- SIUE is coming off a 1-3 week at home, facing SIU Carbondale in a midweek game last Tuesday before hosting Omaha for a three-game series last weekend. After a 7-1 loss to SIU Carbondale, SIUE dropped the series against Omaha after a 6-4 win in Friday's opener.

- SIUE is slashing .241/.323/.376 as a team through their first 16 games of the season.

- Lucas Spence is leading the Cougars in four different offensive categories, stouting a .382 batting average with a .527 slugging percentage and 21 hits. His average puts him tied for fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference.

- Projected starter Garrett Helsel is 0-2 so far this season, pitching 14.0 innings over four appearances (three starts), surrendering 15 earned runs for an average of 9.64.

ON DECK
- Gonzaga will head to Wichita State for a three-game series starting Friday.
- This will be the first time that the Zags and Shockers will meet and it will mark the fourth new program Gonzaga will have faced this season.

ZAGS EARN SERIES WIN OVER MINNESOTA

- Gonzaga picked up their first series win of the 2024 season against Minnesota.

- The Zags and Gophers split the first two games before GU prevailed in the rubber match.

- Tommy Eisenstat led Gonzaga over the weekend, hitting .625 with five hits, four RBIs, and three runs scored in the two wins of the series.

- Michael Cunneely posted a quality start in Thursday's opener after posting seven-plus strong innings, surredering just three runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.

- Liam Paddack earned the win in Saturday's rubber match after working 4 2/3 innings in relief, giving up just one run on four hits, striking out six and walking none.

HOME SWEET HOME

- Gonzaga will open its 2024 home schedule with a .645 win percentage over 17 seasons at Patterson Baseball Complex and Coach Steve Hertz Field.

- Since its opening in 2007, the Zags are 202-111 with a WCC record of 134-63 (.680).

- Gonzaga has finished with a home win percentage of .500 or better in 16 out of 17 seasons since Patterson opened in 2007 and 13 straight seasons since 2010.

- In home opening games at Patterson, Gonzaga is 12-5 despite losing four straight home openers since 2020.

ZAGS UPSET NO. 6 VANDERBILT IN SERIES FINALE

- Jordan Hamberg lifted a seventh-inning grand slam to propel Gonzaga to a 9-8 victory in game three on Feb. 25. The Bulldogs put up eight runs in the inning after taking advantage of two Commodore errors.

- Daniel Sotelo shut the door on the Zags' comeback win with three innings, giving up just one run on three hits, striking out two and walking none.

- Gonzaga's bullpen combined for eight innings, surrenduring just three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and four walks in the series finale.

- Gonzaga's win marks their highest-ranked win since 2022 when they defeated No. 2 Oregon State in Corvallis.

MACHTOLF EYES 600TH WIN IN 2024

­- Gonzaga Head Coach Mark Machtolf enters his 21st season at the helm for the Bulldogs, currently holding 578 career wins since taking the reigns in the fall of 2003.

- Machtolf is just 23 wins from eclipsing 600. He currently holds the second-most wins in program history behind Steve Hertz, who has 637 (24 seasons, 1978, 1981-2003). Machtolf's .551 win percentage is third-highest in Gonzaga history behind Larry Koentopp's (1970-77) .677 and Jim Lawler's (1979-80) .667.

- Throughout his 20-year tenure, Machtolf has won 30 games in 13 of those seasons. One of those other seven was the 2020 season that was cut short by Covid.

NEW FACES ON THE ROSTER

- Gonzaga's 2024 roster includes 14 incoming transfers and 16 freshman.

- Among the transfers are former Coppin State teammates Jordan Hamberg and Josh Hankins. Hamberg, a two-way senior, earned All-HBCU Freshman of the Year in 2021 and twice was the John Olerud Award Two-Way National Player of the Year Finalist in 2022 and 2023. Hamberg owns a career .337/.456/.561 slash with 34 multi-hit games while recording seven 10+ strikeout outings on the mound.

- Hudson Shupe, an in-state native and transfer from Seattle University, batted .333 with 72 hits in his freshman season with the Redhawks. Hailing from Hanford High School in West Richland, Shupe earned a pair of Mid Columbia Conference honors his junior and senior seasons.

- Other notable NCAA transfers on Gonzaga's 2024 roster include Peyton Miller - a sophomore infielder from Pacific, Vincent Temesvary - a junior outfielder from CSU Dominguez Hills, and Jace Phelan - a redshirt junior from Washington State and Spokane-area native.