PORTLAND, Ore. --- Turner Gill drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the eighth inning and reliever Carl Snaring retired all four batters he faced as the Portland Pilots rallied for a 6-5 win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon to claim the three-game West Coast Conference series at Joe Etzel Field. The Pilots had previously scored two runs in the seventh inning after falling behind by three.
 
Portland's (9-33, 4-14 WCC) Grant Taylor began the comeback with a lead-off single in the bottom of the seventh with the Pilots trailing 5-2. A few batters later, Brady Kerr sent a double to the gap in deep left-center field, which allowed Taylor to score all the way from first base. Gill followed with a single to right field that scored Kerr, and just like that the Pilots were within one.
 
Dan Whittaker began the next inning by getting hit by a pitch and Taylor reached with a bunt single. A Gonzaga error then loaded the bases for the Pilots before the Bulldogs recorded a much-needed out at the plate when Whittaker was thrown out trying to score on a grounder to third base.
 
Gill then walked to the plate with a chance to record his second-straight clutch hit, and the senior came through with a double to right field. Taylor and Michael Lucarelli both scored, and Kerr was out at home trying to score from first, but the damage had been done.
 
Snaring (1-0) did the rest as he retired Gonzaga's (19-19, 9-9 WCC) No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters in order in the top of the ninth to register his first win of the year.
 
The loss goes to Gonzaga closer David Bigelow (0-3), who entered the game with eight saves on the year and a 1.48 ERA. He was charged with allowing two runs on four hits and a walk in 1.2 innings after replacing starter Brandon Bailey with one out in the seventh. Bailey scattered eight hits in 6.1 innings, yielding four runs. He fanned six and walked three.
 
The Pilots scored the game's first run in the bottom of the second with Eric Sapp's RBI double. The Bulldogs tied it with a run in the top of the fourth inning, but Portland immediately responded with a solo homer off the bat of Cody Lenahan to begin the bottom of the frame. The blast to right field is Lenahan's first of the year and it gave the Pilots a 2-1 lead.
 
Gonzaga would score two in the fifth and two more in the seventh to jump ahead. Both innings were helped by Portland errors.
 
UP starter Jordan Wilcox allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits in 5.0 innings. The two runs charged to reliever Cole Doherty were unearned and both he and Alex Fisher worked 1.1 innings out of the bullpen.
 
The Pilots out-hit the Bulldogs 12-8 and Gill, Kevin Wade, Lenahan and Taylor each had two hits.
 
Portland next welcomes the Loyola Marymount Lions to Joe Etzel Field for a three-game WCC series next weekend, beginning with a 3 p.m. game on Friday.