Gonzaga (17-15, 6-5 WCC) scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning Saturday afternoon and never looked back as the Bulldogs dismantled Portland (12-16, 6-5 WCC), 16-5, at August/A.R.T. Stadium. The two teams will play the rubber match of their West Coast Conference series on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Eric Rodland and Grant Zurmely opened the scoring with back-to-back doubles against Pilots starter Matt Hollod (4-2). Kevin Richardson then extended GU's lead to 3-0 with a two-run home run to left field. A Sam Hess RBI single and Kevin Cave RBI double off the glove of third baseman Cory Lunde would cap the Bulldogs scoring in the first.

Nate Gold would extend the Zags margin to 6-0 in the second inning as he hit his record breaking 22nd home run. Gold surpassed Jeff Hainline who held the single season mark with 21 home runs set during the 1984 season. The hit also extended Gold's hitting streak to 15 games. That would be enough to chase Hollod from the contest at the end of the second inning.

Rodland greeted Portland reliever Kyle Corra with a two-run double in the third as Gonzaga tacked on three more runs for Bulldogs starter Errol Simonitsch. Simonitsch (2-2) would work seven innings allowing four runs while striking out nine Pilot batters. Two of Portland's runs would come on solo home runs by Travis Hanson and Brad Stewart in the fifth.

Portland would close the Gonzaga lead to 8-3 with an RBI single by Kory Casto in the fifth but the Bulldogs would explode for eight runs in the sixth inning to seal the victory. Jeff Culpepper and Zurmely each had two-run doubles while John Gebbers added a two-run triple and Richardson put the exclamation point on the inning with his second two-run home run of the afternoon.

Richardson would lead Gonzaga with a 4-for-6 day while Rodland and Gebbers finished with three hits. Portland was led by Hanson with three hits and Joe Watson with two hits.