Zags Welcome Oklahoma for Final Home Series at Patterson

Friday, May 12

Spokane, Wash.

6 p.m.

Gonzaga University

Oklahoma

Photo by: Torrey Vail

Zags Welcome Oklahoma for Final Home Series at Patterson

5/11/2023 3:55:00 PM | Baseball

Series Notes

First time the 2022 CWS Runners-Up will face Zags in a multi-game series

SPOKANE, Wash. – For its final home series of the season, Gonzaga Baseball plays host to 2022 College World Series Runner-Up Oklahoma in nonconference action for the first meeting between the two teams since 2014 and first time in Spokane.

Sunday's series finale is also GU's Senior Day, where 13 graduating seniors will be honored before their final home games in a Zag uniform.

Last weekend, the Zags suffered a series loss to Saint Mary's at home (3-12, 1-7, 3-0) but got a dominant complete game shutout – the first since 2021 – from RHP Jacob Rutherford in a 3-0 win in Sunday's finale that earned him WCC Pitcher of the Week honors. Rutherford came one strikeout short of a career-high with 10 in his third start of eight frames or more this season, holding an SMC lineup that was averaging 11.3 hits and 8.2 runs over its last ten games scoreless on seven hits.

GU sits at fifth in the West Coast Conference standings during their bye week with three games left to play, but can all but clinch a Top-Four finish and a spot in the WCC Tournament with a series win next weekend at Santa Clara.

Brian Kalmer's big-time bat continues to pace the Bulldogs on offense – the junior is batting .360 on the season and ranks among the Top 5 in the WCC in nine different offensive categories, including No. 1 in RBI (43) and walks (34). Freshman outfielder Sam Stem (.333) is also batting above .400, coming off a weekend that saw him drive in four of GU's seven runs on four hits. Stem is tied with Enzo Apodaca for the most triples in the league with three apiece, cracking the Top 10 in total hits (52).

Meanwhile, the Sooners (26-22, 11-11) sit at sixth place in the Big 12 standings – they dropped a road series to West Virginia in Morgantown last weekend (3-9, 6-2, 3-9) but have won seven of their last ten, including an impressive series sweep of Texas in Austin. They're led by five position players batting above .300 on the season – Dakota Harris (.356), Kendall Pettis (.324), Easton Carmichael (.321), Anthony Mackenzie (.316) and Bryce Madron (.302) – and have two starters who have yet to be tagged for a loss in Braden Carmichael (5-0) and James Hitt (4-0).

Last season, Head Coach Mark Machtolf's Bulldogs earned a program-best No. 10 ranking and their second straight year with a win in the NCAA Tournament — the first time in program history they've done so under the current format — after appearing as a #2 seed in the 2022 Blacksburg Regional. The Zags are defending WCC Regular Season Champions and picked by the league's coaches to repeat for the second straight season after matching their best record in conference play (20-7) the past two seasons.

The Sooners went all the way to the College World Series last season, falling to Ole Miss in back-to-back games in the final series to end their season as runner-ups at 45-24 and 15-9 in conference.

All three games will be streamable via the WCC Network on Stadium, with Saturday's Game Two broadcast locally via SWX. Live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @ZagBaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.

GONZAGA (17-25, 13-8 WCC) VS. OKLAHOMA (26-22, 10-11 Big 12)
Hertz Field at Patterson Baseball Complex | Spokane, Wash.
May 12, 6 p.m | Live Stats | Stream
May 13, 6 p.m | Live Stats | Stream
May 14, 3 p.m | Live Stats | Stream

PROBABLE STARTERS
GAME ONE
RHP Owen Wild (5.38 ERA, 4-6, 77 IP, 88 K) vs. RHP Braxton Douthit (5.02 ERA, 4-4, 61 IP, 40 K)
GAME TWO
RHP Jacob Rutherford (4.10 ERA, 5-1, 68.0 IP, 63 K) vs. LHP Braden Carmichael (3.64 ERA, 5-0, 54.1 IP, 46 K)
GAME THREE
TBA vs. LHP James Hitt (4.42 ERA, 4-4, 53 IP, 33 K)

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Zags and Sooners have only faced each other three times since 2000, with Gonzaga taking all three matchups for a 3-0 all-time advantage. All three matchups were one-off neutral-site games – this will be the first time Oklahoma comes to Spokane and the first time the two teams square off in a full weekend series.
Oklahoma will be the second Big 12 opponent GU faces this season after opening up the season with a four-game swing in Lubbock. The Bulldogs are 4-7 against Big 12 foes since 2016, but haven't faced one at home in that span.

LAST TIME OUT (vs. Saint Mary's)
- Gonzaga Baseball couldn't keep up with a four-homer night from Saint Mary's and a tough start from Owen Wild in its West Coast Conference series opener on Friday night at Patterson Baseball Complex, falling 12-3.
- GU plated the first run of the game thanks to a towering solo shot from Brian Kalmer – his 13th of the year – but Gaels held the Zags off the board the rest of the way and clinched the series in Game Two with a 7-1 win.
- GU bounced back with a 3-0 win in the finale, with Sam Stem driving in all three runs on a pair of two-out singles and Rutherford's dominant outing shutting down SMC's bats.

ON DECK
The Zags conclude WCC play with a road series at Santa Clara (27-16, 13-8) May 18-20. A series win would likely clinch a WCC Tournament appearance for GU, with the potential to improve their seeding.

KALMER HITTING TO ALL FIELDS
Brian Kalmer ranks among the Top 10 in the WCC in 11 different offensive categories, cracking the Top 5 in nine:
- No. 1 in RBI (43)
- No. 1 in Walks (34)
- No. 2 in Slugging % (.686)
- No. 2 in OB+Slugging ( 1.150)
- No. 3 in Hits (62)
- No. 3 in On-Base % (0.464)
- No. 3 in Home Runs (13)
- No. 4 in Doubles (13)
- No. 5 in Batting Average (.360)
- No. 7 in Runs scored (40)
- No. 8 in Triples (2)

SAMPERI STAYS HOT
After breaking out of a hitting slump with two homers and six RBI against Portland in his home state of Oregon two weeks ago, Samperi has continued to stay hot in the seven games since, finishing with 6 RBI with four doubles. Samperi was also aggressive on the basepaths, going 2-for-3 on stolen base attempts – a team-best. Against Washington State last Tuesday, he connected on two doubles and finished 3-for-4.

ZAGS SWIPING BAGS
GU went 10-for-11 on stolen base attempts as a team over their past two WCC series, the most bases they've attempted and stolen as a team over a six-game span all season. Samperi went 3-for-4 on stolen bags over the weekend against Pacific after only stealing four in his first 38 games of the season combined.

WILD NAMED WCC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Wild, who was named a 2023 Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball in February, is the first Zag to pick up weekly honors from the league this season. GU had a player win Player or Pitcher of the Week seven times in the 2022 season, with five Pitchers of the Week.
Owen Wild's 12 strikeouts were one short of a career-best in seven innings of work during GU's 5-1 series-opening win over BYU last Thursday, holding the Cougars to one run and four hits to earn the win.

RUTHERFORD KEEPS ROLLING
- R-Jr. RHP Jacob Rutherford is 4-1 on the season, pitching his way into a Saturday starting role for the Zags and posting career-best numbers against high-caliber offenses in his first two starts. In his five starting appearances, Rutherford carries a 3.47 ERA with 57 punchouts over 59.2 innings of work.
- A week after posting career high in innings pitched (6.0) and strikeouts (6) against a loaded Tennessee lineup in his first career start on March 4, Rutherford bested both against an Anteaters offense that was averaging 11.1 runs and 11.7 hits per game over its last seven. The 6-1 righty held UCI to just two earned runs on six hits over a full nine innings while posting a new career high in strikeouts with seven, ending the game with six consecutive scoreless frames to put the Zags in position to go ahead late. He tossed four innings that ended without a UCI runner getting on base, only walking two batters in the entire outing.
- Rutherford went CG again in GU's finale with SMC on Sunday, this time a shutout. The 6-2 redshirt junior righty struck out 10 – one short of a career-high set against Portland two weeks prior – and only walked one during his time on the mound, throwing 121 total pitches in the process. After the Zags extended their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh, Rutherford retired six of the last seven batters he faced to slam the door on a comeback while notching his ninth and 10th Ks of the day in the process.
- Prior to Rutherford's performance, the Zags hadn't gotten a complete game from a pitcher since 2021, when RHP Alek Jacob threw a nine-inning shutout against LSU in the NCAA Tournament.
Rutherford picked up his third win of the season in a start against LMU on Sunday, holding the Lions to just one run on just four hits while striking out six.

'MADE-FOR-RPI' SCHEDULE
- 13 of GU's 19 opponents in 2023 finished last season in the Top 150 in the NCAA's final RPI ranking, with two of those opponents — Tennessee and Oregon State — finishing No. 1 and No. 2 in those final rankings before hosting NCAA Regionals.
- After four games with the Raiders, GU faced Grand Canyon and Ohio State in Phoenix before hosting UC Irvine and heading to Minnesota for multiple games each before entering WCC play.
- Other highlights include a three-game series with 2022 College World Series Runner-Up Oklahoma in Spokane and a two-game midweek matchup with Oregon in Eugene.
- Zags had pair of crucial home series back-to-back with BYU (March 30-April 1) and 2022 WCC Tournament Champions and NCAA Regional qualifiers San Diego (April 6-8) coming to Patterson, before two more big ones against first-place LMU last weekend and second-place Portland next weekend on the road.
- A road trip to Corvallis, Ore. for a midweek games with Oregon State was up next on April 11, marking the 14th time they've squared off in the last five years. The Zags went 1-3 against the Beavs in 2022, dropping a pair of neutral site games in Surprise to start the year but splitting a pair on the road, with GU's 13-6 win becoming their highest-ranked win in history.

OWEN WILD, PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
- Gonzaga RHP Owen Wild was named a Preseason Second Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the outlet announced.
- The honor makes it back-to-back years that a GU pitcher picks up preseason All-America honors from the outlet after Gabriel Hughes did the same in 2022.
Initially appearing as a reliever last spring before taking over as a starter in the absence of William Kempner due to injury, Wild gained momentum as the season went on, accumulating a 9-1 record to go with a team-best 3.03 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 16 appearances. Wild's breakout year culminated in an All-Blacksburg Regional Team nod after pitching six shutout innings of relief to help cue a Bulldogs rally in an NCAA Tournament game against Wright State, as well as All-WCC Tournament and All-WCC Honorable Mention honors.
-Wild's .900 career winning percentage entering 2023 is the highest of any GU pitcher with at least 10 games of record, and the fourth-highest in a single season.