SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga Baseball leaned on its infield and an impressive start from LHP
Matthew Mueller to hold off a 10-hit night from San Diego and tie up a crucial West Coast Conference series on Friday night at Patterson Baseball Complex, winning 3-2.
The series between the two teams that have finished 1-2 in the WCC standings the past two seasons now comes down to Saturday's rubber match, set for a 12 p.m. start. This is the third consecutive season in which the series was tied entering the finale.
Mueller kept the Toreros off the board for the first five frames of a seven-inning start, holding them to just one earned run in that span despite being tagged for eight hits. Mueller struck out three and walked one, striking his way out of two-out situations with runners in scoring position in the second and third and getting out of a potentially disastrous jam with a double play in the seventh. Buckner had some trouble with an explosive USD lineup as well, allowing one more run on a wild pitch, but finished the game with a punchout to seal his second save of the season.
The two pitchers held a USD team that averages 7.2 runs per game to just two, despite three extra base hits.
Connor Coballes' 2-for-4 outing paced an eight-hit night for the Bulldogs, with
Brian Kalmer (1 R),
Sam Stem and
Tommy Eisenstat all driving in one run each and
Grayson Sterling and
Donovan Ratfield both scoring runs with one hit each.
THE ACTION
After a disastrous first inning for starter
Owen Wild in last night's opener, Mueller kept things difficult in the top of the first, allowing a single from James Arakawa in leadoff but inducing three consecutive flyouts to the same spot in center field. He kept the Toreros off the board again in the second despite a double from Jack Costello, striking out Andrew Semo swinging to end the frame with his first punchout of the day.
Mueller got into more trouble in the third after Justin Allen doubled and reached third on a grounder, but Ratfield put out Allen at home off of a bunt from Peraza and Mueller struck out Sim – USD's most threatening bat – looking for the third out.
GU finally started to string together some offense after Sterling, Ratfield and Apodaca all connected on singles to load the bases with one out. Kalmer drew a walk to put the first run on the board, and Stem followed with an RBI grounder for the second to already double GU's run production from the night prior.
USD continued to threaten, getting runners in scoring position seven more times – but Mueller continued to hold them scoreless until the sixth, when a triple from Costello cashed in a run from Sim before a flyout ended the threat. In his final frame of work, Mueller had his closest call yet, with runners at the corners and only one out on the board after another base knock from Arakawa. But he got just the ball he needed, with Kalmer transferring a grounder from Justin DeCriscio to
Savier Pinales, who completed the double play with
Tommy Eisenstat to end the frame.
Eisenstat delivered an insurance run that would later be crucial with a double in the eighth, and the Zags held on despite more pressure from USD. Buckner escaped a bases-loaded jam with a lineout in the eighth before ending the game with his only K of the night.
UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
Tomorrow's rubber match is set for a noon start, with RHP
Nathan Deschryver set to get the start on the mound vs. USD RHP Garrett Rennie. Live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @ZagBaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.
