Gonzaga Nips UW In Finale
With sidelights such as a welcome luncheon for participating teams, a clinic for kids and a silent auction to benefit the Spokane Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Center, baseball had a difficult time retaining its place on center stage during the second annual Evans, Craven & Lackie College Baseball Invitational at Gonzaga University this weekend.
But on Sunday, the University of Washington and host GU pushed the game back into the focal point of the three-day event by engaging in a wonderfully entertaining 10-inning game that chased the sun down.
And the fact that the West Coast Conference Bulldogs squeezed out a 4-3 win over the defending Pacific-10 Conference North Division Huskies, in the final game of the four-team round-robin tournament only heightened the elation of Gonzaga coach Steve Hertz.
“I just had a ball,” Hertz said shortly after Rob Pearsall singled home Donny Murrell with the winning run. “You couldn’t have written it any better as far as what this tournament can do for your ballclub, really.
“Here you are, playing three good teams - one of them (Southern California) a great team, actually, maybe even the best in the country - so you get to challenge yourself not only physically, but mentally, for three days. And you end it with a win in a what was a real good ballgame. ‘
‘This was just terrific.”
Sunday’s victory gave Gonzaga a 2-1 record and an unofficial second- place finish in the tournament, which counts against the NCAA limit of 56 games that Division-I teams are allowed to play each school year.
Perennial national power and defending Pac-10 champion USC finished 3-0 after disposing of Pac10 rival Oregon State 11-5 in Sunday’s first game. The Huskies closed at 1-2 and OSU went winless in three games.
The tournament, which was moved to the fall to avoid scheduling conflicts and take advantage of better weather, drew sizable crowds all three days and was deemed a success by nearly everyone involved - even the losing coach in Sunday’s final game.
“It was great,” said UW’s Ken Knutson. “The kids had a good time, the tournament was wellrun, everything was just fabulous.”
GU and the tournament’s main sponsor, the Spokane law firm of Evans, Craven & Lackie, have signed an agreement that will keep the event going at least for two more years.
The problem will be finding visiting teams that are willing to exchange three spring games that count for three fall games that mean nothing.
Hertz is convinced, however, that the tournament can still lure big-name Division-I schools to the Pacific Northwest. And GU athletic director Dan Fitzgerald said he plans to look into the possibility of asking the NCAA for an exemption that would exempt teams playing in a charity-driven fall tournament from counting those games against their 56-game limit.
, DataTimes