Gonzaga (11-18, 7-2 WCC) at San Francisco (17-16, 1-5 WCC)
FRIDAY, APR. 12 | 2 P.M. | BENEDETTI DIAMOND | SAN FRANCISCO
Probable Starters: RH Justin Feld (2-1, 3.94 ERA) vs. RH Adam Shew (1-2, 3.80 ERA)
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SATURDAY, APR. 13 | 1 P.M. | BENEDETTI DIAMOND | SAN FRANCISCO
Probable Starters: LH Liam Paddack (2-3, 5.94 ERA) vs. LH Lance Santerre (2-0, 3.31 ERA)
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SUNDAY, APR. 14Â | 12 P.M. | BENEDETTI DIAMOND | SAN FRANCISCO
Probable Starters: LH Miles Gosztola (1-2, 4.13 ERA) vs. RH Joe Soberon (2-5, 3.95 ERA)
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Gonzaga (11-18, 7-2 WCC) at #17 Oregon (23-9, 8-4 Pac-12)
TUESDAY, APR. 16 | 12:05 P.M. | PK PARK | EUGENE
Probable Starters: TBD
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LEADING OFF
- Gonzaga begins a short four-game road trip this weekend, first with a stop at San Francisco for a three-game WCC series beginning on Friday.
- GU will stop in Eugene to face current 17th-ranked Oregon on Tuesday.
- Gonzaga is coming off a 4-0 week at home, sweeping Santa Clara last weekend before defeating Washington State 22-7 on Tuesday.
- The Zags are 7-2 to open WCC play for the fourth straight season.
- Gonzaga has won eight straight games at home and is 9-1 through its first ten home games for the first time since 2011.
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Miles Gosztola was named West Coast Conference Freshman of the Week after two impressive outings against Oregon State and Santa Clara.
- In the series finale against the Broncos, Gosztola pitched seven strong innings, allowing just one run and striking out a career-high nine.
- In Tuesday's midweek against WSU, the Zags scored 14 runs in the first inning while sending 17 batters to the plate in a 45-minute affair.
- Over his last four games,
Payton Knowles is 11-for-16 with three doubles, a home run, four runs batted in and five runs scored.
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Mark Machtolf is three West Coast Conference wins away from 300 and would become just the second WCC coach in history to reach that mark.
BULLDOGS/DONS SERIES HISTORY
- Gonzaga and San Francisco will meet for the 101st, 102nd, and 103rd times this weekend at Benedetti Diamond.
- Gonzaga is 52-48 all-time against San Francisco and 33-26 against the Dons under Head Coach
Mark Machtolf.
- In San Francisco, the Dons hold a 20-19 edge over the Zags in 39 meetings since 2000.
- Gonzaga has won the last three meetings (sweep in 2023) with San Francisco and four out of the last six since 2022.
SCOUTING THE DONS
- San Francisco is coming off a midweek 6-4 win at UC Davis on Tuesday.
- Last weekend, San Francisco lost their WCC series at Pepperdine, 4-5, 11-2, 3-6.
- As a team, the Dons are slashing .255/.387/.367 with 17 home runs on the season.
- Kody Watanabe leads San Francisco in seven offensive categories, including batting average (.349), hits (37), and runs batted in (25). His .514 on base percentage is second in the WCC and his 11 doubles are also second-highest in the conference.
- San Francisco holds a 4.62 team ERA, the third-lowest in the West Coast Conference.
- This weekend's starters (Shew, Santarre, and Soberon) are a combined 5-7 with a 3.69 ERA over 21 starts this season.
- The Dons have earned three West Coast Conference weekly honors: TJ Rogers (Player, Mar. 11), Joe Soberon (Pitcher, Mar. 11) and AJ Guiliana (Freshman, Feb. 26).
BULLDOGS/DUCKS SERIES HISTORY
- Gonzaga and Oregon will meet for the 28th time on Tuesday.
- Oregon holds a 21-2 series lead over Gonzaga since 2010.
- Last season, the Zags played twice in Eugene, with the Ducks earning wins in both, 11-4 and 10-5.
SCOUTING THE NO. 17 DUCKS
- Oregon will wrap up a three-game Pac-12 series at home against USC on Sunday.
- Last week, the Ducks went 3-2 after winning a conference series at UCLA before splitting a two-game midweek series against Sacramento State at home.Â
- Tuesday's game against Gonzaga will conclude Oregon's six-game homestand.
- As a team, the Ducks are slashing .296/.400/.490, the second-highest in the Pac-12.
- Jeffery Heard leads Oregon with 39 hits, 17 of those being for extra bases.Â
- Oregon's pitching staff has the second-highest strikeout total in the Pac-12 (313).
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Bradley Mullan and RJ Gordon are second in the Pac-12 in wins with four each.
- After receiving votes in the first seven weekly rankings, Oregon finally cracked the Top 25, coming in at #20 in Baseball America's poll on Apr. 1.
- Last week, the Ducks were ranked #17 (Baseball America), #18 (D1Baseball), #19 (NCBWA), and 22 (USA Today).
ON DECK
- Gonzaga returns home for a three-game series against Portland starting Apr. 19.
- The Zags will make a day trip to Pullman on Apr. 23 to face Washington St. for the final time this season.
- GU will travel to San Diego for three Apr. 26-28.
ZAGS FEELING 22
- Gonzaga more than doubled their season high run production in a 22-7 win over Washington State on Tuesday. Their previous high was 10 runs against LMU on 3/24.
- The Zags scored 14 runs in a 45-minute first inning, where they batted through their entire lineup before the first out was finally recorded. All 14 of GU's runs in the first were earned, coming on nine hits while sending 17 batters to the plate.
PROTECTING THE HOME TURF
- After winning their eighth-straight game at Patterson Baseball Complex on Tuesday, Gonzaga is 9-1 and is off to its best ten-game start at home since 2011.
- Gonzaga is 6-0 at home to begin WCC play for the first time in program history. Their previous best was a 5-1 start, set last season after sweeping San Francisco and winning the series against BYU.
- Since the complex opened in 2007, Gonzaga owns a .653 win percentage and a .690 WCC win percentage at home.
GOSZTOLA TABBED WCC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
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Miles Gosztola earned Gonzaga's first West Coast Conference weekly award after being named Freshman of the Week Monday afternoon.
- Gosztola racked up 16 strikeouts over two starts last week for the Zags, including a career-high nine in the series finale against Santa Clara on Sunday.
- On Sunday, Gosztola threw seven strong innings, scattering just one run on five hits while walking one lone batter.
- In his start at No. 5 Oregon State last Monday, seven of Gosztola's first nine outs came via the strikeout against a potent Beaver offense.
ZAGS SWEEP THE PRESEASON WCC #1
- Gonzaga picked up their second West Coast Conference sweep of the season after defeating Santa Clara 6-1 in Sunday's finale. The Broncos were selected as the preseason favorite in the WCC at the beginning of the season.
- With the sweep, Gonzaga is 7-2 to begin WCC play for the fourth straight season.
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Payton Knowles led the Zag offense over the weekend, racking up eight hits with an impressive .667 average, clubbing his first home run of the season while slugging 1.167 with three doubles to go along with his home run.
- In Sunday's finale,
Jordan Hamberg started in right field and went 2-for-2 with a double, a home run, and two walks while driving in three and scoring twice.
- The Gonzaga pitching staff combined for a 2.00 ERA over the weekend, allowing just six total earned runs over 27.0 innings pitched, striking out 30 Santa Clara batters (avg. 10 K/9).
