Box Score
PORTLAND, Ore. --- The Gonzaga Bulldogs scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning before retiring the Portland Pilots in order during the bottom of the frame to hold on for a 3-2 West Coast Conference win at Joe Etzel Field on a gorgeous Friday afternoon. UP starter Kyle Kraus was masterful on the mound for 8.1 innings as he held the Bulldogs in check for most of the game.
But in the ninth, Kraus (4-5) yielded a lead-off double to Royce Bollinger with the score tied 2-2. After a sacrifice bunt moved Bollinger to third, Marco Gonzalez came through with a clutch RBI single with a line drive up the middle that made it 3-2 in GU’s favor.
Portland’s All-American senior closer Chris Dennis then spelled Kraus on the hill and retired the final two batters of the inning.
Gonzaga then trotted its heralded reliever Cody Martin out to the mound in the bottom of the ninth. Martin retired the side with a line out, a strike out and a fly out to earn his ninth save of the year.
By taking the first game of the three-game conference series, the first-place Bulldogs improve to 27-14-1 overall and to 10-3 in the WCC. The Pilots drop to 6-7 in the conference and to 17-26 overall.
Kraus posts his fourth straight start of 8.0 innings or more. The reigning WCC Pitcher of the Week fanned nine, didn’t walk a batter and scattered nine hits. He now has 17 strikeouts without issuing a walk during his last two starts, which spans 16.2 innings.
Gonzaga’s starter Ryan Carpenter (7-1) matched Kraus pitch-for-pitch for the most part, holding the Pilots to the two runs on six hits. He struck out nine, walked three and hit a batter.
Portland sophomore first baseman Brian Frattali broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the second with a solo home run that easily cleared the Joe Etzel Field scoreboard beyond the fence in left field. The first home run of Frattali’s career gave the Pilots a 1-0 lead.
GU then scored twice in the top of the fourth to take a one-run lead. Three straight hits scored the Bulldogs’ first run, while Billy Moon scored the go-ahead run on a fielding error by the Pilots. Kraus was able to minimize the damage by recording the final two outs of the inning with the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Pilots took advantage of a hit batter and three walks to tie the game at 2-2. Kramer Scott came home with the tying run after Riley Henricks drew a bases loaded walk from the left-handed GU starter.
Neither team scored again until the Bulldogs plated the winning run in the ninth. Carpenter and Martin combined to retire Portland’s final 13 batters in order.
GU finished with a 9-6 edge in hits.
The same two teams will play the second game of this WCC series at 1 p.m. at Joe Etzel Field on Saturday.
