10 in a Row For the Zags! Game Recap:
Joe Thornton pitches at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. (Photo courtesy of Gonzaga Athletics)
The Gonzaga Bulldogs (23-14, 12-3 WCC) defeated their rival, the St. Mary’s Gaels (22-17, 8-7 WCC) on Sunday by a score of 6-5 to complete the three game road sweep and remain atop the West Coast Conference. This was Gonzaga’s tenth win in a row; the Bulldogs’ most recent loss was against Pepperdine on April 2nd. Gonzaga’s next chance to extend their streak will come on Tuesday when they travel to Pullman to visit the Washington State Cougars. St. Mary’s will look to get back on track Tuesday in a road midweek game against the Nevada Wolf Pack.
After winning the first two games of the series by scores of 7-2 and 14-4, RF Noah Meffert opened the scoring for the Zags with a moonshot to dead center in the second inning. 2B Hudson Shupe drove in two more with an RBI double in the third to extend the lead to 3-0; Meffert and 1B Tommy Eisenstat added one more apiece by way of a sac fly and RBI groundout which built Gonzaga’s lead to 5-0 entering the bottom of the third.
This 5-0 lead did not last long however, as St. Mary’s tied the score with five runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning. Gaels C Ian Armstrong drove a double into the gap in left center field with the bases loaded to bring the score to 5-3. Righty outfielder Jacob Johnson smashed an opposite field home run to tie the game and erase Gonzaga’s lead.
The score remained even at 5-5 until the fifth inning, when Gonzaga DH Maddox Haley answered the call and broke the tie with a solo shot to left field. This was Haley’s second home run of the series, having also homered on Friday. This brings Haley’s season home run total to 9, and he has been putting together a highly impressive season overall. The Junior leads his team in home runs despite only being eighth in at-bats, and comes away from this series with an unreal .429 batting average and 1.252 OPS on the season.
Gonzaga reliever Joe Thornton was incredible out of the pen. Thornton neutralized the Gaels’ lineup with a dominant 3.1 innings in relief, striking out five and allowing just one baserunner in total. Erik Hoffberg and Landon Hood continued the scoreless bullpen performance by recording the final five outs for the Zags and securing the victory. St. Mary’s reliever Jake Hilton was very good in his own right (6.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 5 K), but this effort would fall just short as the Gaels’ bats could not get anything going after the third inning. This was almost not the case; Noah Meffert leapt over the right field wall to rob Gaels CF Tanner Griffith of what would have been a game-tying home run in the fifth inning. Meffert’s blast in the second and robbery in the fifth proved to be vital for Gonzaga, as they’d only win this contest by a difference of one run.
With this victory and series sweep, Gonzaga remains in sole possession of first place in the WCC and has now won 80% of their conference games this season. St. Mary’s falls to 8-7 in WCC play, and will have much less margin for error over the remainder of the season in order to qualify for the WCC tournament. This win makes Gonzaga’s 10 game streak the second longest in all of Division I at the moment, behind only the Binghamton Bearcats sitting at 11. Washington State will look to play spoiler in the Zags’ next outing, and first pitch is set to occur 6:00 PM PST on Tuesday.
Final Score: St. Mary’s 5, Gonzaga 6
WP: Joe Thornton (1-0)
LP: Jake Hilton (4-3)
SV: Landon Hood (2)
TheRundownPod Player of the Game: Gonzaga RF Noah Meffert (1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R)
