Box Score
PORTLAND, Ore. --- After Portland had led for the entire afternoon, the Gonzaga Bulldogs scored five runs in the top of the eighth-inning en route to a 5-2 win over the Pilots in the finale of a three-game West Coast Conference series played on Monday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field. The game was originally scheduled for Sunday but was pushed back due to the rain.
The loss overshadows an otherwise masterful performance by starter Chris Johnson (2-5), who stymied the GU bats during the first 7.0 innings. Before the eighth, Johnson held the Bulldogs scoreless, allowed just three hits, struck out six and didn’t walk a batter. During one stretch, the right-handed sophomore retired 10 straight hitters.
The Pilots (17-28, 6-9 WCC) gave Johnson some early support with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs and runners on first and second, Tyler Thompson punched a single to left field that scored Kris Kauppila with the game’s first run. On the play, GU made two throwing errors, which allowed Riley Henricks to score all the way from first base and give the Pilots the 2-0 advantage.
The lead would stand until the eighth inning, when the previously slumbering Gonzaga (29-14-1, 12-3 WCC) bats came alive. First, the Bulldogs chased Johnson with three consecutive base hits that loaded the bases with no outs. Then, reliever Chris Dennis forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk to make it a 2-1 game. And finally, Tyler Chism fisted a double down the left field line that scored two and gave the Bulldogs their first lead at 3-2.
Billy Moon would add a two-run double off of UP reliever Brent Miller before the inning was done.
That’s all the support Gonzaga starter Marco Gonzales (9-2) would need as the conference leader in wins finished off the Pilots for his fourth complete game of the season. Gonzales, who also registered a pair of hits and scored a run, yielded six hits, fanned seven and walked none.
The three-game sweep allows the Bulldogs, who out-hit the Pilots 9-6, to remain in first place in the WCC.
Portland next travels to Pullman, Wash., for a non-conference double header against the Washington State Cougars on Tuesday. Game one of the double dip is scheduled for 3 p.m. The Pilots then head to Los Angeles, Calif., this weekend for a three-game series against the LMU Lions, which begins with a game at 3 p.m. on Friday.
