SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga Baseball heads to Santa Clara today for its final three games of West Coast Conference regular season action with the Broncos (28-18, 14-10 WCC) May 18-20.

The Bulldogs (18-30, 14-10 WCC) sit in a tie for fourth in the league standings with Santa Clara, but have already clinched a spot in the WCC Tournament May 24-27 in Las Vegas. A series win would give GU the No. 4 seed in the tournament.

Brian Kalmer's big-time bat continues to pace the Bulldogs on offense – the junior is batting .373  on the season and ranks among the Top 5 in the WCC in nine different offensive categories, including No. 1 in RBI (48) and walks (36). Freshman outfielder Sam Stem is batting .314, and is tied with Enzo Apodaca for the most triples in the league with three apiece, cracking the Top 10 in total hits (52). GU's top two starters – RHP Owen Wild and RHP Jacob Rutherford – have both gone CG at least once each and both picked up WCC Pitcher of the Week honors at least once.

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.

All three games will be streamable via the WCC Network on Stadium. Live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @ZagBaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.

GONZAGA (18-30, 14-10 WCC) VS. SANTA CLARA (28-18, 14-10 WCC)
Stephen Schott Baseball Stadium | Santa Clara, Calif.
May 18, 6 p.m | Live Stats | Stream
May 19, 6 p.m | Live Stats | Stream
May 20, 12 p.m | Live Stats | Stream

PROBABLE STARTERS
GAME ONE
RHP Owen Wild (5.18 ERA, 4-6, 81.2 IP, 93 K) vs. RHP Cole Kitchen (4.06 ERA, 3-2, 68.2 IP, 60 K)
GAME TWO
RHP Jacob Rutherford (4.90 ERA, 5-2, 71.2 IP, 68 K) vs. RHP Cade Pilchard (4.15 ERA, 3-1, 43.1 IP, 40 K)
GAME THREE
TBA vs. TBA

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Zags have a 52-28 edge in the series since 2000, having won the last eight meetings and swept the last two series. The Zags walked off the Broncos twice in last year's series sweep at home (3-2, 5-3, 4-1). Until 2022, the programs had not met in Spokane since 2018, where GU has won each series since 2011.

ON DECK
The Zags head to Las Vegas Ballpark May 24-27 for the WCC Tournament, where they will most likely open the tournament with an elimination game as a No. 3-6 seed.

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. 2 in RBI (48)
- No. 1 in Walks (36)
- No. 2 in Slugging % (.703)
- No. 2 in OB+Slugging (1.176)
- No. 3 in Hits (69)
- No. 3 in On-Base % (0.473)
- No. 3 in Home Runs (14)
- No. 4 in Doubles (15)
- No. 4 in Batting Average (.373)
- No. 7 in Runs scored (43)
- 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.