Box Score LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Portland baseball scored ten runs in the third and six in the fourth to knock Gonzaga out of the West Coast Conference Tournament on Friday at Las Vegas Ballpark. The Pilots will now face top-seeded San Diego in the WCC Championship on Saturday after a 21-3 win over the Bulldogs, needing to beat the Toreros twice.
 
Gonzaga (21-32) and Portland (37-18) traded scoreless innings until the Pilots broke it open in the top of the third. A hit-by-pitch and a walk led off the frame before Portland hit three home runs on consecutive pitches to take a 6-0 lead. After it was all said and done in the top of the third, the Pilots plated ten runs on eight hits.
 
Portland starter Sam Stuhr came back out after the long inning to work a quick 1-2-3 bottom of the third before the Pilots went back to work with six more runs in the top of the fourth and three in the fifth, including Zach Toglia's second long ball of the night.
 
A run in the sixth and seventh gave Portland 21 on the night, the highest allowed by GU pitching all season. Meanwhile the Zag bats were silenced for much of the game, collecting just four hits. Their first run came in the bottom of the seventh when Sam Stem launched a home run over the Las Vegas Ballpark pool in right center field. Then in the ninth, Jordan Hamberg launched a two-run triple off the right field wall to account for Gonzaga runs two and three.
 
The Zags ends their 2024 season with a 21-32 record and a third-place finish in the WCC Tournament after finishing fourth in the regular season standings.