Gonzaga Baseball Sweeps San Francisco, Clinches No. 1 Seed in WCC
After a lackluster week on the mound for Gonzaga baseball (32-17, 19-5 WCC), the Bulldogs’ staff couldn’t have responded any better in San Francisco.
A no-hitter from Karsten Sweum and the two first shutouts of the season stole the show, as the Zags’ pitching powered their team to their first WCC regular-season title since 2022 during a sweep of the Dons (22-27, 13-11). In the three games, GU outscored its opponent 32-5. USF entered the weekend at second place in the conference, but after running into the Bulldogs’ buzzsaw, it left in fifth.
What went into the Bulldogs’ dominant series win over the Dons?
Game 1: Gonzaga wins 7-0
Friday night’s start from Justin Feld set the table for how the staff would fare in San Francisco, specifically the following day.
The most trouble the junior right-hander would run into was in the opening inning, where he walked the first two batters he faced. But Feld induced a lineout and a couple of Ks to escape the frame and was locked in afterwards. He didn’t allow a hit until a two-out single in the fourth and worked around a few more base hits in the sixth to get through six scoreless innings. Fanning six in his quality start, Feld moved to 7-1 on the season as he put together a bounce-back outing on the mound.
Offensively, it was the bottom of the order that got things going for the Zags. Eight-hole hitter Tommy Eisenstat worked a one-out walk in the third and, after moving up to third on a double off the wall by the nine-hole man Bo Shinkle, scored on a Ricky Sánchez groundout.
In the next frame, Noah Meffert laced a double down the left-field line and Hudson Shupe walked, setting the table for Jacob Wrubleski in the seven spot. Gonzaga’s catcher ripped a line drive over the third baseman’s head, scoring Meffert from second. It brought Eisenstat back to the dish, who towered a no-doubt shot off a light post beyond the right-field fence, extending GU’s lead to 5-0 and chasing San Francisco starter Gauge Lockhart.
Leading off the fifth was Sánchez, who dropped an inside heater into the Bermuda Triangle of the Dons’ centerfielder, right fielder, and second baseman. The infielder dove out of reach while the outfielders converged, and the ball kicked away from all of them, allowing Sánchez to scoot to second with a double. On the next pitch, Mikey Bell banged a pitch the other way off the wall, swapping places with Sánchez to push the lead to 6-0. Bell later scored on a stroked single to left by cleanup hitter Maddox Haley.
Garrett Gores finished off the final three innings of the contest, only allowing a walk while striking out three en route to picking up his second save of the season.
Game 2: Gonzaga wins 13-0 (7 innings)
With a chance to clinch at least a share of the WCC regular season title and lock themselves as the conference’s top seed on Saturday, the Bulldogs were lights out on both ends.
Starting with the historic accomplishment, junior southpaw Karsten Sweum did something all pitchers hope to do at least once in their lives, no matter what level. Sweum didn’t allow a base hit in his seven innings of work, using 93 pitches to strike out 15, bringing his season total to a WCC-leading 99. He allowed just two free passes and hit a man, two of those events occurring in his final frame of work. It was the sixth no-hitter in program history, and GU’s first since Alek Jacob – who is now in the San Diego Padres organization – spun a no-no in 2021. He received the WCC Pitcher of the Week award for his performance, to no surprise.
He had the Dons off balance all afternoon, mixing his elite changeup with his fastball and breaking balls to perfection. From the beginning of the third to the end of the sixth, Sweum had tallied all but one of the 12 outs via the punchout. Just like Feld, it was a phenomenal response from his previous start, and he also improved to 7-1 on the year. Gonzaga likely would have celebrated after the win regardless considering the circumstances, but the team had a target to mob in Sweum once the final out was notched, of course, via another strikeout.
On the other side, it was the virtual opposite. Dons starting pitcher Adrian Valdez surrendered 10 earned runs in 1+ inning of work, as the Zags put up 12 runs before USF got its second chance at the plate. To illustrate, the first 10 Bulldogs to come to the plate in the eight-run second reached base. Surprisingly enough, GU’s only homer on the day was Meffert’s two-run blast in the first, but it was a welcome sight for the offense to continue to pass the baton, seemingly with ease against Valdez.
They finished with 15 hits, and although Sánchez was the only man in the lineup to not record a knock, he took three walks and was plated twice. Bell had a 4-for-5 day at the dish, hitting a couple of doubles while driving in three runs.
Game 3: Gonzaga wins 12-5
Jumping out to an early lead again, the Zags again put up a crooked number in the opening frame against the Dons during the series finale.
Sánchez took another walk to lead off the game and later scored on an RBI knock from Haley. Then Haley and Bell, who also singled, were plated on a two-run double into the left-center field gap by Eisenstat, making it 3-0 Bulldogs early. Gonzaga later padded the lead in the fourth courtesy of a Shinkle RBI groundout and a run-scoring single by Sánchez.
Freshman right-hander Landon Hood got his fourth start of the season after transitioning back to working primarily out of the bullpen for about a month. Keeping the shutdown stuff going for GU’s pitching staff, Hood retired the first eight batters he faced before surrendering a two-out triple in the third, but got out of the inning with no dents to the scoreboard.
After being held scoreless for the previous 19 innings, USF plated its first run of the series when Trevor Harmon drove a solo homer over the wall in left with two down in the fourth. In the sixth, the first two Dons doubled and singled off Hood, respectively, and they scraped across another run later in the frame. The final line for Hood read 5 1/3 innings, four hits, two earned runs, a walk, and six punchouts.
But any hope by San Francisco of mounting a late comeback to salvage the series was thwarted when the Zags batted around to score six runs in the eighth. Aided by two errors in the infield, Gonzaga largely went station to station during the lengthy inning.
Relievers Mickey McClaskey and Finbar O’Brien piggybacked for the last 3 2/3 frames, each of them striking out four without allowing an earned run. Wrubleski committed catcher’s interference during the first plate appearance of the ninth, which extended the inning enough for Jordan Lewis to clobber a three-run tank off O’Brien, but it was much too little, too late.
On Deck
By clinching the No. 1 seed in the WCC, GU’s first game of the conference tournament will be on May 21 at 2 PM PT, playing the lowest advancing seed from Day 1 of the tournament.
The final regular season set for the Zags will start Thursday as they host Seattle U, the first team currently outside the top six squads headed to Scottsdale. Getting a series victory would equal a new program-best in conference wins for the Bulldogs, who already have 19, which would be yet another historic accolade for Gonzaga this year.
