COLUMBIA, Mo. — No. 15 Gonzaga baseball's bats came alive at just the right time in its weekday matchup with Missouri, putting up seven runs in the eighth to complete a rally that brought the Bulldogs (10-2) their eighth straight win.
GU fell behind 5-1 at one point before blowing the game open in the penultimate frame, getting nine runners on base and capitalizing with RBIs from Shea Kramer, Connor Coballes, Savier Pinales and Enzo Apodaca.
The Zags batted .500 with runners on base and in scoring position, finishing with 12 hits in total. Apodaca (2 RBI, 1 run) and Connor Coballes (2 RBI, 2 runs) led the Bulldogs with three hits apiece, with Kramer (2 RBI, 1 run) adding two more. Eight different Zags scored runs, with six picking up at least a knock.
"Really proud of that effort today," said GU Head Coach Mark Machtolf. "Not the prettiest game but did a great job of staying with it and clawing back in the lead. Really nice to see Kramer and Apodaca have some big hits, especially Kramer who had some back luck earlier in the game."
GU brought in a season-high five pitchers in the win, with the last four holding the Tigers scoreless through the rest of the game. RHP Nico Zeglin earned the win with a scoreless seventh frame that saw him strike out two without allowing a hit or a walk, and RHP Nate Weeldreyer threw a team-high 3.1 scoreless frames with two strikeouts and one hit without any walks. RHP Owen Wild and Michael Spellacy both added a strikeout apiece while throwing two more scoreless innings to close the game.
"Can't say enough about our bullpen today," Machtolf said. "Huge effort from Weeldreyer to come in and throw some zeroes up."
The Action
For the first time in the last six games, GU wasn't first to put a run on the board after three quick outs in the first, with a single from Mizzou's Torin Montgomery scoring Josh Day for a 1-0 lead before LHP Bradley Mullan (2.2 IP, 1 BB, 1 K) stitched a double play that kept a second run off the board and ended the frame.
GU got to work quickly in the second — Sterling got on base thanks to an error and McGee followed up with a single to get two runners on with zero outs, and Kramer laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them to third and second, respectively. Coballes singled to right field to score Sterling and tie the game, but McGee was thrown out at home to keep the Zags from taking a lead.
The Tigers retook the lead with an RBI single from Day in the bottom of the frame and put three more runs on the board in the third to get out to a 5-1 lead, with LHP Nathan Landry holding the Zags hitless until the fifth.
With just two frames left to mount a comeback, Apodaca connected on his second hit of the day with another single to lead off the eighth. Rando and Lund drew walks in the next two at-bats to push him to second before Grayson Sterling struck out and Cade McGee was put out at first to narrow the Zags' margin for error. They put up seven runs anyways, with Kramer singling up the middle to score Apodaca and Rando, Coballes pushing another across after being hit by a pitch, Pinales singling to score Kramer and Apodaca singling yet again to bring in Pinales and Coballes.
Kramer reached scoring position again in the ninth after singling again and advancing on a passed ball, but a flyout from Logan Johnstone ended the frame without another run. Spellacy entered the game to pitch the final frame, inducing a pair of foulouts and striking out Montgomery swinging to make it six consecutive innings without a run scored by the Tigers.
Series at a Glance
With the win, GU holds a 6-2 lead in the all-time series and are winners of two straight. The Tigers and Bulldogs hadn't faced each other in over a decade until today — in their most recent meeting, the squads split a midweek series in Columbia, with Mizzou winning 5-2 on March 8, 2011 and Gonzaga taking a 4-1 win the following day.
Up Next
The Zags now travel to Long Beach, Calif., for a three-game tilt with Long Beach State (5-6). RHP Gabriel Hughes (2-0, 19 IP, 30 K, 2.84 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for Friday's series opener against LBSU RHP Luis Ramirez (1-0, 18 IP, 18 K, 0.5 ERA).
Follow the Game
Friday's series opener with the Dirtbags is set for 6 p.m. first pitch. Live stats and streaming options will be available on GoZags.com — follow @zagbaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.
