Gonzaga University
Portland
No. 14 Gonzaga set to Host Portland in Three-Game WCC Swing
4/13/2022 1:11:00 PM | Baseball
SPOKANE, Wash. – No. 14 Gonzaga baseball returns home for a three-game West Coast Conference series with Portland that begins Thursday, with the Bulldogs looking to retain sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
The Zags (19-7, 7-2) moved up to No. 14 in D1Baseball.com's poll and No. 15 in Baseball America's on Monday after a 2-1 week that saw them earn their fourth straight West Coast Conference series win in convincing fashion over Pepperdine at home as well as a dominant 12-0 midweek win over in-state rival Washington State. They've been ranked amongst the Top 25 teams in the nation in both polls for six consecutive weeks, boasting a No. 15 ranking in the RPI with a 4-3 record in Quad 1 games.
NO. 14/15 GONZAGA (21-8, 9-3) VS. PORTLAND (29-12, 6-6)
APRIL 14-16 | SPOKANE, WASH. | PATTERSON BASEBALL COMPLEX
PROBABLE STARTERS
Thursday, April 14 | 6 p.m.
RHP Gabriel Hughes (5-1, 50.1 IP, 74 K, 3.04 ERA) vs. RHP Brett Gillis (6-1, 51 IP, 67 K, 1.76 ERA)
Friday, April 15 | 6 p.m.
RHP Trystan Vrieling (4-1, 49 IP, 71 K, 3.67 ERA) vs. RHP Brock Gillis (2-3, 32 IP, 30 K, 6.19 ERA)
Saturday, April 16 | 12 p.m.
RHP Owen Wild (3-1, 36 IP, 38 K, 3.50 ERA) vs. RHP Eli Morse (5-0, 49.1 IP, 63 K, 3.47 ERA)
QUICK FACTS
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The Bulldogs have made two of the last three tournaments that have been held, and are nationally ranked in multiple polls for the second season in a row.
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Since 2016, GU boasts a 194-126 record, with four WCC titles (2016, 2017, 2018, 2021) and three NCAA Tournament appearances (2016, 2018, 2021). 19 former Zags have been selected in the MLB Draft since then, with four making their major league debuts during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Zags have a 101-76 record against WCC opponents in that span.
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Since 2019, Gonzaga scored 437 total runs against WCC opponents, which leads the conference. The Bulldogs have led the WCC four separate times in strikeout since 2016, including Brandon Bailey's 125 strikeouts in 2016, which was tied-7th for the most in Division I NCAA Baseball.
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In the past decade, 52 Zags have been selected as All-WCC members, with eleven earning WCC First-Team honors, ten making the WCC Second Team, and 19 honorable Mentions. In 2021, GU picked up a program-record nine All-WCC honorees while taking three of the five major awards.
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Coach Mark Machtolf has earned WCC Coach of the Year four times during his tenure at Gonzaga, including twice since 2017. In addition, GU has had two WCC Players of the Year, two WCC Defensive Players of the Year, and three WCC Pitchers of the Year in the past decade.
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GU has had five Collegiate Baseball All-American selections in the past decade, including two second-team and three third-team selections. Gonzaga has also had two Academic All-Americans and two Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American selections since 2011 to go with seven total All-West team selections, including Marco Gonzales' 2012 All-West Coast Player of the Year season.
LAST TIME OUT
In Tuesday's weekday matchup against in-state rival Washington State, McGee and Rando both slammed homers in the first frame to kickstart a dominant offensive performance that resulted in a 12-0 win.
Against the Dons in San Francisco, the Bulldogs put up 39 total runs — the most they've scored in a three-game series since 2019 — while taking two of three for their fourth-straight WCC series win. All three games saw sudden bursts of offense after periods of stasis — GU broke Friday's game one open with a six-run ninth to run away with an 11-3 victory before a pair of back-and-forth slugfests in Game two and three. The Dons turned an 11-all tie into a 14-11 win with a three-run walkoff homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to even the series on Saturday, but the Bulldogs got the last laugh in the finale, putting 12 runs on the board over the final three frames for a 17-14 win that was their most high-scoring of the season so far.
Tyler Rando (.583) and Ezra Samperi (.500) led the Bulldogs in batting average over the weekend, with Grayson Sterling driving in a team-high nine runs. Nine different Bulldogs batters drove in at least two runs, including a team-high two homers from Ezra Samperi that helped him collect seven RBI and a team-high 14 total bases.
SERIES AT A GLANCE
After sweeping the conference series on the road in 2021, Gonzaga leads the all-time series between the two teams 57-14 since 2000. The Zags won an earlier non-conference matchup against Portland in March, dropping the first game 2-0 before winning two straight to clinch the series. Before dropping the 2-0 decision on March 5, GU had strung together 12 straight wins over the Pilots dating back to 2016, and are now winners of four straight against them.
STAFF CHECK-IN
Four GU pitchers were ranked among the Top 150 prospects in the nation in D1Baseball.com's Midseason Rankings released Wednesday, tied for the third-most total ranked prospects from one team in the nation. Weekend starters Gabriel Hughes (26), Trystan Vrieling (36) and Will Kempner (59) all cracked the Top 60, with reliever Brody Jessee clocking in at No. 127.
GU's pitching staff ranks 60th in the nation with a 4.36 ERA., striking out 10.3 batters per nine innings – good for No. 32 in the nation.
GU's Friday guy Gabriel Hughes (5-1) ranks 8th in the nation in total strikeouts (74) and 22nd in strikeouts per nine innings (13.23), with RHP Trystan Vrieling (4-1) just behind at 11th (71) and 28th (13.04).
The Bulldogs' go-to closers – RHP Michael Spellacy and RHP Brody Jessee – have combined for five wins over 20 appearances, with Spellacy earning a team-high six saves and Jessee striking out the fourth-most batters on the squad (30) over only 20.2 IP. Midweek starters LHP Bradley Mullan (1-0, 19 IP) and RHP Cade McGee (0-1, 8.0 IP) are the next most-used throwers out of the pen.
From 2018-2022, twenty-two different pitchers for Gonzaga have finished seasons with under a 3.50 ERA (minimum 3 games pitched). Right now, five GU pitchers on the current roster meet that standard.
BALANCED OFFENSE
Nine Bulldogs have driven in double-digit runs and four have connected on double-digit extra base hits, led by redshirt freshman Enzo Apodaca (22 RBI, 12 2B, two 3B) and redshirt sophomore Grayson Sterling (20 RBI, 10 2B).
The Zags have one of their most youthful lineups in recent memory, with three underclassmen hitting above .300. McGee leads the lineup in average (.327) with a team-high .961 OPS and the most homers on the team (4) and third-most RBI (19).
Connor Coballes is among the toughest to strike out in the nation, ranking No. 44 nationally with only 10 K's in 110 at-bats so far this season. He ranks second on the team in base on balls (14) while notching double-digit runs (23) and RBI (15).
STRONG SLATE
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The Zags have only faced two opponents below 200 in the RPI rankings, with a cumulative 10-5 record in Quad 1 and 2 games.
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GU's current strength of schedule ranks Top-60 in the nation (per Warren Nolan), and they're tied for the 35th-most Q1 wins in the nation with 4.
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Portland will be the seventh Top-100 RPI team the Bulldogs will face this season.
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The West Coast Conference is also enjoying a strong year, with the eighth-highest non-conference win percentage (NCWP) in the nation at 0.5699.
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Even against the challenging opponents, the Zags' defense is holding opponents to an average of 5.0 runs per nine innings, 64th in the nation, and 8.6 hits per game, 88th-best in the nation.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES / SEASON-OPENING NOTES
- The Zags return 24 players from 2021 (42 on roster).
- GU was selected as the preseason West Coast Conference favorite by the league's 10 head coaches. GU earned nine of ten first-place votes.
- Catcher Stephen Lund and pitchers Gabriel Hughes, Trystan Vrieling and William Kempner were named to the Preseason All-WCC Squad.
- Reigning WCC Coach of the Year Mark Machtolf is entering his 19th season at the helm of the program, and his 32nd season on the Gonzaga coaching staff overall. He has a career record of 531-420-2.
- GU's Friday-Saturday duo of sophomores Gabriel Hughes and William Kempner made Prospects Live's Preseason All-America list in January as a first-team starting pitcher and second-team reliever, respectively.
- Hughes, who was one of five starting throwers on PL's First Team, was also projected to take home West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year honors by Collegiate Baseball News earlier in the month and is on the 55-man Golden Spikes Award Watchlist. The 6'4 righty also came in at No. 42 in MLB.com's 2022 Draft Prospect Rankings and No. 61 in a similar ranking by D1Baseball.com, the highest a GU player has been rated since Marco Gonzales in 2013.
- Kempner, one of eight pitchers on the Second Team, made nine starts in 2021, going 3-3 with a 3.10 ERA over 40.2 innings pitched. A WCC Pitcher of the Week honoree after an eight-inning, 10-strikeout performance against Portland, the 6-foot righty is slotted to assume the Zags' Saturday starting role on the mound. D1Baseball.com's Shotgun Spratling wrote that Kempner "might be the nastiest sidewinder on the West Coast since former Bulldogs closer Wyatt Mills … His heavy fastball can get into the mid-90s while darting and diving all over the place."
