Gonzaga Prep turns tables on Mt. Spokane

In a battle of Greater Spokane League heavyweights, Gonzaga Prep invaded Mt. Spokane’s field Thursday and handed the Wildcats a 7-1 defeat in a game that had been close for five innings.

The Bullpups turned to sophomore Connor Coballes, who pitched his team’s first complete game of the year to beat Mt. Spokane and get revenge for the Wildcats beating G-Prep 4-3 at G-Prep on Tuesday.

“It’s always nice to come to this place … and make it happen,” said Coballes, a sophomore, who gave up one run and struck out eight in seven innings of work. “I have a defense behind me that does their job if I don’t.”

Senior Jack Machtolf got the Bullpups on the board in the top of the first when his base hit to left field scored Coballes, who reached on a base hit of his own to start the game.

But Wildcats’ pitcher Justin Macdonald settled down and the 1-0 score remained until the bottom of the fourth inning when freshman catcher Quentin Ayers smacked a two-out base hit to score Ben McKinnis to pull Mt. Spokane even.

The Bullpups responded in the top of the fifth to take a 2-1 lead when Blake Bonham walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jeffrey Young.

Gonzaga Prep (6-2, 5-1 GSL) then capitalized on defensive miscues. They added two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh as the Wildcats’ bats couldn’t generate enough offense to stay in the game.

“It’s one of those games where they took advantage of our mistakes,” Mt. Spokane coach Alex Schuerman said. “Coballes kept us off balance. He threw strikes. I thought it was two good teams battling and it kind of got away from us at the end.”

Munhall said he wishes he could play Mt. Spokane (5-3, 4-2) more often because it would make his team better.

“We try to elevate and play our best against them because we know it’s going to be a fight,” he said.

And that fight on Tuesday was won behind the arm of Coballes, who fought his way to the starting shortstop job last year as a freshman.

“We saw something special from the very start with that kid,” Munhall said. “It’s nice when you get kids who just crave competition. He can elevate to another level when he needs to and he certainly did it today.”