SPOKANE, Wash. — No. 14 Gonzaga took a 1-all tie into the ninth inning of the second game of its West Coast Conference series with Portland on Friday at Patterson Baseball Complex, but ultimately fell 2-1 despite another stellar start on the mound from RHP Trystan Vrieling.

The loss sets the Bulldogs (22-9, 10-4 WCC) up for a rubber match on Saturday that will decide the series. They took the series opener 5-3 in a game that was suspended Thursday night due to snowy conditions and resumed in the afternoon.

Vrieling (4-1) held Portland to one unearned run over a career-high eight innings on the mound, striking out eight while only being tagged for one walk and five hits. The Pilots (20-12, 7-7 WCC) struck first with an unearned run in the first frame on a groundout after Portland's Jake Tsukada reached third on an error, but the 6'4 righthander responded with seven consecutive scoreless frames before RHP Brody Jessee took the mound in the top of the ninth. Jessee allowed one earned run on three hits before striking out Tyler Saunders swinging and inducing a pair of groundouts to end the frame, but the Bulldogs couldn't find a response in the bottom of the frame.

Cade McGee, Jack Machtolf, Savier Pinales and Shea Kramer all picked up hits to lead the Bulldogs on offense, with Pinales stealing two bases and getting GU's lone RBI of the game with a fifth-frame groundout that got Kramer across to tie the game.

Up Next / Follow the Game

The Bulldogs have a chance to win their fifth-straight WCC series in Saturday's series finale, with RHP Owen Wild (3-1, 36 IP, 38 K, 3.50 ERA) set to start on the mound against Portland RHP Eli Morse (5-0, 49.1 IP, 63 K, 3.47 ERA). Tickets, game times, live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @zagbaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.