SEATTLE, Wash. – An eight-run first inning propelled Washington to an 8-2 win over Gonzaga on Tuesday at Husky Ballpark in the Zags' final road midweek game of the season. The Huskies took advantage of four walks while picking up six hits to take and hold on to an early lead.
 
With the win, Washington (17-20-1) snaps a four-game Gonzaga (17-24) head-to-head win streak that dates back to 2018.
 
The Zags were first to strike on the afternoon after a one-out single from Josh Hankins opened the rally. A two-out single from Vincent Temesvary moved Hankins to second before Jordan Hamberg plated him with an RBI single to right center. However, Temesvary was cut down at the plate after trying to advance on a UW miscue to end the inning.
 
Washington was quick to respond and did so in a big way with an eight-run bottom of the first after taking advantage of GU starter Matthew Mueller (L, 2-1), who struggled to find the strike zone. After walking the first two Husky batters, an RBI-single tied the game at one. A flyout and a walk later loaded the bases before a sacrifice fly gave UW a 2-1 lead.
 
Daniel Sotelo entered for Mueller, but a big two-out rally that saw five straight Husky hits blew the game open to make it 8-1.
 
Both pitching staffs locked in after a long first inning. Most notably for Gonzaga, Erik Hoffberg recorded seven outs in relief with seven consecutive strikeouts after allowing a hit and two walks to open his outing.
 
Finbar and Liam O'Brien also gave strong outings in relief for Gonzaga, combining for four innings, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Liam O'Brien, in his first outing since mid-March, struck out the side in his lone inning of work.
 
Despite a lockdown performance from the bullpen, the GU offense was unable to bring runs home, putting runners on base in each inning except for the third. Payton Knowles, Max Coupe, Jordan Hamberg, and Josh Hankins each recorded multi-hit games as the Zags and Huskies each notched ten hits on the day.
 
UP NEXT
Gonzaga will wrap up their final road trip of the 2024 season with a big West Coast Conference series at Pacific, where they could not only secure their spot in the WCC Tournament, but move closer to solidifying a top-two seed in Vegas. Follow @ZagBaseball on social media for all the latest updates, and check gozags.com for results and streaming information.