SPOKANE, Wash. – Back-to-back homers in the first frame ignited No. 15/17 Gonzaga baseball's loudest offensive performance to date in a 12-0 midweek win over in-state rival Washington State Tuesday at Patterson Baseball Complex, with four GU pitchers combining to shut out the Cougars while holding them to just four hits.
The Bulldogs' third-straight home win lifts them to 19-7 on the season. Sitting at 7-2 and first in West Coast Conference standings, they're set to resume conference play this weekend with a road swing at San Francisco (16-16, 5-4 WCC).
LHP
Bradley Mullan went 4 ⅓ innings in the start, striking out two while keeping the Cougs scoreless on three hits. RHP Jake Rutherford earned the win with a team-high five K's while throwing 2 ⅔ hitless frames, and RHP
Nate Weeldreyer closed out the final 1 ⅔ to complete the shutout, allowing just one hit in that span.
Enzo Apodaca (3 RBI, 1 run),
Connor Coballes (2 runs, 1 RBI) and
Cade McGee (2 RBI, 1 run) all finished with two knocks apiece to lead the Bulldogs, with McGee and
Tyler Rando (2 RBI, 1 run) both slamming home runs in the first frame. Seven different Zags finished with at least one RBI in the winning effort, and GU's 12 runs are the most the Zags have scored in a single game so far this season.
"Good midweek win over a regional rival," said GU Head Coach
Mark Machtolf. "Rando set the tone in the first inning and we were able to keep adding on as the game progressed. Thought Mullan and Rutherford really gave us good outings today."
The Action
WSU got a runner in scoring position early in the first – Jack Smith reached on an error and Mullan walked Jacob McKeon to push him to second, but Coballes and
Shea Kramer (1 hit, 1 run) stitched the Zags' 23rd double play of the season to end the frame without any hits.
The Zags' lineup began the scoring with another tone-setting offensive display in the first frame. After
Connor Coballes was walked,
Tyler Rando slammed his first homer of the year to bring them both home and put the Bulldogs ahead first for the third straight game.
Cade McGee followed up with a blast of his own to push the lead to 3-0, and the Bulldogs didn't look back.
Apodaca brought in the Zags' fourth run in the second, getting
Mason Marenco (1 run) across with his second triple of the season before a pair of strikeouts stranded him on third.
Rutherford took over in the fifth after Mullan got into a jam with two runners on base, striking out Kodie Kolden and inducing a flyout from Jack Smith to end the inning on only eight pitches. He kept rolling over the next two frames, striking out the side in succession in the sixth and getting another K in a hitless seventh.
Meanwhile, a five-run sixth frame for the Zags put the game even further out of reach with the Cougars still looking to get on the board. After
Jack Machtolf (1 hit, 2 RBI, 1 run) and Kramer drew walks and
Ezra Samperi (1 run) reached on an error to load the bases to start the frame,
Savier Pinales (1 run, 1 RBI) was hit by a pitch to churn out the Zags' fifth run and cue another Wazzu pitching change.
Apodaca followed up with a single to right field that plated two more runs from Samperi and Machtolf, and Coballes drove in the eighth run of the game in the next at-bat with a chopper up the middle that scored Pinales. Rando drew a walk to load the bases yet again, and
Grayson Sterling (1 RBI) connected on a sac fly that extended the lead to 9-0 before Kramer struck out to end the inning.
After LHP
Liam McCallum began the eighth, Weeldreyer came in to close, inducing a pair of groundouts and a foulout in the ninth to finish the game with the shutout intact.
Series at a Glance
Of the 12 current Pac-12 institutions, GU has faced Washington State the most, with an 88-126 all-time record in the series. With the win, the Zags have won their last four meetings with WSU, a streak that dates back to 2020. Since 2003, the Zags lead the series 32-31, and
Mark Machtolf is 28-28 against the Cougars in his 19 years as GU Head Coach.
Crucial Frame
GU puts up five runs in the sixth to blow the game open.
Up Next / Follow the Game
The Zags hit the road to continue WCC play with a three-game series against San Francisco, with RHP
Gabriel Hughes (4-1, 44 IP, 65 K, 2.86 ERA) set to start in Friday's opener. Game one is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch. Live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @zagbaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.
