SPOKANE, Wash. — No. 10 Gonzaga battled deep into the 15th inning for the longest baseball game ever played at Patterson Baseball Complex in its second West Coast Conference series matchup with Santa Clara, ultimately coming up with its second walkoff win of the weekend thanks to a two-run homer from
Tyler Rando that clinched a 5-3 victory as well as the Bulldogs' eighth-straight WCC series win in epic fashion.
Rando's homer came after six scoreless frames for GU and 12 straight for the Broncos (24-24, 11-15 WCC) in a game that ended over five hours after it began. He finished 4-of-7 on the night, driving in four of the Zags' runs and scoring two himself to lead the GU lineup.
Connor Coballes,
Savier Pinales (1 R),
Cade McGee (1 RBI) and
Dylan Johnson all added a knock apiece to round out the offense.
The Bulldogs (31-13, 17-6 WCC) used five pitchers in the win, keeping the Broncos off the board despite runners in scoring position over each of the last three frames. RHP
Trystan Vrieling was tagged for all three of the Broncos' runs over six innings of work on five hits, striking out eight in the process. After RHP
Jacob Rutherford struck out two more over two innings of relief, RHP
Michael Spellacy held it down on the mound for GU after taking over in the top of the ninth, striking out a career-high six over 5 ⅓ scoreless innings — four of them hitless. RHP
Brody Jessee earned the win while closing out the final 1 ⅓ innings, including a pair of strikeouts that halted a furious late push that saw runners on second and third.
The Action
The Broncos got three of their runs across in the second and third off an RBI double from JonJon Berring and a solo homer from Eamonn Lance, but GU couldn't find a response until three frames later.
Back-to-back base hits brought the Zags' first run of the game in the top of the sixth, with Pinales driving deep into center field for a double and Rando singling up the middle to bring him across. Rando advanced to second on a strikeout in the next at-bat, but three consecutive outs kept the deficit at two runs going into the seventh.
Rutherford took over next, stranding runners on third in the seventh and eighth to make it five straight scoreless frames for the Broncos.
The Zags' offense finally got to one of Santa Clara's relievers in the eighth, plating two runs on two more back-to-back knocks. Apodaca drew a walk to start the eighth and reached third on a wild pitch and a passed ball before Rando scored him with an RBI double. McGee followed up with a single that brought him across to make it a tie game for the first time all night with just one out on the board.
Spellacy tossed a 1-2-3 inning to keep the Broncos off the board for the sixth consecutive frame in the top of the ninth, inducing a pair of flyouts before ending the inning in xx fashion with a strikeout.
With just three outs left to avoid extra innings, Coballes was walked to start the bottom of the frame before reaching second on a sac bunt. With two outs on the board after a flyout from Apodaca, Pinales connected on a drive and nearly beat out the play to first base that would've ended the game, but a called out ended the frame to push the game into extra innings.
After Spellacy threw his second consecutive hitless frame to begin extra innings, the Zags were robbed of another potential game-winner in the bottom of the tenth, when a no-doubter from McGee was caught over the fence before a grounder from Sterling ended the frame.
Spellacy continued to deal over the next two frames, getting K's for all three outs in the 11th and inducing a pair of groundouts and a popup to end the 12th. He got into his first jam of the night in the 13th with runners on first and second, but stranded both with his sixth strikeout of the night.
RHP
Nico Zeglin took over from Spellacy with one out on the board and a runner on second in the 14th, striking out Berring swinging before being replaced by RHP
Brody Jessee. A wild pitch from Jesse pushed the runner to third, but he induced a grounder to first to end yet another scoreless frame.
After Kramer was barely put out on first to start the bottom of the inning, Coballes picked up the Zags' first hit of extra innings with a single, but Johnson grounded into a double play to come up empty yet again. Jessee weathered a pair of singles and a stolen base that put runners on third and second in the top of the 15th, but responded with a groundout and his second and third strikeouts of the night in succession before the decisive final frame.
After Apodaca was walked with one out on the board and Pinales struck out swinging, Rando battled through a seven-pitch at-bat before slamming his fourth no-doubter of the year to seal the deal.
WCC Outlook
The series win keeps GU two games ahead of second-place San Diego (31-16, 16-8) In the WCC standings. A series sweep tomorrow would mean the Bulldogs need to beat the Toreros just once next weekend to clinch a regular season conference title.
Play of the Game
Series at a Glance
With the win, the Zags have a 51-28 edge in the series since 2000, having won the last seven meetings. The Zags swept last season's series in Santa Clara (2-0, 10-4 in 13 innings, and 5-2). Until this weekend, the programs had not met in Spokane since 2018, where GU has won each series since 2011.
Up Next / Follow the Game
Gonzaga has a chance to go for the series sweep in Sunday's finale, set for a noon start. RHP
William Kempner (0-1, 18 IP, 15 K, 1.50 ERA) is set to get the start on the mound against a to-be-determined Santa Clara pitcher. Live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @zagbaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.
