Gonzaga Leaving Pac-10 North

Gonzaga University will end its 14-year baseball association with the Pacific-10 Conference at the end of the current season, according to Bulldogs athletic director Dan Fitzgerald.

GU and the University of Portland will move from the Pac-10 North Division to the West Coast Conference for the 1996 baseball season, Fitzgerald said. The two schools are already members of the WCC in men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, golf, tennis and cross country and women’s volleyball.

As a member of the eight-team WCC, the Zags will play a 28-game conference schedule next spring. The cost of travel will increase considerably, Fitzgerald admitted.

“But our administration is convinced it’s worth it,” he added.

The defection of GU and Portland will leave the Pac-10 North with only four teams next season - Washington State, Washington, Oregon State and Portland State.

And there is some concern that PSU, which has agreed to join the Big Sky Conference, might eventually be forced to drop baseball. The Big Sky does not play the sport.

Fitzgerald said the move was prompted by several factors, including a desire to “have autonomy with all of our sports in the same league.”

He added, however, that the “elitist” attitude of the six schools that make up the Pac-10’s South Division also played a role.

GU, Portland and Portland State have never had a vote in decisions affecting the Pac-10 - a fact that has become obvious in recent years as the league has struggled with ways to determine who gets its automatic bid into the NCAA’s postseason tournament.

Last year the South Division champion received the bid without even having to play off against the North Division champion.

This year the league decided on a three-game playoff between division champs to determine the automatic bid, but all three games will be played at the home field of the South Division winner.

“Traditionally, the South Division has been enormously elitist,” Fitzgerald said. “Everything is dictated from down there.”

Fitzgerald said he has mixed feelings about leaving the Pac-10 because of the great relationships and rivalries that have developed among coaches, players and administrators in the North Division.

But he made it clear he will not miss the lack of support from the Pac-10’s central administration, which he said “was no support at all - except for (North Division Commissioner) Jack Rainey.”

Bulldogs coach Steve Hertz, who shared North Division coach of the year honors with Oregon State’s Jack Riley last season, said he was also bittersweet about the move.

“But it’s something I’m looking forward to,” he added. “We have a lot of great rivalries and a lot of great memories from 14 years in the Pac-10 North.”

Hertz also pointed out, however, that the Zags will be able to keep their rivalries with WSU, Washington, OSU and Portland State alive through the non-conference portion of their schedule.

Since joining the Pac-10 in 1982, Gonzaga is 149-195 in conference play and 354-368-2 overall. This season the Bulldogs (25-23 overall) are 11-13 in the Pac-10 North and alone in fourth place.

The Zags have never won a division title.

The downside of parity

With less than two weeks left in the regular season, only three games separate the six teams in the Pac-10 North Division.

Washington’s 6-5 loss to Oregon State Monday afternoon dropped the Huskies to 13-10 in league play and into a first-place tie with arch-rival Washington State. Those teams play a crucial three-game series in Seattle this weekend, with the noon opener of Saturday’s doubleheader scheduled to be televised by ESPN.

Portland State (12-11) is in third place, followed by Gonzaga (11-13), Portland (10-13) and Oregon State (10-12).

Adding to the excitement of this year’s race is the likelihood that only the division winner will have a chance to play on in the postseason.

With GU, at a modest 25-23, as the only North Division team with a winning overall record, an at-large bid seems out of the question.

Oregon State is 20-20 overall, followed by WSU (23-25), Portland (20-22), Washington (19-26) and Portland State (18-30).

Go figure

Gonzaga, one of the preseason favorites to win the Pac-10 North, is struggling along in fourth place - for no apparent reason.

The Zags lead the division in pitching with a team earned-run average of 4.28 and rank No. 1 in fielding with a percentage of .962. In addition, they boast the division’s second-highest team batting average of .281.

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