Gonzaga baseball downed in WCC Tournament opener
STOCKTON, Calif. —
Gonzaga baseball wasn’t able to dig its way out of an early hole, falling 7-3 to Saint Mary’s in first round play at the West Coast Conference Tournament Thursday in Stockton, Calif.
A five-run first inning for Saint Mary’s (34-20) put Gonzaga (30-23) at deficit that it couldn’t overcome despite clawing back to within two runs at one point. The loss moves the Zags to loser-out play against top-seeded BYU, who was defeated by LMU in the other first round game. The Gaels and Lions will play for a chance to move on to the WCC final.
Gonzaga starter Nick Trogrlic-Iverson , lasted 6.0 innings, but gave up seven runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Taylor Davis came on to start the seventh and was excellent, working three shutout innings and giving up just two hits with one strikeout and one walk.
On offense, Guthrie Morrison and Daniel Fredrickson had two hits each, while Troy Johnston doubled, scored and knocked in a run. The double was his 27 th of the season, which ties a school single-season record.
The Gaels jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Gonzaga’s Trogrlic-Iverson settled in and put up three straight shutdown innings before the offense got going.
In the bottom of the fourth, GU put up a three-spot with RBI doubles from Johnston and Brett Harris, as well as an RBI groundout from Daniel Fredrickson .
SMC answered right away with two in the fifth inning, and then held the Zags to a scoreless bottom despite two baserunners on with one out.
GU wasn’t able to put more than one runner on base in any of the final four innings.
Gonzaga will take on top-seeded BYU on Friday at Noon in loser-out action at the WCC Tournament. Links to live coverage will be available at GoZags.com.
