SAN DIEGO, Calif. — No. 10 Gonzaga put the run it needed on the board early and leaned on a dominant start from RHP William Kempner and three relievers to hold San Diego to just two hits in its regular season finale for a 1-0 shutout win, clinching the Bulldogs' (34-15, 20-7) ninth West Coast Conference series victory.
With the WCC Regular Season Title already in hand after Friday night's win, Saturday's series clincher concludes the Bulldogs' conference record at 20-7, the most wins in conference play in program history.
San Diego took the first game 45 minutes prior to the second game's start by a score of 7-4, effectively tying the series and making the second game a rubber match. The win in game two makes it the first time a Bulldogs squad has gone through conference play without losing a single weekend series.
"Nine conference series wins is something special," said Head Coach Mark Machtolf. "Very proud of our group, and everyone has had their hand in getting us a win this year.
"Now it's time to enjoy this for a day and then switch gears to our next segment."
Kempner threw five scoreless frames in his third start since returning from injury, striking out eight in the process while keeping the best offensive team in the conference off the board the entire time despite plenty of traffic on the bases. His season ERA now sits at 0.98 over 27.2 innings pitched,which would be the third-lowest in a single season in program history if the season ended today (Min 20 IP).
"A great cap to the end of the regular season," Machtolf said. "Kempner was electric today — really pitched well. Our bullpen and defense were outstanding. Only able to scratch one run but swung the bats a lot better than that."
GU picked up 10 hits in the winning effort despite just plating the one run, getting a runner in scoring position in each of the final four innings. Tyler Rando led the charge, going 3-for-4 with a double and a run, and Cade McGee and Grayson Sterling both picked up a pair of base hits each, with McGee driving in the sole run of the game. Savier Pinales, Connor Coballes and Dylan Johnson all picked up a knock apiece to round out the offense.
RHP Brody Jessee threw a hitlesss sixth in one frame of relief and RHP Owen Wild struck out three over two more innings of scoreless ball, with RHP Michael Spellacy getting the final three outs for his 11th save of the season to move up to fifth all-time in single-season saves and into a tie for fifth in career saves (14).
The Action in Game Two
After base hits in each of the first two frames, Rando doubled and McGee plated him with a single to take the first lead of the game at 1-0. Kempner got into some trouble in the bottom of the frame with two outs on the board and runners at first and third, but induced a flyout that ended his third scoreless frame.
Both teams battled to a scoreless standstill over the next two frames despite GU getting runners on base in both, with Kempner tossing a 1-2-3 fifth in his final frame on the mound and Jessee repeating the feat with two K's upon taking the mound in the sixth.
Three consecutive full-count at-bats with two outs in the top of the seventh yielded walks from Rando and Sterling and a single from McGee that loaded the bases for the first time by either team, but a grounder to second from Kramer kept them from capitalizing.
After walking the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh, Wild kept the shutout going with his first strikeout of the night. Coballes and Stephen Lund — who entered the game as a pinch hitter — drew walks in succession with one out on the board in the eighth to push a runner to scoring position yet again, but back-to-back outs with balls in play ended the frame with all runners stranded again.
Wild struck out his third batter of the night to end his second consecutive scoreless frame in the bottom of the inning, and the Zags got to work again — this time, it was Rando singling and stealing second to reach scoring position with one out on the board. But a groundout and flyout in succession stranded the 13th and 14th baserunners of the night for GU, keeping the lead at just one going into the final three outs.
Spellacy took over from there, inducing three grounders in succession to halt the Toreros' hopes of a late rally.
The Action in Game One
In Saturday's opener, the Zags put the first two runs on the board with a knock from Ezra Samperi and a sac fly from Shea Kramer but couldn't complete a rally late after the Toreros exploded for six runs in response.
The Toreros jumped ahead to a 6-2 lead with a second frame that saw them put up six runs on just three hits, with free passes from Vrieling cueing Zeglin's entry to the game in relief. He managed to cool off USD's bats with a 1-2-3 frame.
Johnson singled to left to give the Zags some life on offense, and Coballes drew a walk to push him to scoring position with just one out on the board. But Ezra Samperi lined into a double play that ended the frame without any damage. USD added a seventh run in the bottom of the frame off an RBI single from Caleb Ricketts, and Ryan Kysar tossed another 1-2-3 frame to stall the Zags' momentum further.
RHP Nico Zeglin kept the Toreros scoreless in the bottom of the frame and Jacob Rutherford did the same for all of his time on the mound, striking out four in the process. Kramer reached on an error to start the Zags' final frame and Coballes singled up the middle to push him forward, cueing another pitching change for USD.
A solo homer from McGee in the top of the eighth and a two-out RBI single from Apodaca in the top of the ninth cut the deficit to three, but Pinales was struck out looking to end the game in the middle of the ninth.
Up Next / Follow the Game
Gonzaga has a one-game bye as the No. 1 overall seed in next week's WCC Tournament, meaning they won't have to play until Thursday against the winner of Wednesday's first-round matchup. Live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @zagbaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.
