SPOKANE, Wash. – In a West Coast Conference series opener that began Thursday night but was delayed until Friday afternoon by the sudden onset of snowy conditions, No. 14 Gonzaga took control over the final two frames to snag a 5-3 win.

Savier Pinales (2 hits, 2 RBI) scored three of the Bulldogs' five runs in the winning effort, including a massive momentum-swinging two-run homer at the onset of the resumed game on Friday that broke the tie and set up RHP Michael Spellacy for the close and his fourth win on the mound. Cade McGee added a pair of knocks of his own, and Connor Coballes and Tyler Rando picked up RBIs to lead five other Zags batters who got at least one hit each to round out a nine-hit outing.

RHP Gabriel Hughes put in another productive outing, holding the Pilots (19-13, 6-7 WCC) to just three runs — all unearned — on six hits while striking out 10 in six frames of work. RHP Nico Zeglin struck out five in two hitless frames of relief before the game's suspension, and Spellacy kept the Pilots off the board in the final frame with the lead in hand to earn his fourth win of the season.

The Action

After two and a half scoreless frames, Pinales singled to start the third frame and stole second in the next at-bat, racing home for the first run of the game when Coballes connected on an RBI single for a 1-0 lead.

The Pilots responded with three unearned runs in the top of the next frame with two outs on the board, reaching on an error when Jake Holcroft doubled down the left field line and getting two more on an RBI single from Sam Brown and a bases-loaded wild pitch before Hughes induced a 1-3 groundout to end the frame without any further damage.

GU cut the lead to one in the next frame, capitalizing on a throwing error that allowed Rando to reach first and give Pinales time to score his second run of the game.

Hughes notched double-digit K's for the fourth time this season in the sixth, ending the frame by getting Jake Tsukada swinging to strand Nich Klemp on second. Zeglin took the mound in the seventh after a scoreless bottom of the frame for GU, striking out three straight to keep the Zags moving with the score unchanged.

Snow had already begun falling in the bottom of the inning when Rando came up with a solo homer over the left field wall — his second of the season — that tied the game up at 3-all, and Sterling and McGee followed up with back-to-back singles to threaten to retake the lead before a flyout from Kramer kept the game knotted. 

As the wintery conditions intensified, Zeglin struck out two more while throwing another hitless frame for the Zags in the top of the eighth before the snow delay and eventual postponement pushed the rest of the game until Friday afternoon.

After the game picked back up at 4 p.m. Friday, and the Bulldogs' bats heated up almost immediately. After Ezra Samperi singled to center field, Pinales slammed his second homer of the season on a 1-2 count to score them both and give GU its first lead since the third.

RHP Michael Spellacy took over on the mound in the top of the ninth, making quick work of the Pilots lineup with a groundout and a flyout before striking out Trace Tammaro to end the game and seal a 1-0 series lead with 45 minutes to go before game two.