April 9, 2009
Box Score
SPOKANE, Wash. - The Gonzaga University baseball team scored 13 unanswered runs to deal the 21st-ranked University of San Diego baseball team a its first West Coast Conference loss of the season, 14-2, Thursday evening.
With the loss, the Toreros fall to 22-12 overall and 6-1 in the WCC. With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 22-9 overall and move to 5-2 in the WCC.
The Toreros wasted no time in scoring as they scored one run on one hit in the top of the first inning. Sean Nicol led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on a Chris Engell single through the right side. James Meador then drove in Nicol when he reached on a fielder's choice to give USD a 1-0 lead.
The Zags then evened the score in their half of the inning on a Ryan Weigand RBI single up the middle, which scored Evan Wells, who had walked, moving the score to 1-1.
In the top of the third inning, the Toreros then regained the lead as they scored one run on two hits. Back-to-back singles by Michael Lugo and Nicol led off the inning and Engell moved each batter up a base on a sacrifice bunt. Meador then drove in Lugo with a sacrifice fly to left field to give USD a 2-1 lead.
Gonzaga then took advantage of a pair of USD errors to score six runs in the bottom of the third inning to take control of the game. The GU runs came when Weigand reached on a fielder's choice, RBI singles by Mark Castelletto, Grand Kveder and Jason Chatwood and a Ernesto Ortiz two-run double to give GU a 6-2 lead.
The Zags would then score three runs in the sixth and four runs in the eighth innings to round off their scoring for the day.
Offensively for the Toreros, Meador led the way as he went 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Kyle Blair (3-2) was saddled with the loss for the Toreros, as he allowed seven runs, one earned, on nine hits in 3.1 innings of work. Matt Fields (5-1) picked up the win on the mound for the Zags as he allowed two runs on eight hits in 7.2 innings of work.
The Toreros will return to action on Friday as they continue their three-game series with the Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m.
