup turned over, Yake was walked to put Harris in a position to capitalize — and capitalize he did, rocketing down the middle to bring in two more runs and cue another pitching change, this time turning to RHP Ivra Romero. Rando was walked, but Harris became the second Zag runner caught stealing. Orzel grounded out in his second at-bat of the inning to bring the fifth to a close.
Jacob showed no signs of losing steam after the extended break, closing the Toreros' window of opportunity even further with a three-up, three-down frame that saw two popups and his eighth strikeout of the game.
Morrison was walked to start the bottom of the inning, but Romero responded with two consecutive strikeouts and induced an unassisted groundout from
Jack Machtolf to keep the margin at five. The Zags picked up two more outs in the seventh on a 4-6-3 double play after Jack Costello singled, but Sim and pinch hitter Camden Vasquez singled in succession to give the Toreros some hope of getting back into the game. Nonetheless, Morrison collected a deep drive from Cody Jefferis to keep the shutout going.
Harris and Orzel both slammed homers in the seventh after Yake doubled to left center to bring in three more runs, putting the Toreros in an even bigger hole with time running out and a shutout still active.
Two more runs came in a three-hit eighth, with big swings from Harris and Yake scoring Marenco and
Kanta Kobayashi to stretch the lead to double digits before a ninth that would put the finishing touches on one of the Zags' most impressive wins of the season to date.
Vrieling walked Jung-Goldberg to start the final frame, but struck out Sim swinging before Vasquez hit into the Bulldogs' second double play of the game to complete the shutout in emphatic fashion.
Top Play
Brett Harris lays out for the foul ball, loses his hat to close the fourth inning with three consecutive outs.
Inside the Series
Since the 2000 season, San Diego still leads the series 37-33, but Gonzaga has won each of the last five series and 11 of the last 15 meetings dating back to the 2015 season. In the last series between the two programs back in 2019, the Toreros took the first game 4-2 in 13 innings, but Gonzaga evened the series with a dominant 15-3 win in game two and clinched with an 11-9 win in the finale.
Up Next
The Zags have a chance to clinch the series win on Friday evening and solidify their bid to host an NCAA Regional in Spokane. RHP
William Kempner (3-1, 3.28 ERA, 35.2 IP, 29 Ks) will start on the mound, slated to square off with a to-be-announced starter from USD.
Follow the Game
Friday's matchup is set for a 6 p.m. start time, with Saturday's regular-season finale set for noon. Live streaming will be available via the WCC Network. Check GoZags.com for up-to-date game day information, live stats and more.
