Blood Fans 11 Vikings In Gu Rout

Area colleges

Darin Blood struck out 11 batters in six innings of work to break the Pac-10 North Division single-season strikeout record as the Gonzaga Bulldogs cruised to a 15-5 victory over the Portland State Vikings at Civic Stadium in Portland on Friday.

Blood, whose fourth strikeout of the game broke the five-year-old record set by former Bulldogs pitcher Billy Walker, picked up his 12th win of the season against only three losses to tie Walker’s school record of 12 wins. The six innings also left him three shy of the GU record for innings pitched, with one scheduled start remaining this season.

Corey Wong came on to pitch three innings of one-hit relief to record his first save of the year.

Casey Jacobs stroked a two-run single to highlight a six-run fifth-inning outburst as the Bulldogs sent 11 batters to the plate to provide Blood with all of the support the junior right-hander would need.

Matt Brunnell belted his first home run of the season, a two-run blast that scored Jacobs in the third inning, and finished with three hits and three RBIs.

Scott Morgan recorded seven putouts in right field, had three hits and scored three runs. Jacobs added a pair of hits to drive in three runs and scored three times.

Casey Olson and Ryan Branch also drove in two runs apiece for the Bulldogs, who pounded out 16 hits while benefitting from eight walks issued by Vikings’ pitcher and three PSU errors.

The Bulldogs (12-13 in Pac-10 North play, 26-23) opened the scoring with two runs in the third, then hammered out four runs in the fourth before putting the game away for good in the sixth.

Shawn Neilsen and Jeff Range each hit two-run homers for Portland State (12-13, 18-32).

The two teams play a doubleheader in Civic Stadium at noon today.

Both trail Pac-10 North co-leaders Washington and Washington State by two games.

UW and WSU were idle.

Gonzaga 15, Portland St. 5

Gonzaga 002 463 000 - 15 16 1 Portland St. 000 220 100 - 5 7 3

Blood, Wong (7) and Norton; Schmidt, Wheeler (5) and Burkeen, Oulman (7). W-Blood (12-3). L-Schmidt (2-8). Sv-Wong (1).

HITS: Gonzaga-Brunnell 3, Masterson, Wong, Morgan 3, Norton, Hare 2, Olson, Jacobs 2, Branch 2. Portland St.-Dorey 2, Range, Nielson, Crowston 2, Burkeen. 2B- Jacobs, Masterson, Morgan , Norton, Dorey. 3B-Olsen. HR-Brunnell (1), Nielson (2), Range (6).

Walla Walla 30, Spokane 8

The Community Colleges of Spokane surrendered 24 hits and committed seven errors at Spokane Falls as the Warriors pulled into a first-place tie with the Sasquatch in the NWAACC Eastern Region.

Second baseman Chad Ripke was the one bright spot for the Sasquatch, who were forced to use six pitchers. Ripke rapped out two doubles and a triple to drive in a pair of runs. He also scored four of the Sasquatch’s eight runs.

Brock Barnhart (2-2) took the loss for the Sasquatch.

CCS, which fell to 16-11 overall, travels to Moses Lake for a 1 p.m. double-header with Big Bend Community College today.

WWCC 733 095 120 - 30 24 3 CCS 310 300 010 - 8 5 7

Doyle, Lynch (4), Aldrich (7), Jones (9) and Ross; Banhart, Hobart (3), Miller (5), Getz (6), Sorenson (8), Cerenzia (9) and Mathews, McCord (6). W-Doyle. L-Barnhardt (2-2).

HITS: WWCCEdler 3, Ediss 4, Bibeau 3, Blocklinger 3, Clouser, Ross 3, Averill 3, Maybee 3, Biagi. CCSRipke 3, Best, Mathews. 2B-Ripke 2, Ross 2. 3B-Ripke, Edler 2, Ross, Averill. HR-Blocklinger.

Whitworth at Lewis and Clark, ppd.

The game between the Pirates and the Pioneers in Portland was rained out and will be made up as part of a noon doubleheader today.

Track and field

Whitworth’s Kevin Wright scored 6,390 points to outdistance his nearest competitor by more than 200 and win the men’s decathlon at the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges Championships on the college’s Boppell Memorial Track.

Dale Macomber was second in the steeple chase with a time of 9:51.73 as the Pirates’ men’s team settled in fourth place after the first day of competition. Linfield is in first, 79.5 points ahead of Whitworth.

Dianna Smith (133 feet, 8 1/2 inches) and Trina Gumm (128-9 1/2) finished second and third, respectively, in the discus and Gail Pitman scored 3,263 points to capture third place in the heptathlon to lead the women’s team, which stands in fifth place with 23 points. Pacific Lutheran University lead the women’s competition, outpointing Willamette 51-39.

Dan Kepper (6-6 in the high jump) and Brae Wilson (147-2 in the discus) both scored fourth place finishes for the men. Kepper also finished sixth in the decathlon with 5534 points.

Seline Tatum leaped 16-1 3/4 for fourth place in the long jump for the women.