Longest Home Stand Of The Season Awaits Zags

April 18, 2000

SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga (20-16)
vs.
Whitworth (11-18)
April 19 @ August / A.R.T. Stadium (Spokane) - 2:30 PM
Series: (GU leads 59-12)

Gonzaga vs. Portland (18-17, 7-10 WCC)
April 22 @ August / A.R.T. Stadium (Spokane) - 12 Noon (DH)
April 23 @ August / A.R.T. Stadium (Spokane) - 1:00 PM
Series: (GU leads 74-52)

THE WEEK AHEAD: Gonzaga embarks on its longest home stand of the season as the Zags will play their next seven games at home. Originally a six-game home stand, the Whitworth game was moved to August/A.R.T. Stadium due to poor field conditions at Whitworth giving the Zags an additional home game. Following the non-conference tilt with the Pirates, Gonzaga faces one of its oldest rivals as the University of Portland comes to town. The Zags and Pilots have been linked together through several baseball conferences and will again resume this series as West Coast Conference members. Gonzaga comes off a week in which a sacrifice bunt by San Diego in the bottom of the 11th inning put a halt to the Zags five game winning streak. Portland enters this weekend series after a tough weekend against Loyola Marymount. The Pilots won the series opener 4-2 before losing the final two games by one run decisions.

SAC BUNT ENDS ZAGS FIVE GAME WINNING STREAK: A sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 11th inning on Saturday afternoon helped San Diego avoid being swept and snapped Gonzaga's five game winning streak. Gonzaga was looking to sweep its second consecutive West Coast Conference series after taking three straight from Saint Mary's the previous weekend. The Zags opened the series with a decisive 11-1 victory in which Steve Bennett handcuffed Torero hitters all afternoon. In the second game of the series, Barry Matthews moved his season record to 8-1 with a 5-2 complete game victory over San Diego. That win increased Gonzaga's winning streak to a season-high five games and six straight in the WCC. In the final game of the three game set, San Diego broke through with a single run in the 11th inning to pull out a 6-5 victory. For the weekend, Adam Stokey moved into sole possession of fourth place on the Gonzaga career home run list, passing teammate Jason Bay.

WHITWORTH NOTES: Whitworth comes into this non-conference game with an 11-18 record and 1-4 in their last five games. Earlier this year the Pirates were shutout by Gonzaga, 6-0, giving the Zags their first shutout in over a year. Third baseman Aaron Keller leads the Pirates with a .333 batting average and a team high four home runs. Rich Clubine, who took the loss in Whitworth's last visit to August / A.R.T. Stadium, leads the Pirates with a 2.27 earned run average and 2-2 record.

SCOUTING THE PILOTS: Portland enters this weekend's West Coast Conference series playing better baseball then their 18-17 record would indicate. The Pilots were two runs shy of a sweep against Coast Division leader Loyola Marymount and dropped a one run decision to San Francisco the prior week. Portland trails West Division leader Pepperdine by five games, while Gonzaga is only 1.5 games behind LMU in their race. Shortstop Cory Lunde currently leads Portland with a .380 batting average while designated hitter Matt Allen provides the power for the Pilots with 8 home runs and 37 RBI. Pilots closer Kyle Bebout is the ace of the pitching staff with a 2.27 earned run average, 2-1 record and 4 saves. Zach Yarbrough has also been solid in long relief for the Pilots with a 2-2 record and 3.07 earned run average.

HERTZ WINS NO. 600: Steve Hertz is in the midst of his third decade of coaching at Gonzaga as he leads the Bulldogs for his 21st season as head coach. An All-Conference pitcher at Gonzaga in the early 1970's, Hertz guided the Bulldogs to an NCAA Regional Final in his first season as head coach in 1978. Following a two-year stint as head coach at UC-Irvine, Hertz returned to his alma mater in 1981 and has guided the Bulldogs through three different conferences. In his 20 years at Gonzaga, Hertz has compiled a 544-539-5 mark while his 22-year career record stands at 603-601-5. Hertz won career game 600 on April 8 as the Zags defeated Saint Mary's College, 6-4, in the second game of a double-header.

WHO'S HOT -- WHO'S NOT (stats for three game series at San Diego)


  Player          AB  H   R   RBI 2B  HR  BB  AVG.    Eric Rodland 14  2   1   2   1   0   1   .143    Brent Church 13  4   3   2   2   0   1   .307    Jason Bay   13  3   2   1   1   0   1   .231    Barry Matthews 9   3   5   1   2   0   3   .333    Adam Stokey   13  4   2   4   2   1   1   .307    Brian Munhall   14  2   1   1   1   0   0   .143    Jeremy Doane 12  4   3   2   1   0   0   .333    John Gebbers 10  3   2   3   0   0   1   .300    Kevin Hara 11  3   1   1   1   0   1   .272   
  Pitcher         IP  H   R   ER  BB  SO  ERA     Steve Bennett   9.0 7   1   1   1   8   1.00    Barry Matthews 9.0 6   2   2   1   5   2.00    Sean Lichter 5.2 9   4   4   4   4   6.34    David Hixson 4.1 5   2   2   0   3   4.16

20 WINS AGAIN: For the second consecutive year Gonzaga has reached the 20 win mark as their current record stands at 20-16. The Zags are now just seven games shy of reaching last years win total of 27. Gonzaga's next goal is to reach the 30+ win plateau, a mark the Zags have not reached since going 37-21 in the 1990 season. The Bulldogs also have assured themselves of at least their second best finish in the West Coast Conference. The eleven conference victories are the second most Gonzaga has posted since joining the WCC for baseball in the 1996 season. Last season, Gonzaga had its most successful year as a WCC member finishing with a 14-14 conference mark.

Previous WCC Records for Gonzaga
1996: 21-28, 9-18 WCC
1997: 19-33-1: 7-21 WCC
1998: 16-34: 10-20 WCC
1999: 27-23-2: 14-14 WCC

MATTHEWS CHUGGING ALONG: Barry Matthews continues to place his mark on the Gonzaga pitching staff as he collected his eighth victory of the season over the weekend. In addition to the West Coast Conference leading eight wins, Matthews has also been a model of consistency pitching four complete games in ten games started. Matthews eight wins are the most by a Zags pitcher since Pac-10 North Pitcher of the Year - Darin Blood won 13 games during the 1995 season. With two more victories, Matthews will move into a tie for seventh place on the Gonzaga single season wins list.

BENNETT ETCHES NAME IN RECORD BOOK, AGAIN: With his eight strike outs against San Diego on Friday afternoon, Steve Bennett continued his season long assault on the Gonzaga pitching record book. Already moving into fourth place on the career strike out list with 238 career K's, Bennett moved himself onto the single season list over the weekend. Bennett now stands just 12 strike outs shy of becoming the sixth Zag to record at least 100 strike outs in a season. Currently scheduled to have at least four more starts this season, Bennett could climb as high as number two on the single season list by years end.

FIELDING CONTINUES TO IMPROVE: After a mid-season stretch in which the Bulldogs committed at least one error in 18-of-21 games, including 10 straight games at one point, Gonzaga now has the leather working for them. The Zags have committed only 3 errors in their last seven games and put together a stretch of three straight error-less games during the weekend trip to San Diego. In the past two weeks, Gonzaga has raised its team fielding average from .945 to .960, fifth best in the West Coast Conference. Last season, the Bulldogs fielded at a .962 clip while the school record of .968 was set during the 1988 campaign.

HOLDING THE OPPOSITION DOWN: Gonzaga's pitching staff behind the lead of Steve Bennett and Barry Matthews has turned out one of the best seasons in recent memory. The staff has lowered its earned run average to below 5.00 and now ranks second in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga has now held its opponents to five runs or less in eight-of-the-last-nine games with the only exception being San Diego which scored six runs in eleven innings. In that stretch the Bulldogs team earned run average has been 3.73. For the season, Gonzaga has held its opponents to five runs or less on 23 occasions posting a 17-6 record.

LEAD AFTER SEVEN USUALLY EQUALS W: Grabbing the lead before the end of the seventh inning seems to be a key to Gonzaga winning baseball games. In the 20 games in which the Bulldogs have led following the seventh inning, Gonzaga is 17-3 whereas the Zags are only 3-13 when trailing after seven innings.

STOKEY ON THE MOVE IN RECORD BOOKS: Adam Stokey continues to move himself up the Gonzaga career record book as he had another big weekend in San Diego. Stokey connected for his fifth home run of the season to keep the Zags close in their final game at San Diego. That home run places Stokey into sole possession of fourth place on the Gonzaga career home run record book, knocking Jason Bay down to fifth place. Stokey also connected for two doubles to move him into sixth place on the career doubles list. Stokey now needs just one more double on the season to give him three consecutive years with at least ten doubles.


West Coast Conference Standings(Thru April 17 Games)
All Games
Coast Division     W  L   T Loyola Marymount 26 14  0San Francisco    24 16  0Gonzaga          20 16  0Santa Clara  14 29  0
West Division W   L   T Pepperdine  24  18  0San Diego   25  20  1Portland    18  17  0Saint Mary's    14  25  0
WCC Games Only
Coast Division     W  L   GBLoyola Marymount 13 5   ---Gonzaga          11 6   1.5San Francisco     9 9   4.0Santa Clara   5 13  8.0
West Division W   L   GBPepperdine  12  5   ---San Diego   8   9   4.0Portland    7   10  5.0Saint Mary's    5   13  7.5

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