SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga baseball completed their first series win of 2024 with a 5-3 victory over Minnesota on Saturday at Patterson Baseball Complex and Coach Steve Hertz Field. Never trailing, the Zags plated runs in four consecutive innings to take and hold the lead while the bullpen shut down the Minnesota offense.
 
After scoring once in the bottom of the third, Gonzaga added to their lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. Vincent Temesvary took advantage of a dropped fly ball, and Tommy Eisenstat singled him home to plate the first run. Eisenstat then worked his way around to third before finding an opportunity to steal home on Minnesota left-handed starter Connor Wietgrefe (L, 1-1).
 
GU added one run each in the fifth and sixth innings, which was more than enough support for Liam Paddack (W, 1-1), who took over for Kai Francis in the top of the fifth. Over the final 4 2/3 innings, Paddack allowed just one run on four hits while striking out six and walking no Gopher batters. The lone mishap came in the sixth when Minnesota leadoff hitter Brady Counsell connected for his second home run of the season.
 
Minnesota looked to rally in the ninth when Counsell singled with one out, but Paddack settled down to induce a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play to end the game and clinch the series for Gonzaga.
 
Three Zags finished with multi-hit games on Saturday: Eisenstat (2-for-4, RBI, R), Jace Phelan (2-for-4, R) and Gage Mestas (2-for-4, RBI, R). For Eisenstat, he completed the weekend going 5-for-11 (.455) with four RBIs and four runs scored.
 
UP NEXT
Gonzaga will hit the road for a single game on Wednesday at SIU Edwardsville before a three-game series at Wichita State starting on Friday. Follow @ZagBaseball on social media for all the latest updates, and check gozags.com for results and streaming information.