by GoZags.com
PULLMAN, Wash. (March 19, 2013) – Gonzaga University baseball held off a late charge from Washington State University Tuesday night at Bailey-Brayton Field to claim a 10-8 road victory in the first of three meetings between the two programs this season. Cory LeBrun recorded three hits and three RBI in the Bulldogs winning effort.
The win improves GU to 12-6-1 overall and bumps Washington State down to 11-8.
"I am proud of how our ballclub answered all the punches tonight to secure the win," head coach Mark Machtolf said. "Kenny Smith gave us a good start and our offense was firing on all cylinders."
Smith (1-0) hurled six solid innings and picked up the victory. Billy Moon and Arturo Reyes pitched in relief with Reyes picking up the save.
The Bulldogs had the game under control early after building a 7-0 lead over the Cougars through four innings.
In the first Clayton Eslick, Zach Abbruzza and Travis Forbes all brought in a run. The Zags offense was all over WSU freshman starter Chris McDowell early. McDowell lasted just 1.2 innings allowing five hits and three runs.
The Gonzaga attacked produced four more runs in the Zags half of the fourth inning. With one out and bases loaded, LeBrun singled to center field driving in two runs. Eslick followed LeBrun with a singled to the ride side for his second RBI of the game. The fourth run came on a Abbruzza grounder to second to put the Zags up 7-0.
Washington State would however rally late. The Cougars put up five runs in the sixth highlighted by a bases loaded 3 RBI triple from Ian Sagdal. Through six the Zags held a 7-5 edge.
WSU added another run in the seventh making it a one run game however the Zags would match that run in the eighth. Not to be out done, the Cougars scored in the bottom of the eighth. Going into the final frame, GU clung to 8-7 advantage.
Gonzaga added two runs in the ninth for enough insurance to pick up the win. With bases loaded and one out, Cabe Reiten hit what appeared to be an inning ending double play but an errant throw from the shortstop allowed two runners to score giving the Bulldogs enough to close the game with breathing room.
"It was a good win and now we need to carry the momentum into the weekend as we face another very good ballclub," Machtolf said.
The Bulldogs next game is against West Coast Conference foe University of San Diego. The Toreros will visit Spokane for a three game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
Mar 19, 2013 at Pullman, Wash. (Bailey-Brayton Field)
Gonzaga Bulldogs 10 (12-6-1)
Player ab r h rbi
Gunsolus,Mitchell 3b 3 2 1 0
Lebrun,Cory rf 3 2 3 3
Benjamin,Nelson rf 0 0 0 0
Eslick,Clayton lf 4 0 1 2
Bonczyk,Alex cf 1 0 0 0
Abbruzza,Zach dh 3 1 1 2
Lamb,Payden Cawley ph 1 1 1 0
Gonzales,Marco 1b 5 0 1 0
Forbes,Travis c 4 0 1 1
Harris,Joey c 0 1 0 0
Slavin,Brock cf 5 0 1 0
Reiten,Cabe ss 4 1 2 1
Wood,Caleb 2b 5 2 3 0
Smith,Kenny p 0 0 0 0
Moon,Billy p 0 0 0 0
Reyes,Arturo p 0 0 0 0
Totals 38 10 15 9
Washington State 8 (11-8)
Player ab r h rbi
Slaybaugh, Collin cf 4 1 2 0
Nelubowich, Adam rf 5 1 4 0
Tanielu, Nick 3b 5 1 3 0
Rosen, Yale dh 3 1 0 0
Monda, Jason 1b 4 1 1 1
Jones, P.J. c 5 1 1 1
Donlin, Shea 2b 2 0 0 0
Sagdal, Ian ph 3 1 2 4
Tam Sing, Trace ss 5 1 2 1
Roberts, Ben lf 3 0 0 0
Stemp, Trek ph 0 0 0 0
Pernell, Austin lf 0 0 0 0
McDowell, Chris p 0 0 0 0
Hartnett, Sean p 0 0 0 0
Bower, Matt p 0 0 0 0
Triece, Sam p 0 0 0 0
Camus, Kellen p 0 0 0 0
Leckenby, J.D. p 0 0 0 0
Totals 39 8 15 7
Score by Innings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Gonzaga Bulldogs 3 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 2 10 15 0
Washington State 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 1 1 8 15 2
E - Tanielu, N; Sagdal, I. DP - Bulldogs 3; Cougars 1. LOB - Bulldogs 8; Cougars 9. 2B -
Lebrun,C; Tam Sing, T. 3B - Sagdal, I. HBP - Lebrun,C; Monda, J. SH - Gunsolus,M; Lebrun,C;
Abbruzza,Z. SB - Lamb,C.
Strikeouts - Gonzales,M 2; Forbes,T 2; Slavin,B; Slaybaugh, C; Tanielu, N; Rosen, Y 2; Jones,
PJ. Walks - Gunsolus,M; Harris,J; Reiten,C; Slaybaugh, C; Rosen, Y 2; Stemp, T.
Gonzaga Bulldogs ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb sfa sha cia ab bf fo go
Smith,Kenny W,1-0 6.0 9 5 5 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 27 5 9
Moon,Billy 1.0 3 2 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6 9 1 1
Reyes,Arturo S,1 2.0 3 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 8 0 3
Washington State ip h r er bb so wp bk hbp ibb sfa sha cia ab bf fo go
McDowell, Chris L,0-1 1.2 5 3 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 11 2 3
Hartnett, Sean 1.2 2 3 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 8 1 2
Bower, Matt 0.1 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 4 0 1
Triece, Sam 3.1 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 11 12 4 2
Camus, Kellen 1.0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 4 0 3
Leckenby, J.D. 1.0 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 1 1
WP - Reyes,A; McDowell, C; Bower, M. HBP - by Triece, S (Lebrun,C); by Moon,B (Monda, J). PB -
Jones, PJ 2.
Umpires - HP: Randy Sutton 1B: David Natali 3B: Corky Fazio
Start: 5:59 pm Time: 2:58 Attendance: 689
Weather: Overcast and Windy
