Hot-hitting Toreros visit Zags
Normally, it’s the University of San Diego’s pitching that worries Gonzaga coach Mark Machtolf.
But after seeing how USD abused West Coast Conference rival Santa Clara with its bats last weekend, Machtolf has another major concern about the league-leading and 21st-ranked Toreros (22-11, 6-0 WCC), who visit Washington Trust Field on Thursday for the start of a crucial three-game series against GU (21-9, 4-2).
“What they always do is pitch well,” Machtolf said of the Toreros. “They’ve done that for several years, and they’re doing it again this year. But it seems like the last two or three weeks their bats have just been on fire, so it’s going to be a difficult matchup for us.”
USD went on the road and beat down Santa Clara 9-4, 22-10 and 22-5, pounding out 23 hits in Sunday’s series finale.
Junior outfielder James Meador, one of coach Rich Hill’s five returning first-team all-WCC selections, leads the Toreros with a .392 batting average that includes four home runs and 26 RBIs, and boasts a .632 slugging percentage. USD still features a deep and talented pitching staff led by junior closer and preseason All-American AJ Griffin, who leads the team with three saves, a 2.23 earned-run average and a 5-1 record.
Fortunately for Machtolf, his team has plenty of positives from which to draw, even after dropping a 14-7 non-conference decision to Washington at home Tuesday.
In their first two WCC series, the Bulldogs went on the road and took two of three games from San Francisco and perennial national power Pepperdine, and sit in third place in the conference standings.
“Any time you go on the road in this league and win two out of three, you’re doing just fine,” Machtolf said. “And we were able to do that the first two weekends, so we feel good about where were at right now.”
Finales not kind to Cougs
Washington State, despite its successful start in Pacific-10 Conference play, still hasn’t figured out how to write a feel-good ending to a weekend series.
The Cougars (14-13, 4-2) have won the first two games in their series against California and UCLA, but dropped the series finales to both schools.
The latest Sunday disappointment came last weekend, when they spotted visiting UCLA a 7-0 lead and lost 9-6 after leaving 12 runners on base.
“I know that we were really disappointed on Sunday not to sweep, but we’ve been in a situation to sweep two straight weeks,” Cougars coach Donnie Marbut said. “Hopefully, we’ll bounce back from that and we’ll learn from that.”
This weekend the Cougars travel to take on No. 1-ranked Arizona State (23-5, 8-1).
Nothing settled
A doubleheader that could have moved one of the teams involved out of last place in NWAACC’s East Region standings ended up settling nothing Saturday, when Community Colleges of Spokane (10-8, 2-6) and Big Bend Community College (13-13, 2-6) split a pair of games in Moses Lake.
CCS, which had lost five of its previous six games heading into the weekend, suffered a 2-1 loss in the opener despite the three-hit pitching of Cam Christian. The Sasquatch then needed a five-run eighth inning to post a 9-5 win in the nightcap and earn a split.