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Gonzaga University Athletics

Gonzaga baseball enters this week’s WCC Tournament armed with a bye and plenty of confidence

Starting pitcher Finbar O’Brien struck out 83 batters and boasts a 6-0 record for Gonzaga this season. The Zags open the WCC Tournament on Thursday in Las Vegas. (Courtesy of Gonzaga athletics)
By John Allison The Spokesman-Review The Spokesman-Review

The Gonzaga baseball team began the season with just two wins in its first 14 games.

Bolstered by a mid-March sweep of Washington in Seattle, the Zags turned their season around, rattling off 10 wins over their next 11 games. Now GU finds itself in a familiar position with the West Coast Conference Tournament set to begin in Las Vegas this week.

For the Zags (26-25, 16-8 WCC), who beat Portland over the weekend in two of three games to close the regular season, it means a No. 2 seed – and a first-round bye for the eighth straight season.

San Diego (25-28, 19-5) earned the conference’s top seed.

Gonzaga will face the winner of Wednesday’s first-round game between No. 4-seed Loyola Marymount and No. 5 Portland on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

The Bulldogs have been led by starting pitcher Finbar O’Brien, a sophomore from Portland, Oregon. O’Brien has pitched 70.1 innings, and struck out 83 batters and boasts a 6-0 record this season.

Sophomore reliever Erik Hoffberg, who picked up two saves in GU’s two wins over Portland on Thursday and Saturday, earned his first WCC pitcher of the week award. He has a team-high seven saves on the season.

Infielder Mikey Bell leads Gonzaga with a .365 batting average, 11 home runs and 44 RBI in 197 at-bats.