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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

GU’s WCC baseball title worth the wait for Wyatt Mills

Wyatt Mills was a standout pitcher at Gonzaga Prep and has turned in a stellar senior season for Gonzaga University. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

It took all four years for Wyatt Mills to finally dogpile with his Zags.

After Gonzaga won a share of the West Coast Conference title with a victory over BYU on Saturday night, the Zags raced to the side of the field and jumped on top of each other. They cheered and hugged each other, and sent a cooler full of water over coach Mark Machtolf.

It was a feeling Mills had been chasing since he joined Gonzaga’s bullpen in 2014. Mills couldn’t seem to fully describe the way he felt when he was on the mound in the final out of the game on Saturday, but he eventually found a word.

“Surreal,” Mills said.

It was a moment the Spokane native had hoped to experience in his last opportunity to play in his hometown in a Zags uniform.

The right-handed closer from Gonzaga Prep didn’t have the chance to celebrate with a dogpile last year when the Zags fell one game short of taking the WCC title for themselves, losing to Saint Mary’s in the championship game of the tournament.

“Being from Spokane and doing this and coming back for my senior year and letting that happen so I can feel the felling that I had last year when we clinched it … that’s what I wanted. I wanted this feeling. I wanted to dog pile,” Mills said.

Mills turned down an opportunity to play professionally last year when he was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 17th round of the draft. Mills didn’t sign and decided to return to his hometown for his senior year.

This season, Mills has led the Zags’ bullpen with a 1.50 ERA. He has fanned more than a third of the batters he’s faced (55 of 141). He issued only four walks and six earned runs in 36 innings this season. His 11th save on Saturday was the second-most of any GU pitcher in a regular season.

Mills and the Zags face Fresno State in Fresno, California, on Monday in Gonzaga’s season finale. Then, GU will enter this week’s WCC championships with a No. 1 overall seed, despite sharing the conference title with BYU and Loyola Marymount.

Mills said he was more than happy to share the crown in his final year.

“I don’t care,” Mills said. “If there’s a ring involved, I mean, I’ll share it.”