WCC champion Gonzaga completes dominant road sweep | College baseball roundup

May 10-Gonzaga's baseball team wrapped up a title-clinching weekend with another dominant win.

The Zags completed a lopsided three-game road sweep of West Coast Conference foe San Francisco on Sunday, cruising to a 12-5 victory at Benedetti Diamond.

GU (32-17, 19-5 WCC) claimed the WCC regular-season title on Saturday and secured the No. 1 seed at the conference tournament, which begins May 20 at Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona. The Bulldogs outscored the Dons 32-5 over the weekend, thoroughly outplaying a team that entered the series at second place in the WCC standings.

In the finale, the Bulldogs started fast with an RBI single from junior slugger Maddox Haley and a two-run double from veteran first baseman Tommy Eisenstat in the first inning. The Zags pulled away for good in the eighth, turning a 5-2 lead into an 11-2 buffer with a six-hit, six-run frame in which they batted around the order. Gonzaga recorded 15 hits and nine walks on the day, holding USF to six hits and one base on balls.

GU freshman Landon Hood (3-1), usually a standout reliever, made his third start of the year and gave up two runs on four hits with six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.

The Zags were coming off their most memorable day of the season. In Game 2, sophomore lefty Karsten Sweum (7-1) tossed the sixth recorded no-hitter in GU history, striking out 15 with two walks over seven innings in a 13-0 run-rule win. The Bulldogs celebrated both Sweum's rare feat and their first WCC regular-season title since 2022 with a dogpile, then posed for pictures with the conference trophy.

The series opener, a 7-0 GU win on Friday, featured another strong effort on the mound. Ace Justin Feld (7-1) allowed four hits and punched out six over six innings, and reliever Garrett Gores closed it with three no-hit frames.

A highly productive offense has been the defining trait for GU this season, but pitching stole the spotlight this weekend. To be sure, the lineup was still effective against USF, piling up 41 hits, including 12 doubles, and 16 walks over the three games.

Star third baseman Mikey Bell paced the offense, extending his hitting streak to 20 games with a seven-hit weekend. The reigning WCC Player of the Year is 15-for-28 (.536) with seven RBIs and four doubles over his last six games. Bell is 46-for-91 (.505) with 14 of his team-high 23 doubles and 23 of his 39 RBIs during the hitting streak.

After going hitless over four games, Haley is 6-for-14 with eight RBIs over his last four games. He has a team-best .385 average.

Senior outfielder Noah Meffert had two doubles and a homer this weekend, bringing his average to .317 and tying Haley for second on the team with 10 homers.

The Zags will conclude the regular season with a three-game WCC series against visiting Seattle U, starting Thursday at Patterson Baseball Complex.

Cougs win final MWC series, move to second

Although it ended on a sour note, the weekend series in Colorado Springs can be chalked up as a success for Washington State.

The Cougars won their fifth consecutive Mountain West Conference set, taking two of three games at Air Force and swapping spots with the Falcons in the conference standings.

WSU (27-24, 15-9 MWC), with its conference slate concluded, sits second in the MWC and will clinch a bye in the conference tournament if Nevada loses one game next weekend in its three-game series against Grand Canyon. If the Wolf Pack sweep, they'd claim the No. 2 seed and drop WSU to No. 3.

In Sunday's finale, Air Force capped an incredible rally - or, a remarkable meltdown from WSU's bullpen - with a 10-9 walk-off win at Erdle Field. The Falcons (24-24, 15-9) trailed 9-5 entering the bottom of the ninth, but the Cougs couldn't get one out, giving up five runs on five hits, two walks and one plunked batter.

WSU rallied after Air Force took a 3-0 lead in the second inning on a three-run homer. Max Hartman sparked the comeback with a two-run single in the fourth, and the Cougs got a couple of run-scoring sacrifices and an RBI single from Trevor Smith in the fifth to go up 5-3. Smith, Hartman and Gavin Roy added RBI knocks in WSU's three-run seventh, and Hartman, who finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs, drove in another with a single in the ninth.

Cougs starter Luke Meyers had a respectable outing, allowing four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts over six innings.

WSU won the first two games of the series in convincing fashion, handing Air Force its first two home losses of the year - the Falcons were previously 14-0 at Erdle Field.

In Game 1, WSU ace Nick Lewis (8-2) earned a win for his fifth consecutive start and the Cougars gained an early advantage with five runs in the first three innings, powering to an 11-2 win. In Game 2, WSU plated seven runs in the first two innings, totaled 17 hits on the day and ended the game early due to run rule, prevailing 14-4. Starter Griffin Smith fanned six and allowed two earned runs over six innings to improve to 5-4.

Hartman, a senior outfielder and .335 hitter, was the top weekend standout at the plate, recording three hits and one double in each game, and totaling eight RBIs and six runs in the series. Roy, a senior second baseman who boasts a team-best .364 batting average, tallied seven hits (two doubles, one triple), six runs and five RBIs. Smith, a freshman outfielder who bats .317, had six hits and seven runs.

WSU will close its regular season with a nonconference tuneup on Tuesday against Seattle U at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman before gearing up for the conference tourney, which begins May 21 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona.

Pirates await Regional matchup

The opponent and site for Whitworth's NCAA Division III Regional opener will be revealed during an NCAA.com live stream at 9 a.m. Monday.

The Pirates (28-14), who on Friday won their second straight Northwest Conference Tournament title, will be making their fifth appearance in the D-III tournament, and third trip under NWC Coach of the Year CJ Perry.

Whitworth caught fire late this season, winning 12 of its last 13 games. The Pirates beat Puget Sound 6-0 on a two-hitter Friday in the conference semifinals at Merkel Field in Spokane, then rallied for a thrilling title win later in the day, getting clutch two-run homers from Nate Gray Jr. and Spencer Shipman to beat Linfield 9-7.

Shipman, a senior shortstop out of West Valley High, landed on the all-conference first team after hitting .325 with team highs in homers (11) and RBIs (44). Gray, a senior outfielder and .376 hitter, enters the national tourney on an 18-game hitting streak. He was a second-team All-NWC honoree.

Senior outfielder Kyle Memarian earned top plaudits Thursday when the conference awards were announced, taking home NWC Player of the Year honors for the second year in a row. The Vancouver, Washington, product had multiple hits in each of his last eight games, batting .594 with 13 RBIs, six doubles, two triples and six homers during that stretch. Memarian finished second in the conference with a .408 batting average, but led the league with a 1.215 OPS, a .707 slugging percentage, 61 runs and 111 total bases. He recorded 13 doubles, 10 homers and 38 RBIs on the year.

Senior third baseman Caleb Gray, another WV grad, was named to the first team after hitting .306 with 11 doubles, eight homers and 34 RBIs. Pitcher Dillon Hartman (8-1, 4.36 ERA) also earned first-team accolades.

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