Lost weekend ends season for Bulldogs
One season ended, one season continues and one team won – finally.
The season that ended belonged to the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
Only a few weeks ago the Zags held all the cards in the West Coast Conference Coast Division race. But it was Loyola Marymount that ended up winning the big pot, sweeping four games from GU to win the division by two games over second-place San Diego.
The Bulldogs’ hopes faded in a weekend that could be filed in the what-could-go-wrong-will-go-wrong folder.
Josh Monroe (9-4) threw a strong game in the opener, but GU’s bats never got untracked. LMU won 3-0.
Junior left-hander Patrick Donovan, who had an up-and-down season, was down in Saturday first game, yielding 11 runs (six earned) in 42/3 innings, and so was the Zags’ defense, with two key errors. LMU won 13-6.
Bobby McEwen came through in the nightcap, giving up six runs (all in the second inning) in seven innings, but the GU pen couldn’t hold a 9-6, eighth- inning lead. LMU won 10-9 and clinched the division crown.
Speaking of clinching, the continuing season belongs to the Community Colleges of Spokane, which last weekend added the NWAACC East Division tournament title to its regular season championship.
With the postseason title came the No. 1 seed into the NWAACC tournament starting Thursday in Longview, Wash. The Sasquatch’s 3-1 win over Columbia Basin in the championship game – with Paul Knutson and Ben Mathiason combining to scatter seven hits – also gave CCS a much easier road this weekend.
First up for CCS (30-12) is the No. 2 seed from the West Division, Centralia, a school that shouldn’t hold many surprises. The teams met for four games in Spokane in late March, with CCS winning three. Centralia, which put together back-to-back shutouts of Tacoma CC to earn the berth, is also the only school in the eight-team tournament with a losing record (17-23).
If CCS can get by the Trailblazers, it will face the winner of Mt. Hood (31-8) and Edmonds (36-7). The Tritons and the Sasquatch met March 6 in Edmonds, with the host team winning 9-4. The Centralia and Edmonds losses were the only two CCS suffered its first 16 games.
Two West Valley High products play for Edmonds: relief pitcher Kyle Arnold (1-0, two saves, 4.50 ERA) and reserve catcher Tyler Hauschild.
If the Sasquatch had finished second in the East, they would have faced top seed and host Lower Columbia (35-5).
Despite all that, the Washington State Cougars may have had the biggest win of the weekend.
The Cougs’ 10-7 victory Saturday was their first in Pac-10 play, and eliminated any chance of them going through conference play without a win for the first time in their more than 100 years of baseball. WSU is 1-20 with one more Pac-10 series remaining.
For WSU to avoid its fewest wins in Pac-10 play, they’ll have to sweep a three-game series in Tempe, Ariz., this weekend. The Cougs were 4-20 in 1999, their first year in the combined Pac-10. But in Arizona State, which dropped to 25th in the nation after losing two of three at the University of Washington last weekend, WSU is facing a team fighting for a better seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Around the area
Brady Everett supplied the one in WSU’s 4-1 loss to UCLA Sunday with his 15th home run. The senior catcher’s solo shot also gave him a team-high 62 RBIs. … Wayne Daman Jr. (7-5) earned the Cougs’ win with 52/3 innings of work, but it was two rarely used freshmen who really stepped up at the plate. First baseman Nick Hall and right fielder Garrett Kimbrel each had three hits and two RBIs. For Hall it was his 10th start of the year, for Kimbrel, his ninth.
•Jeff Culpepper entered the weekend needing six hits to tie the GU career record of 269 set by Eric Rodland from 2000 to 2003. But GU’s lone senior had just one in the four games, finishing with 264 for his career, leaving him second on GU’s all-time list. He is also second in career doubles, with his 54 second to Jerrod Wong‘s 59. … One Zag who had a great weekend was first baseman Bobby Carlson. The junior was 9 of 16 with four RBIs, raising his average to .256 and his team-leading RBI total to 57. … Sophomore second baseman Scott Campbell ended up leading the Zags in average at .332, but five starters hit better than .300.
•Oregon State finished the Pac-10 season 19-5 and ranked as high as third in the nation. The Beavers will win their first Pac-10 title if Arizona loses any of its three home games with Cal this weekend. If UA sweeps and ties OSU, the Wildcats would earn the Pac-10’s automatic berth in the NCAA tourney starting June 3. Both Arizona and Oregon State will earn tournament berths, however, with OSU expected to host first-round games. … Northwest Conference champion Linfield College (33-9) went 0-2 in the NCAA Division III West regional, dropping its opener to Texas Lutheran and a loser-out game to Chapman College.