SPOKANE, Wash. --- Portland's Tate Budnick hit a clutch, two-run homer in the ninth inning and the Pilots got the potential game-tying run to third base, but the Gonzaga Bulldogs held on for a 9-8 win to conclude a three-game West Coast Conference series at Washington Trust Field on Sunday afternoon. The Pilots finished the day with a season-high 17 hits, but left 14 stranded on the base paths.
 
After the Bulldogs (16-14, 7-5 WCC) scored two key insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 9-6 edge to the final frame, Portland's (10-19, 4-8 WCC) Collin Runge reached base with a single to begin the ninth. Budnick then stepped to the plate and belted long fly ball that cleared the outfield fence and pulled the Pilots within a run.
 
Henry Cheney followed with a walk, and pinch runner Travis Turney moved to second base on a wild pitch before Gonzaga reliever Calvin LeBrun settled down to collect a pair of huge strikeouts. The next batter, Beau Brundage, kept the Pilots alive with an infield single, but GU shortstop Gunnar Schubert did well to keep the ball in the infield, which meant Turney couldn't score from second on the play.
 
The Zags then sealed the win with another solid defensive play as third baseman Nick Nyquist knocked down a hard-hit ball off the bat of Daniel Lopez, and the throw to first was in time to give Gonzaga the WCC series.
 
The Pilots had fallen behind early after a six-run second inning handed the Bulldogs a 6-1 lead. Portland refused to go away, and two-run homers from both Cody Hawken and Henry Cheney in the third and fourth innings, respectively, pulled the Pilots within 6-5 of their hosts.
 
Hawken collects his fourth homer of the year, while it's the first in the career for Cheney.
 
The Bulldogs pushed a run across in the bottom of the fifth, but the Pilots responded with a tally in the very next inning. This time it was Brundage who scored Budnick with an RBI single that made it a one-run game once again.
 
But Nick Brooks homered to lead off the bottom of the eighth, and the Zags would add another run on a wild pitch before the inning was over, which proved to be the difference.
 
Budnick went 4-for-5 on the day, while Brundage and Cheney each finished with three hits.
 
Camden Muller (1-2) is saddled with the loss for Portland after all six runs in the second were charged to the senior starter. Relievers Nick Shur, Christian Peters, and Jake Hawken followed Muller on the mound.
 
The Bulldogs used three pitchers on the afternoon, with the win going to starter Mac Lardner (3-1). The Pilots produced 11 hits off of Lardner in 5.0 innings, which led to six runs. Reliever Taylor Davis yielded three hits in 2.2 innings of work, and LeBrun registers his first save of the year, despite allowing the Budnick homer.
 
The Pilots next step out of conference to play the Oregon Ducks on Monday in Eugene, Ore. First pitch at PK Park is set for 6 p.m., and the game was originally scheduled for Tuesday.