SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga Baseball fell behind 7-5 in the top of the eighth inning of its second game with San Francisco at Patterson Baseball Complex on Saturday evening, but responded with a three-spot in the bottom of the frame en route to a 8-7 win that sealed its first West Coast Conference series win.
The Bulldogs (5-12, 2-0 WCC) defeated USF 10-4 in the series opener on Friday, and are winners of nine of their last 12 against the Dons (9-6, 0-2). With the win, Gonzaga is 26-11 against teams from the state of California at home since 2019, and 20-8 the past two seasons. GU has won its last eight WCC-opening series, and its last four at home.
After a combined 0-for-7 start,
Enzo Apodaca and
Brian Kalmer both knocked in clutch RBI singles with two outs on the board in the eighth and the bases loaded -- Apodaca drove in a pair of runs to tie things up at 7-all, and Kalmer followed with the go-ahead.
RHP
Jacob Rutherford held USF to three runs in his third start of the season, striking out six in six frames on the mound. In the last six games, GU starting pitchers have held their opponents to three or less runs during their time on the mound in five, with all of them lasting at least five frames each. RHP
Ty Buckner (1.1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER) and LHP
Bradley Mullan (1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R) took over the rest of the way, with Mullan earning his first win of the season after entering the game in the eighth to calm down things down and keeping USF off the board in the ninth with a thin one-run lead in hand.
The Zags cracked double-digit hits for the third time in the last four games with 14 team hits, with
Sam Stem leading the way with a 3-for-4 performance.
Savier Pinales extended his on-base streak to nine games with his second straight multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Both Stem (.555) and Pinales (.666) are batting above .500 in the series.
Grayson Sterling (2 RBI, 2 R),
Ezra Samperi (2 RBI, 1 R) and
Connor Coballes (1 RBI, 1 R) all added two knocks apiece, with three other Zags picking up one each. Samperi slammed a two-run homer -- his first no-doubter of the year -- to give GU a 2-1 lead in the third.
"Proud of our team tonight," said GU Head Coach
Mark Machtolf. "Did a good job battling for most of the night. Huge response from our offense in the bottom of the eighth – great to see Enzo have that success in that situation."
After a 1-11 start to the season, the Zags have won four of their last five. They have a chance to go for the sweep in Sunday's series finale, set for 1 p.m. PT.
The Action
Rutherford had to work through a jam early after a leadoff walk and a pair of singles from Michael Campagna and Christian Stapleton plated the first run of the game, but generated a liner to end the frame with runners stranded on first and second. As GU's lineup started slow, opening the game with six consecutive outs, Rutherford continued to resist USF's bats with two consecutive scoreless frames despite runners getting aboard in both.
GU finally broke out of the cold start with a pair of big hits, with a single from Sterling and a home run from Samperi – his first long ball of the year – in succession to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 2-1. Coballes kept the Zags rolling with a single and Kalmer drew a walk to threaten more with two outs on the board, but Eisenstat flew out to end the frame.
After striking out the first two batters in the fourth, Rutherford gave up a bloop single but stranded the runner by punching out the final batter in the top half of the inning. The Zags immediately went to work in the bottom half, with back-to-back singles by
Brock Bozett and Stem. Pinales followed with a fielder's choice, leaving the Zags with runners on the corners and one out. That did not last long as Pinales swiped his second bag of the season to set up Sterling, who ripped an 0-2 pitch into center to extend Gonzaga's lead to 4-1.
The offense didn't stop there - a wild pitch sent Sterling to second base, and a two-out RBI double by Coballes plated the Zags' final run of the frame, now leading 5-1.
Rutherford recorded the first out of the fifth on one pitch, but ran into some trouble again after walking Mario Demera and Stapleton back to back. An RBI double by Campagna and an RBI single by Patrick Keighran brought USF within two next but Rutherford answered with his sixth strikeout of the day and induced an inning-ending ground ball to limit the damage to two runs. The Zags went 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the fifth, but after Rutherford kept USF off the board again in the bottom of the frame, GU mounted more pressure thanks to its two leading offensive performers from the series opener.
Stem and Pinales singled to lead off the inning, and after a K from Sterling, Samperi loaded the bases with a chopper to center field as the lineup turned over. But LHP Oscar Lepe took the mound in relief, striking out Coballes and Apodaca in succession to keep GU from capitalizing.
The Dons jumped on Buckner as soon as he took the mound, with three consecutive hits to lead off the inning plating the first run before a pair of flyouts scored the tying run. After Buckner walked two more batters to start the eighth, Mullan entered the game, but a scorching RBI double from Stapleton that just barely landed fair inside the right field line brought in two more runs to put the Dons ahead before Mullan could collect another flyout and end the frame with a K.
Stem and Pinales gave the Zags some life with back-to-back knocks for the second time of the game, with Marenco bunting to reach on a fielder's choice and Samperi flying out to push Pinales to second with two outs. Coballes drew a walk to load the bases with two outs for the second straight inning, cueing LHP Weston Lombard's entry to the game with Apodaca at the plate. After an 0-4 start, the redshirt sophomore came in clutch, driving a single through the gaps to plate a pair of runs and tie things up. Kalmer provided the go-ahead in the next at-bat with another gap-finding drive to put GU up 8-7 before a grounder from Eisenstat kept things moving into the ninth.
Mullan bounced back from the two-spot in the last inning with a slim lead in-hand, retiring three of four batters he faced, including a second strikeout, to end the game and seal the series win.
Play of the Game
The Action
GU has a chance to pick up a series sweep to open up WCC play in Sunday's finale, set for a 1 p.m. start. LHP
Matthew Mueller (8.0 IP, 0-1, 4.50 ERA, 12 K) is slated to start on the mound for the Bulldogs against RHP Jesse Barron (. Live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @ZagBaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.
