SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga baseball's dominance en route to its fifth West Coast Conference title this spring yielded plenty of recognition from the 2021 WCC All-Conference Awards ahead of its trip to Eugene for NCAA Regionals this weekend, all while making a bit more history along the way.

A program-record nine Zags earned all-conference nods and three took home three of the league's five major individual awards to match another record set in 2013, the WCC announced Wednesday — an unsurprising development for a GU team that earned its best NCAA seeding and poll ranking in program history in recent weeks. In conference play, the Zags were second in the conference in team batting average (.279) and runs (320) leading the league in hits (478).
 
Mark Machtolf was named WCC Coach of the Year, his fourth time bringing home the award since first winning it in 2009. Machtolf steered the Bulldogs through a year that saw a litany of obstacles and setbacks, including multiple cancelled games and a COVID pause, into the final weekend needing just one win to clinch the conference title and GU's first postseason berth since 2018.
 
Meanwhile, Zags ace Alek Jacob, a senior from Spokane, is the conference Pitcher of the Year after a historic year that saw him record the program's fifth-ever no-hitter and crack 100 K's on the season in his final start. The 6'3 righty was never tagged for a loss in any of his starts in conference play, finishing with an ERA of 2.18 in 11 appearances in conference play, doing duty as both a starter and a late-game closer.
 
Jacob is the sixth GU thrower to win the award, and the first to do so since 2013.
 
Third baseman Brett Harris' flashy fielding earned him GU's second-ever Defensive Player of the Year award after finishing the year with 58 putouts and 77 assists on 138 total chances while turning three double plays — good for a fielding percentage of .978. The Arlington, Ill., native was no slouch at the plate either, leading GU in batting average (.358), OPS (1.039), runs (50) and hits (67).
 
Harris and Jacob were the Zags' two representatives on the All-WCC First Team, followed by Saturday starter/first baseman Gabriel Hughes and catcher Tyler Rando on the Second Team. Hughes and Rando provided consistency on both offense and defense for the Bulldogs, with Hughes hitting .261 while posting a 1.86 ERA with a 4-1 record starting on the mound in WCC play and Rando driving in 15 RBI while holding down home plate with a team-high 191 putouts and .995% fielding in that same span.
 
Relievers Brody Jessee, Michael Spellacy and Trystan Vrieling joined Grayson Sterling and Andrew Orzel on the Honorable Mention list to make it nine total Zags receiving conference honors. Orzel (.330) and Sterling (.306) were the second- and fourth-best hitters in the GU lineup by average in conference play, becoming mainstays as the 27-game pennant race rounded into shape. 

The trio of relievers all similarly gained momentum as dependable closers during that span. Leading the staff in saves (3) and appearances (12), Vrieling finished third on the team in K's in conference play behind Jacob and Hughes at 33, with Spellacy fourth (24) and Jessee fifth (16). Spellacy also had the most innings pitched of any non-starter for GU in WCC play, with 32.0.
 
Sterling, Vrieling and Hughes all made the WCC's 10-player All-Freshman team in addition to their other honors.
 
The Zags' season continues as a No. 2 seed at NCAA Regionals on Friday, when they will face third-seeded LSU in their first game in the Eugene Region.