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Gonzaga University Athletics

College baseball: Recent play has Gonzaga thinking postseason

PULLMAN – Although righty Andrew Sopko has been one of the most effective starting pitchers in the West Coast Conference all season, until last week he’d never started a game in the premier Friday slot.

But with No. 1 starter Brandon Bailey battling strep throat, Sopko stepped in, and pitched masterfully in the 7-0 win. Sopko allowed a baserunner in each of the first three innings, but retired his final 16 batters and only allowed two hits while striking out eight in eight innings.

“It was my first Friday night start so there were some nerves in that first inning,” Sopko said. “But I was able to settle down and pitch well.”

In the process, he lowered his season earned-run average to 2.05, sixth in the WCC.

Don’t feel too bad for Bailey, either. He felt well enough to pitch on Sunday, going the distance in a complete-game, 1-0 shutout of the Gaels. Bailey won WCC pitcher of the week for his performance, which saw him notch nine strikeouts and allow just four hits.

A Bulldog took home the WCC Player of the Week award as well, as Taylor Jones was given the honor after going 5 for 10 with two home runs, a double and three RBIs against Saint Mary’s. Jones leads the team with a .426 batting average and GU’s resurgent bats, in conjunction with the typically strong pitching, have the Bulldogs moving up the conference standings rapidly.

GU (18-17, 8-7 WCC) has won five of its last six conference games to overcome a slow start, where untimely dry spells at the plate and poor fielding held the Bulldogs near the bottom of the conference standings.

“All year, we’ve been a tight-knit group and able to pick guys up when they’re not doing well. Winning’s always more fun but we’re always even-keeled,” Sopko said. “If we weren’t this tight, those hard times wouldn’t be as easy as they were.”

Prior to GU’s sweep of Saint Mary’s, the Bulldogs took two of three from WCC-leading San Diego, and with a road trip to struggling Portland on tap (7-31, 2-13), they have a chance this weekend to firmly cement themselves in the postseason discussion.

But the Bulldogs say that after losing plenty of games they thought they should win, they’re not treating any game like a guarantee.

“I think all along we had a team that could compete,” said coach Mark Machtolf. “Where you get away from it, you get into trouble is where you start looking at the schedule and say, ‘we beat this team that’s supposed to be really good,’ and now you’re playing a team that might be below you in the standings.”

Pistorese again Pac-12 pitcher of the week

For the second consecutive week, the Pac-12 coaches named Joe Pistorese the conference pitcher of the week thanks to a complete-game victory over Washington on Saturday.

He allowed three runs on six hits and one walk in the outing, striking out eight batters. Pistorese has now been given the honor three times in his career, and has pitched a complete game four times this season, which ties for the national lead.

Whitworth holding on

Whitworth’s baseball team has struggled since winning 10 consecutive games, but should still qualify for the Northwest Conference playoffs. Following their undefeated two-week stretch in March, the Pirates were swept in Spokane by Linfield and have gone 2-5 in April.

The top four teams at the end of the season qualify for the NWC tournament and Whitworth (22-13, 13-8) currently ranks third in the conference standings. But if the Pirates are swept this weekend at Willamette, and George Fox wins two or more games against second-place Linfield, then Whitworth will find itself tied for fourth place, with the tiebreaker going to Willamette.