SPOKANE, Wash. — No. 14 Gonzaga fell behind 2-0 at the onset of its West Coast Conference series finale with Portland Saturday at Patterson Baseball Complex, but stormed back with five runs over the next three frames and a resurgent defensive effort that blanked the Pilots (20-14, 7-8 WCC) through the rest of the game en route to a series-clinching 5-2 win.

The series win is the fifth-straight for the Bulldogs (23-9, 11-4), who maintain sole possession of first place in the WCC standings. Gonzaga has only lost one weekend series all season, and hasn't lost a series of three or more games in over a month.

RHP Owen Wild recovered from the two-run first with five innings of scoreless ball en route to his fourth win this season, striking out six in the process while only walking one on six total hits. RHP Alec Gomez slammed the door on any hopes of a Pilots comeback with a hitless three frames of relief, getting two of his four total strikeouts in the final frame to earn his second save of the season.

Tyler Rando (2 R), Shea Kramer (2 RBI) and Ezra Samperi (1 RBI) all picked up a pair of hits each to lead a nine-hit effort from the Bulldogs, with Grayson Sterling adding a pair of RBI on one hit and one run.

"Another gritty win to secure an important league series win," said GU Head Coach Mark Machtolf. "Proud of our offense to respond with a big three-run first inning after going down 2-0. After that, it was all Wild and Gomez — eight shutout frames."

The Action
The Pilots put up two quick runs in the top of the first with two swings of the bat — Jake Tsukada singled and Christian Cooney crushed a homer to right field for an immediate 2-0 advantage. But Wild responded with three consecutive outs, inducing a fly ball and a grounder to third before striking out Ben Patacsil swinging to end the frame.

GU got to work just as quickly with three runs in the bottom of the frame to surge ahead after juicing the bases with singles from Apodaca and Rando and a HBP drawn by Coballes– a lead they wouldn't relinquish through the rest of the game. Sterling picked up his first RBI of the game in the following at-bat with a grounder that brought Apodaca across to cut the deficit to one, and Kramer connected on a deep two-out triple to right that plated two more to give the Bulldogs their first lead.

A pair of RBI singles from Ezra Samperi (2 H, 1 RBI) and Sterling in the third frame tacked on two more runs to the lead, and the Zags pitching staff took care of the rest. Wild held the Pilots scoreless the rest of his time on the mound, and Gomez' shutdown performance after Wild's departure sealed the deal, punctuated by two strikeouts in the top of the ninth to end the game.

Series at a Glance
With the 2-1 series win, Gonzaga leads the all-time series between the two teams 59-15 since 2000. In 2021, before sweeping the conference series in Portland, Zags won an earlier non-conference matchup against the PIlots in March at home, 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.

Up Next / Follow the Game
The Zags are set to head to Corvallis, Ore. for a two-game nonconference series against Oregon State on Monday and Tuesday, with starters still to-be-determined.  Game times and updates, live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @zagbaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.