SPOKANE, Wash. — After a 10-day break without games, No. 10 Gonzaga welcomes Santa Clara to the Patterson Baseball Complex and Coach Steve Hertz Field for West Coast Conference play and the final regular season series at home. The series will finish off a seven-game homestand for the Zags — GU is 3-1 through the first four of the stand.

LEADING OFF
- GU has won all seven of its West Coast Conference series this season, most recently taking two of three versus Loyola Marymount April 30 through May 1 (W, 5-3 | L, 4-5 | W, 6-5). The Bulldogs have only lost one weekend series all season, dropping a pair of games to Long Beach State on the road in March.
- The Bulldogs are 21st in the country with four shutouts and 12th with 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings. They lead the West Coast Conference in both of those stat categories.
- Gabriel Hughes is seventh in the nation with 108 strikeouts, while Trystan Vrieling is 26th with 91. They are first and fifth in the WCC in that stat category. Michael Spellacy is 11th in the country with 10 saves.
- The Bulldogs' No. 10 ranking in D1Baseball.com's poll and No. 11 in Baseball America's are the highest under Mark Machtolf's 19 seasons at the helm.
- GU boasts three wins over Top-5 teams this season, going 4-1 versus Top-10 competition, including a 13-6 victory at No. 2 Oregon State on April 18. That win at OSU was the highest-ranked foe the Zags have ever beat.
- The Zags are 26th in the RPI with a 12-7 record versus Quads 1 and 2 (4-4 in Quad 1) and an 18-7 road record. GU's non-conference strength of schedule ranks as the 13th most difficult in the nation.
- Gonzaga's 18 road wins are the fifth-most in the nation. Eastern Illinois leads the country with 25.

GONZAGA (29-13, 15-6) Vs. SANTA CLARA (24-22, 11-13)
STREAM | LIVE STATS

PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, May 13  |  6 p.m.
RHP Gabriel Hughes (7-1, 70.1 IP, 108 K, 2.43 ERA) vs. RHP Cole Kitcen (4-4, 63.0 IP, 92 K, 4.43 ERA)
Saturday, May 14  |  6 p.m.
RHP Trystan Vrieling (4-2, 67.1 IP, 91 K, 3.61 ERA) vs. LHP Nick Sando (4-3, 48.1 IP, 73 K, 2.61 ERA)
Sunday, May 15 |  12 p.m.
RHP Will Kempner (0-1, 18.0 IP, 15 K, 1.50 ERA) vs. RHP Skylar Hales (3-2, 58.0 IP, 69 K, 4.50 ERA)

SERIES AT A GLANCE
- Gonzaga remains at home, hosting Santa Clara for the final home series of the regular season May 13-15.
- The Zags have a 49-28 edge in the series since 2000, but GU has won the last five meetings. The Zags swept last season's series in Santa Clara (2-0, 10-4 in 13 innings, and 5-2).
- The programs have not met in Spokane since 2018, where GU has won each series since 2011.

THE THIRTY-WIN CLUB
- Gonzaga is one victory shy of its 12th 30-win season under Mark Machtolf. Prior to Machtolf as the head coach, the Bulldogs reached the 30-win plateau 14 times.
- The Zags have reached 30 wins in five of the last six seasons, with the exception coming in the shortened 2020 season that was cancelled after just 16 games.

LAST TIME OUT
- No. 11 Gonzaga leaned on a dominant defensive effort behind starting RHP Alec Gomez and a measured approach at the plate en route to a midweek win over an in-state rival on May 2, downing Washington 5-2.
- Gomez held the Huskies to just one earned run in his time on the mound while matching a career high of seven innings pitched. Gomez was backed by a shutdown defensive effort on 10 groundouts and 10 flyouts.
- Connor Coballes led the way on offense, slamming his first homer of the season in the third inning.

ON DECK
- The Zags head to Eugene for a midweek matchup at Oregon on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
- The Ducks won a matchup earlier this season on March 22 in Spokane, 9-5.
- GU travels to the WCC's second-place team, San Diego, for the final series of the regular season May 20-21.
- The Toreros have a 51-41-1 edge in the series, and the teams have split the last 10 meetings. San Diego won last season's series in Spokane (0-10, 9-0, and 10-2).
- Gonzaga has won the last two series in San Diego taking two of three in 2018 and 2016.

HISTORY IN CORVALLIS
- On April 18, Gonzaga traded blows early with No. 2 Oregon State, but cruised to an 11-6 lead after a seven-run third frame and didn't look back en route to a 13-6 win — the highest-ranked opponent they've beaten in program history.
- Jake Rutherford and Nico Zeglin combined to hold the Beavers scoreless for seven consecutive innings, calming down a chaotic back-and-forth that saw 10 total runs scored by both teams in the span of an inning and a half.
- Rutherford put together the best performance of his career over 4 ⅔ frames on the mound, striking out a career-high six while holding the Beavers to just one run in that span for his second win of the season. Zeglin earned the save with three frames of scoreless relief, striking out five more in the process.
- Five different Zags batters finished with multiple RBI — Enzo Apodaca, Grayson Sterling, Stephen Lund, Jack Machtolf and Ezra Samperi — Tyler Rando and Cade McGee led the lineup in hits with three knocks and two runs apiece.