Area roundup: GU sweeps Loyola Marymount, clinches conference baseball tournament berth
Patrick Chung’s two-run single in the 12th inning gave Gonzaga a 9-7 victory over Loyola Marymount on Sunday in Los Angeles and the Bulldogs clinched a berth in the West Coast Conference tournament.
The victory was the 30th for Gonzaga (30-15, 16-8), which swept the three-game series from the Lions. The first-place Bulldogs have a one-game lead over BYU and Saint Mary’s.
Jeff Bohling slugged a three-run homer in a six-run second inning for Gonzaga. The Lions tied the game in the ninth and both teams scored single runs in the 11th.
Bohling, Tyler Frost and Justin Jacobs finished with two hits each. Calvin LeBrun (4-2) got the win with three innings of relief. Four GU pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts.
Gonzaga plays Washington State at Gesa Stadium in Pasco on Tuesday night at 6:30.
Washington 6, Washington State 4: Joey Morgan hit a two-run homer in a three-run sixth inning that gave the Huskies (25-8, 14-10) the lead for good as Washington salvaged the final game of the three-game series in Seattle.
Patrick McGrath had two hits and Stefan Van Horn two RBIs for the Cougars (17-29, 10-17).
Softball
Linfield defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 6-5 in eight innings to claim the NCAA Division III Spokane Regional championship at Whitworth. The Wildcats (32-14) advance to a Super Regional.
The Athenas (37-10-1) forced a winner-take-all finale by blanking the Tigers 3-0 earlier Sunday.
Host Whitworth was eliminated on Saturday.
Washington is joined by regional No. 2 seed Minnesota, No. 3 seed North Dakota State and No. 4 seed Weber State in the double-elimination event.
Rowing
Washington State finished fourth at the Pac-12 Rowing Championships held at Lake Natoma near Sacramento, California.
Cal won its second straight title with Stanford second and Washington third in the seven-team field.
WSU’s varsity eight and varsity four placed fifth in races Sunday. The second varsity eight was fourth and third varsity eight third.
Cal also won the men’s championship, edging Washington 72-65.
Track and field
Washington State’s CJ Allen won the men’s 400-meter hurdles title, two years after winning his first, and Thane Pierson claimed his first high jump title at the Pac-12 Track and Field Championships at Husky Track in Seattle.
Allen won in 50.36 seconds. This is the sixth men’s 400 hurdles conference title for WSU in the past nine years.
Pierson won with a leap of 7 feet, 3 inches, equaling his personal best PR height, seventh-best in school history.
Area athletes who placed include: Baylee Mires (Washington/Mead), fourth, women’s 800, 2:03.71, plus fifth on 1600 relay; Morgan Struble (Arizona/Coeur d’Alene), sixth, women’s 400 hurdles, 1:00.72; Andrew Gardner (Washington/Mead), fourth, men’s steeplechase, 8:44.47; Aaron Castle (Arizona/Newport), seventh, men’s shot put, 61-5.
Oregon won the men’s and women’s team titles. WSU was eighth in the women’s competition and 10th in the men’s. Washington’s women were fourth and its men second.
Next up for some of the Cougars are the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, May 26-28, in Lawrence, Kansas.
Soccer
Joel Duncan scored in the 90th minute to tie the match and Fernando Alvarez put in the winner during stoppage time to give the Spokane Shadow (2-1-1) a 3-2 Evergreen Premier League win over South Sound (2-2-0) in Lakewood, Washington. Drew Williams had gave the Shadow a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute.
The Spokane Shadow women (3-1-0) suffered their first Northwest Premier League defeat, losing 2-1 to South Sound (2-2-0) with Sarah Cox getting their only goal.
Saturday, the men and women picked up wins against Olympic Force in Bremerton with 3-0 and 9-2 victories, respectively.