SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Behind six and two thirds innings of scoreless pitching from
Justin Feld, Gonzaga picked up their fifth straight win on Friday at Benedetti Diamond. A
Vincent Temesvary home run and a
Josh Hankins sacrifice fly was all Feld and reliever
Payton Graham needed to secure the one-run win.
Gonzaga (12-18, 8-2 WCC) has now won four straight West Coast Conference games and five straight against San Francisco (17-17, 1-6 WCC) dating back to 2022.
Feld breezed through the first inning with a strikeout, lineout and popout. He worked around a walk and a single in the second, thanks to some defensive plays from
Donovan Ratfield and
Peyton Miller. Ratfield threw out a USF runner attempting to swipe third on a ball in the dirt to end the inning. He'd throw out another runner in the third inning, also trying to steal third base.
The Zags picked up their first run in the fourth, as Temesvary lifted a ball high off the net in left field for his fifth home run of the season. GU would add more traffic in the inning, but San Francisco used a lineout and fielder's choice to escape with just the one run. Gonzaga would get their second run in the sixth when Hankins ripped a fly ball right at the right fielder, allowing
Tommy Eisenstat to trot home on the sacrifice fly.
Feld worked through the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings nearly unscathed, until running into some trouble in the seventh. The Dons put two runners on thanks to a double and a walk, and after recording the second out, Gonzaga made the call to the bullpen and
Payton Graham, who closed the book on Feld with a strikeout looking.
Graham was nearly perfect in his seven-out save, surrendering the lone USF run on a two-out home run in the ninth. It marks the first save of his career.
UP NEXT
Game two of the series is set for a 1pm start on Saturday. Follow @ZagBaseball on social media for all the latest updates, and check gozags.com for results and streaming information.