College baseball notes: Early Gonzaga wins show team doing little things correctly

The end of Gonzaga baseball’s five-game winning streak proved only to be a mound-sized bump, as the Bulldogs recovered from Saturday’s loss to Pepperdine to win Sunday’s matchup, and the series.

With the conference-opening series win, GU (11-7, 2-1 WCC) is off to a strong start in WCC play after failing to make the conference tournament last season. The difference between this year and last, according to coach Mark Machtolf, has been in the details.

“Right now we’re winning some games that maybe we didn’t win last year,” Machtolf said. “It’s very, very early still and we’ve got a long way to go, but as of right now we’re doing the smaller things we need to do to win games.”

The Bulldogs’ streak began with a 15-10 victory at No. 14 Arkansas and included a three-game sweep of Texas-San Antonio. While GU was able to play its first games at home this season against Pepperdine, the Bulldogs will return to the road for a nine-game road trip before returning to Spokane to face Washington State on April 5.

Ace starter Brandon Bailey, as usual, anchors the Bulldogs’ rotation. In Eli Morgan, GU has found Bailey a dangerous partner. Morgan dealt with illness last season, making it hard to live up to the promise he showed on occasion.

But Morgan has turned in three quality starts already, fanning 10 batters in GU’s rubber-match win over the Waves.

“Those two give us a good one-two punch,” Machtolf said. “We’re still looking for a third starter to emerge, and we’ve had some decent outings.”

Three strikes

Prior to the season, new WSU baseball coach Marty Lees hinted that WSU fans would need to keep an eye on the basepaths, and so far he’s lived up to his word. As of Tuesday the Cougars lead the Pac-12 with 33 stolen bases in 41 attempts.

The Cougars have also been boppers at the plate, ranking third in the Pac-12 with 12 home runs. While WSU (7-12, 0-3 Pac-12) has struggled to get wins, the Cougars are showing more offensive tools than was expected of the young squad.

Trek Stemp has not needed a position to contribute for WSU. The utility man leads the Pac-12 in hits (30), is second in stolen bases (seven) and is tied for seventh in runs (15). His batting average (.385) ranks eighth in the conference.