LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Gonzaga baseball improved to 12-4 in West Coast Conference play with a 5-4 win over Loyola Marymount on Friday at Page Stadium. The Bulldogs pulled ahead on Josh Hankins' RBI single in the sixth and hung on as Erik Hoffberg earned his team-leading fifth save.
 
Gonzaga (21-21, 12-4 WCC) gets back to .500 for the first time since Apr. 21 with their win over Loyola Marymount (23-23, 10-9 WCC) on Friday. The Zags remain tied for first place in the West Coast Conference standings after San Diego utilized an eight-run inning to defeat San Francisco and keep pace with GU.
 
The Lions struck first in the bottom of the second inning on a sacrifice fly, but the Bulldogs responded immediately in the third with a four-run frame. A walk and two singles led off the inning, the latter an RBI knock from Hudson Shupe. Then, a first-and-third double steal put GU in front before Sam Stem's seeing-eye single put the Zags ahead 4-1.
 
LMU didn't go quietly, posting three runs of their own in the next half-inning to knot the score at four. It would remain tied until Hankins delivered a two-out RBI single to give Gonzaga the lead once again.
 
The one-run edge was enough for Bulldog pitching on Friday. Finbar O'Brien (W, 5-0) struck out a career-high 11 over just 5.1 innings despite four runs and eight hits from the Lions offense. Garrett Gores was stellar in relief, allowing just two baserunners across 2.1 innings and needing just 19 pitches to face nine batters.
 
Erik Hoffberg (S, 5) picked up his fifth save of the season, entering with two outs in the eighth and picking up a big strikeout to leave the tying run on second base. Hoffberg threw just nine pitches in the ninth despite a two-out single to seal the win.
 
Mikey Bell led the offensive charge with a 3-for-5 performance, his 14th multi-hit outing in his last 18 games. During that stretch, Bell is batting .507 (35-for-69) with eight home runs and 22 runs batted in.
 
UP NEXT
Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount will face off in game two on Saturday at 3 p.m. on ESPN+. Miles Gosztola will battle against Avery Laine as the Zags look to earn the series win.