College baseball: Zags gain ground despite losses
Gonzaga University lost its first West Coast Conference series of the season over the weekend, dropping two of three road games to San Francisco.
But coach Mark Machtolf’s Bulldogs (27-21 overall, 10-5 in the WCC) still managed to move up one spot in the conference standings and into a second-place tie with 12th-ranked Pepperdine (30-16, 10-5) after the Waves dropped three straight to 16th-ranked and conference-leading San Diego (35-14, 13-2) at USD.
The run-hungry Zags managed to score four times in their three games against USF, scratching out their only win, 1-0, on Saturday.
“USF’s pitching has been really, really good all year, and they pitched well again last weekend,” Machtolf said. “Plus, we didn’t swing the bats all that well down there.”
Still, the Bulldogs remain in control of their postseason destiny with six conference games left on their schedule, including a three-game set at Pepperdine on May 11-13.
The stretch run begins Friday when Loyola Marymount (20-27-1, 7-8) travels to Washington Trust Field for the first of three games against the Zags. Even if the Bulldogs lose all three, they could still clinch one of the two spots in the May 25-27 best-of-3 WCC championship series by sweeping Pepperdine the following weekend.
Under such a scenario, GU would earn the No. 2 playoff spot by virtue of its 3-0 record against the Waves.
“It still goes back to the fact that we’ve got six league games left and need to control what we can control,” Machtolf said. “But San Diego’s sweep of Pepperdine certainly helped us.”
In LMU, the Zags will face another team with good speed and solid pitching.
“They’ve got a couple of really good starting pitchers,” Machtolf said. “But it will still be nice to be playing at home again. If you’re going to contend for the title, you have to play well at home and then eke out enough wins on the road to get by.
“Hopefully, that’s what we can do here down the stretch.”
Cougars gain TV time
Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. Pacific-10 Conference game between Stanford and Washington State will be televised live from Bailey-Brayton Field on Fox Sports Net Northwest.
The Pacific-10 Conference matchup between the Cardinal (18-23, 3-12) and Cougars (21-20, 4-11) will mark the first time a WSU game has been televised live since May 12, 2002, when FSN Northwest aired a non-conference game between the Cougars and Lewis-Clark State.
Pirates will honor seniors
Whitworth College, after dropping its final Northwest Conference game of the season to Linfield on Sunday, will close out its season on Saturday with a non-conference doubleheader against Central Washington University at Merkel Field.
The Pirates (13-24, 9-15) will honor the six seniors on their roster during Saturday’s doubleheader, which starts at noon.