PORTLAND, Ore. – Gonzaga picked up a crucial series-opening win over Portland on Thursday at Joe Etzel Field, knocking the Pilots out of a potential first-round West Coast Conference Tournament bye with a 7-5 win. The Bulldogs need just one more win or a Saint Mary's loss to clinch a bye into the second round of the conference tournament that's set to take place in Las Vegas May 21-24.
 
Gonzaga (25-24, 15-7 WCC) plated three in the top of the first to open game one at the Etz. Mikey Bell and Max Coupe collected RBIs in the frame to take a 3-0 lead. Portland (21-28, 12-10 WCC) would strike back with two of their own despite a hitless bottom of the first, taking advantage of two Finbar O'Brien (W, 6-0) walks and one hit by pitch.
 
The Bulldogs added three more in the top of the fourth, with the first two coming off one swing from Coupe, who connected for his fifth home run of the season. A balk later in the frame would plate GU's sixth run to make it 6-2.
 
After three consecutive scoreless frames, O'Brien ran into some two-out trouble in the fifth. Portland would tag the hometown kid with three runs off two home runs to cut the lead to just one. O'Brien's night would come to an end after inducing a flyout to end the fifth, picking up six strikeouts in his WCC-leading sixth win of the season.
 
Kai Francis and Erik Hoffberg (S, 6) combined for four shutout innings, allowing just two baserunners on two hits and striking out four. Hoffberg allowed a leadoff double in the ninth but would strand the runner at third to pick up his WCC-leading sixth save, punching out two along the way.
 
Gonzaga collected ten hits on Thursday, led by multi-hit efforts from Bell (2-for-3, 2 R, RBI), Tommy Eisenstat (2-for-4, R), Sam Stem (2-for-5, RBI, R), and Josh Hankins (2-for-4). Coupe led the way with three runs batted in, accounting for four of GU's seven.
 
After a Saint Mary's win on Thursday, the Bulldogs will need either one more win or one Gaels loss to secure the second seed in the West Coast Conference Tournament.
 
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Miles Gosztola will take his turn on the mound Friday against Carter Gaston. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. on ESPN+.