GU scores first baseball win over Oregon since 2010

Tyler Frost slammed his fifth home run to highlight an eight-hit Gonzaga attack that produced a 9-7 nonconference baseball win at Oregon on Monday night.

It was GU’s first win over Oregon in 13 games since 2010, a year after the Ducks restarted their program.

The Zags (26-15) opened a 5-1 lead midway in the fourth inning before the Ducks (22-20) erupted for five in the bottom of the fourth to draw even at six. They took the lead an inning later.

But Jace Vanderbrake delivered a two-run double in the seventh to get the Bulldogs back in front and Joey Harris had a run-scoring single in the eighth to wrap up the scoring as all the GU runs came after two were out.

Vanderbrake finished 2 for 4 with four RBIs and Nick Brooks was 2 for 4 with a pair of RBIs.

Utah 3, WSU 2: Washington State struck first and last, but Utah put together enough offense in between to take a 3-2 Pac-12 win over the Cougars at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman.

Weston Hatton hit a solo home run for the Cougars (15-27 overall, 8-16 Pac-12) in the fifth inning and Patrick McGrath delivered an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth for the final score, but the comeback fizzled when WSU left the bases loaded.

Josh Lapiana turned in a strong pitching performance for Utah over 8 2/3 inning as the Utes (18-24 overall) won two of three games from WSU to remain tied with Washington for the Pac-12 lead at 13-8.

College softball

Whitworth received an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III national tournament on Monday and will host a regional Friday and Saturday.

The Pirates (29-13), the Northwest Conference regular-season champion, will face Linfield (29-13), which earned the NWC’s automatic bid by winning the conference tournament, at 1 p.m.

Top-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (34-8-1) and NWC tournament runner-up George Fox (30-14), which also received an at-large bid, conclude the Friday doubleheader at 3:30. C-M-S was runner-up in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference regular season but won the conference tournament for an automatic berth.

There are 62 teams in the NCAA D-III tournament playing at 16 regional sites. This is Whitworth’s second appearance in the tournament. It also earned an at-large spot in 2006. It is the Pirates’ first time hosting a regional.

College golf

Hailey Warren (Mt. Spokane) tied for first at 168 to lead Community Colleges of Spokane women to a second-place finish in the Southwestern Oregon Invitational in Bandon, Oregon. CCS had 532 to Bellevue’s 512.

Megan Cysewski (181) and Haley Rotchford (183), both of Lakeland of Rathdrum, placed 10th and 12, respectively for CCS.

In the men’s division, CCS finished fourth at 619 behind Frazer Valley’s winning 606. Brandon Barnes of CCS tied for ninth at 154.

Idaho prep golf

At times it was chilly, windy and rainy. It hailed at one point, turning the greens white and prompting golfers to be called off the course.

None of it deterred the Post Falls boys and girls teams from reaching their goals Monday at the Links in Post Falls. Joseph Glenn fired a 4-under 69 and teammates Cameron Flores, Drew Harris and Tanner Byers shot in the 70s as the Trojans rolled to the boys 5A Region I championship by 24 strokes over Lewiston. The Bengals edged Lake City by one shot to earn the second berth to state.

“That’s really the spirit of this team,” Post Falls coach Maria Kostina said. “It comes down to the simple: No excuses. We’re going to do the best we can with what we have.”

Kostina had an inkling everything was going to be OK when she arrived at the course at 8 a.m., two hours prior to the first tee time, and “they were all playing cribbage as a team. They were like, ‘Coach, we’re ready.’ ”

The Post Falls girls didn’t have a top-three finisher but Savanna Routh, Maddi Anderton, Sydney Schumacker and Renee Mosby took the next four spots. It added up to a score of 385, 32 shots ahead of Lewiston, which was led by medalist Kylie Esh’s 76.

“The main thing was not comparing it to their best scores they’ve shot this season,” Kostina said. “Maddi came to me and said, ‘I didn’t do very good.’ I told her to stay in it, it’s different conditions. When they looked at the scoreboard they couldn’t believe it.”

Glenn birdied Nos. 1, 6, 9, 11 and 13, the latter with a 35-foot putt.

“We’ve been talking about this round all year and practicing our butts off,” Glenn said. “As a team we rallied.”

Prep softball

Idaho 3A District I: Brittany Hibdon threw a complete-game five-hitter with nine strikeouts as Timberlake defeated Priest River 12-3 to advance to the championship game of the district tournament. Batterymate Matraca Rocheleau went 4 for 4 and drove in five runs.

Prep baseball

District 7 2A: Colin Spendlove hit a grand slam in the third inning and Mike Jensen had a grand slam in a seven-run fourth as East Valley eliminated Cheney 17-2 in the district game. The Knights travel to Clarkston today at 4 p.m. for the championship game.

Idaho 5A Region 1: Post Falls will be at Lake City today at 4 p.m. after both won first-round games on Monday.

Lake City defeated Coeur d’Alene 4-3 and Post Falls beat Lewiston. CdA will play at Lewiston today, also at 4.