Gonzaga Baseball Battles For Series Win Over San Diego to Open WCC Play
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Gonzaga Bulldogs second baseman Hudson Shupe (3) swings the bat during a game against the San Diego Toreros at Fowler Park. Credit: Gonzaga Athletics [/caption]
The WCC schedule makers definitely cooked this time. Picked to finish first and second in the conference, respectively, the San Diego Toreros (8-14, 1-2 WCC) and Gonzaga Bulldogs (9-12, 2-1 WCC) met over the weekend for a three-game set that opened West Coast Conference play for the two teams, and to say the series delivered would be an understatement.
Highlighted by rallies, lead changes, and plenty of emotion, the Zags managed to take two out of three on the road despite dropping the series opener and the Toreros scoring first in all three games. Nearly everyone in GU’s lineup contributed throughout the weekend, with clutch hits being provided to stage several comeback efforts.
How did the Bulldogs’ resiliency show in a big series win?
Game 1: San Diego wins 7-6
Setting the tone for what would be a trend, Gonzaga staged a late rally to bring itself within a run by the time the game went final, even though San Diego scored five unanswered to start the game.
Getting just his second collegiate start, it was another rough landing for Zags’ freshman Landon Hood. After seeming untouchable through his first 16.1 innings – all in relief – the hard-throwing righthander has gotten hammered in his last two outings, as the Toreros jumped all over his fastball on Friday. USD hung at least one run on Hood in each of the first four innings, notching a three-spot in the second as the lone crooked number.
A leadoff single came around to score in the bottom of the first. CJ Moran then cranked a solo homer to center in the second, followed by three singles that plated another run. With two down, San Diego runners on first and second took off on a bounced curveball, which catcher Jacob Wrubleski fired past second and into the outfield, thus scoring the fourth Torero run.
Hood allowed three more base hits in the fourth, the final being a Moran RBI cue shot on the infield. Andrew Gauna laced a run-scoring double in the following inning, but Hood managed to limit the damage afterwards, stranding two men in scoring position after there were none out.
His night was done after those four frames, as Hood allowed 10 hits and six runs, five of them earned on 99 pitches. The young righty recorded all three of his strikeouts in the third inning.
Meanwhile, GU’s lineup was stifled by USD starter Diego Gutierrez, who spun five scoreless innings, scattering five hits and three walks while punching out six.
Once Gutierrez departed, the Bulldogs immediately loaded the bases without a man retired courtesy of a single, an error, and a walk. Hudson Shupe then grounded into a run-scoring fielder’s choice before Maddox Haley pulled an RBI single into left.
6-3 sophomore Mickey McClasky gave Gonzaga four solid innings in relief of Hood, as he racked up six strikeouts out of the bullpen. But the run he gave up in the eighth not only came with two down in the inning, but the ball never left the infield. Getting on with a check-swing single was Gauna, who then stole second and scored from there on a grounder deep in the hole where he never stopped running.
With one out in the ninth, Mikey Bell ripped a two-run double to left-center and was then brought home on Ryder Young’s pull-side blast over the wall in left. But the late effort by the Zags’ offense was too little, too late as the next two hitters went down quietly.
Game 2: Gonzaga wins 7-5
Getting another abbreviated outing from its starter, GU allowed two runs in the opening frame to face another early deficit.
Erik Hoffberg wound up turning in his shortest start of the year, going just two innings as he labored to put Torero batters away. But Hoffberg – and his relievers after him – didn’t exactly get the best help from their defense on Saturday.
His performance started with two hit-by-pitches and a walk, as USD used a sacrifice fly and a Moran RBI single down the right-field line to plate a couple.
The Bulldogs quickly responded though, as Haley turned on an inside fastball for a line-drive solo shot in the second to cut the San Diego lead in half. But the momentum swung back to the other side in the bottom half of the inning.
After two base hits opened the frame to put runners at the corners, another error by Wrubleski cost the Zags. The man on first took off for second, and Wrubleski pump faked a throw down, instead trying to nab the leaning runner on third. But Wrubleski’s throw sailed over Bell’s head, scoring the third Torero run and sending the stealer to third base. Hoffberg then yanked a fastball to the backstop on the next pitch, plating another run.
Continuing the back-and-forth, Hudson lined a triple into the right-field corner to lead off the third. He scored on a Bo Shinkle sac fly later in the frame. Southpaw Joe Thornton was the first reliever GU deployed, and he rolled what looked to be a tailor-made inning-ending double play in his first inning of work. But shortstop Ricky Sánchez threw errantly to second, and the ball trickled into no-man’s land in right field, as the runner raced around the pillows to score from first.
Leading off the sixth, Bell stung an offspeed offering over the left-center field fence off a left-hander. Then in his next at-bat that began the eighth, Bell launched a pitch to straightaway center against a righty for his second dinger of the game and fourth of the season.
To that point, Thornton had kept the San Diego offense in check, as the unearned run was the only blemish on his line through five innings of relief. Justin Feld continued to hold the line after Bell’s second home run, pitching a 1-2-3 eighth to give Gonzaga a chance to come back in the ninth.
And come back they did.
With two outs and a runner on first, USD bullpen arm Nate DeSchryver missed with two heaters to Bell. Although it wasn’t the full Barry Bonds treatment, the Toreros put Bell on intentionally anyway after falling behind in the count, which brought the go-ahead run to the dish in the form of Young.
Turning on a hanging 0-1 slider, Young crushed a pitch to left that flew over the wall for a three-run blast. Young, Meffert, and Bell yelled during their trips around the bases while all of their teammates spilled out of the dugout to meet Young in the on-deck circle, as home plate umpire Paul Graham attempted to usher them all back in the other direction.
Zack Bowman shut the door in the bottom half, retiring the San Diego hitters in order to secure the victory for the Bulldogs and set up a rubber game the next day.
Game 3: Gonzaga wins 11-6
Of course, the final contest of the series was probably the most eventful, with both teams taking blows and never being out of it.
Poor defense showed up again for the Zags in the opening frame, as Shupe booted a grounder with two on and two out as he was moving to his left, scoring the first run of the game. There was déjà vu the next half-inning, where the game was tied on a grounder to second that was also kicked by second baseman Gage Mestas, ironically with Shupe hitting.
With the bases juiced and two down in the third, Sánchez hit a slow roller up the middle that was fielded by the shortstop, but he had no play, and everyone was safe. GU sent eight men to the plate in the fourth, scoring three on the back of a Noah Meffert run-scoring single, an RBI double from Young, and a base hit by Haley.
Entering the fifth, Gonzaga southpaw Karsten Sweum had settled in after the unearned run in the first. Then San Diego fought back thanks to RBI singles from Moran and Gauna to make it 5-3. USD put men on second and third later in the frame, but Sweum got a swinging strikeout on a good changeup just below the zone to escape the jam.
Bulldogs right-hander Finbar O’Brien pitched a quick sixth inning in relief, but couldn’t find the same success when he came back out for the seventh. Rallying to tie the game at five, the Toreros struck O’Brien for three singles after earning a leadoff walk. Then, against Bowman two batters later, Aden Howard dropped a bunt down between the mound and third base, giving his team the lead as the Zags had no chance for a play anywhere.
This presumably woke Gonzaga’s bats once again, as Bell lined a leadoff double the other way to start the eighth inning. He moved up to third on a lineout by Young, then came around to score on a seeing-eye single off the bat of Haley through a drawn-in infield. After Tommy Eisenstat walked, Shupe stepped to the plate with two on, two out, and delivered.
On a 3-2 changeup, Shupe drilled a three-run homer that cleared the wall in right field, the biggest hit he’s had this season by far. He also helped to tack on two insurance runs in the ninth, singling back up the box to plate a run following a sac fly by Sánchez. By the time everything wrapped up, GU collected a season-high 19 hits and six Bulldogs logged multi-hit games, with Haley going 4-for-5 while Shupe and Shinkle notched three knocks apiece.
Bowman finished things off, pitching the final three innings without allowing a run to pick up his first win of the season.
On Deck
Although it would have liked to play better defensively at times, Gonzaga picked itself up on both sides to earn a big series win. Several big bats in the middle of the order are starting to really get in a groove as well. With the Zags not playing the Toreros again in the regular season, this weekend’s result could go a long way in deciding the final WCC standings despite it being only late March.
The Bulldogs will finally play their first home game of the season on Tuesday against Washington State, before heading back on the road for a series versus Pacific in Stockton.
