College baseball: Olson, Eslick spark Bulldogs past Gaels

Tyler Olson overcame some shaky defensive support in the first inning and stymied Saint Mary’s hitters through seven innings and Gonzaga edged the Gaels 4-2 in a West Coast Conference baseball game Saturday at Patterson Complex in Spokane.

Saint Mary’s (11-24, 2-6) benefited from three Gonzaga errors in the first inning and scored two unearned runs.

The Bulldogs (22-10-1, 10-4) responded with runs in the second and third innings to knot the game at 2.

In the seventh, Clayton Eslick hit a pinch-hit, two-run triple to give Gonzaga a 4-2 lead.

Olson gave up five hits and four walks while striking out six in seven innings. Zach Abbruzza pitched the final two innings without giving up a run for his first save of the season.

• After Washington State finished off Arizona in a suspended game from Friday, the Wildcats responded later in the day to even the series in Pac-12 Conference action at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman.

The Cougars (18-14, 5-6) and Wildcats (22-12, 7-7) picked up action from Friday’s suspended game in the eighth inning and WSU went on to win 9-5.

Arizona came back to edge the Cougars 6-5 in the teams’ regularly-scheduled game.

WSU scored all five of its runs in the final two innings to put pressure on Arizona, but the couldn’t complete the comeback.

Tanner Chleborad (3-6) took the loss for WSU after allowing three runs in six innings.

The series finale will be played today at noon.

• Pacific pitchers kept the Whitworth (10-19-1, 5-12) hitters in check and the Boxers swept the Pirates in a Northwest Conference doubleheader in Forest Grove, Ore.

Pacific (11-18, 8-9) won the opener 2-1 and eased to an 8-1 win in the nightcap.

Rob Dittrick went the distance for the Boxers in the first game, giving up a run on 10 hits. Charlie Gaff’s RBI triple in the eighth broke a 1-all tie.

Whitworth’s Dan Scheibe gave up four hits and a run through seven innings.

Nick Morton threw seven shutout innings for Pacific in the nightcap.

• Community Colleges of Spokane (18-10, 9-3) rallied late to beat Treasure Valley 9-7 in the second game of an NWAACC doubleheader in Ontario, Ore.

The Chukars (23-5, 10-2) won the opener 7-3.

The Sasquatch trailed 7-5 through seven innings in the second game, but scored four runs in the final two innings to complete the comeback.

Nick Naccarato hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth to put CCS on top.

Next up for the Sasquatch is a doubleheader Wednesday at Walla Walla.

• Michael Camporeale drove in four runs and Austin Voth allowed two runs in eight innings as Washington (9-23, 3-8) topped Stanford (18-11, 6-5) 11-3 in a Pac-12 Conference game at Sunken Diamond in Stanford, Calif.

Freshman Braden Bishop added three hits and four runs and Jayce Ray went 3 for 3 with three runs and two RBIs for UW.