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Another Big Week For Zags
May 9, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The Gonzaga University baseball team has another busy week ahead of them as they will play in four games. On Tuesday, the Bulldogs will look to avenge a 7-1 loss against Lewis-Clark State College with the final regular season game at Avista Stadium at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs will then travel to Moraga, Calif. for a pivotal three-game set with Saint Mary's College. On Friday, the game will start at 3 p.m. and both Saturday's and Sunday's games will begin at 1 p.m. LAST TIME OUT: Gonzaga University dropped two-of-three games to the University of San Diego over the weekend which knotted both teams in a tie for first place in the West Coast Conference Coast Division. On Friday, the Bulldogs got off on the right foot with a 12-4 win over the Toreros. In that game, the Bulldogs got a strong pitching performance from Josh Monroe who allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings of work. Offensively for the Zags, Shawn Wayt went 2-for-4 with three RBI and one double. On Saturday, the Toreros evened the series with a 6-2 win. Aaron McGuinness led GU's offense going 3-for-4 with one RBI and one double. In Sunday's rubber game, the Toreros defeated the Bulldogs 5-2. McGuinness again led the offensive charge for the Zags with his 2-for-4 one run scored performance. ZAGS ON THE RADIO: Gonzaga University's game with Lewis-Clark State College will be broadcast on the radio in the Spokane area as Tom Hudson provides all the play-by-play action. The game can be heard on 1050 AM The Key with a pre-game show starting at 15 minutes prior to the start of the game. GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE: Gonzaga will once again have GameTracker statistics available for the the Lewis-Clark State College game on Tuesday and for the weekend series with the Saint Mary's College. Fans can go to www.GoZags.com and click on the baseball schedule to view which other games are available throughout the season. SCOUTING THE WARRIORS: Lewis-Clark State College enters the week with a 42-6 record are are ranked No. 1 in the latest NAIA polls. LC State defeated the Bulldogs in March, 7-1 and are 54-49-1 all-time against the Zags. LCSC is led offensively by Joey Dyche who is hitting .494 with 83 hits and 46 RBI. On the mound, the Warriors are led by Derrick Landavano who is 6-1 with an ERA of 0.98. SCOUTING THE GAELS: Saint Mary's College enters the week with a 18-27 overall record and a 11-16 record in the West Coast Conference after being swept by Loyola Marymount University over the weekend. SMC took two-of-three from the Bulldogs in March, but the Zags hold a 22-16 all-time record against the Gaels. Sam Carter leads the offensive charge for SMC with his .352 batting average and a team-leading 63 hits and 46 RBI. The pitching rotation for the Gaels is led by senior right-hander Kevin Trochez who is 5-4 with an ERA of 3.73. DIVISIONAL RACE HEATING UP: Gonzaga University finds itself in the middle of the West Coast Conference Coast Division race that got a whole lot more interesting over the weekend. With the Zags dropping two-of-three to the University of San Diego, that put USD and GU in a tie for first place in the division. Not only did USD pull even with the Zags, but Loyola Marymount University now has an outside chance of catching USD and Gonzaga after sweeping St. Mary's College over the weekend. LMU has won five of its last six WCC games and are now only one and a half games behind USD and one game behind GU in the standings. San Diego only has three WCC games left on the season. The Zags have seven WCC games remaining on its 2005 schedule, all away from home, facing road tests at St .Mary's and at LMU to finish out the season. NOTES ON GONZAGA POSITION STARTERS Bobby Carlson, Junior, 1B: Gonzaga University first baseman Bobby Carlson continues to lead the team in doubles with 14, RBI with 49 and home runs with six. Carlson is hitting .237 on the season with 42 hits. Scott Campbell, Sophomore, 2B: Gonzaga University sophomore second baseman Scott Campbell went 5-for-12 (.417) over the weekend with two RBI and a double. Campbell is leading the Zags in hitting with a .333 average and hits with 60. Aaron McGuinness, Sophomore, SS: Gonzaga University sophomore shortstop Aaron McGuinness went 7-for-13 over the weekend with two RBI, two runs scored and one double. McGuinness is hitting .293 with 49 hits and 22 RBI. Darin Holcomb, Freshman, 3B: Gonzaga University freshman third baseman Darin Holcomb is second on the team in hits with 59, doubles with 13 and is hitting .312 on the season. Kiel Thibault, Junior, C: Gonzaga University junior catcher Kiel Thibault went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI on Friday and is hitting .306 with 57 hits, nine doubles and 28 RBI on the season. Shawn Wayt, Freshman, LF: Gonzaga University left fielder Shawn Wayt had a good performance on Friday as he went 2-for-4 with three RBI and one double. Wayt is hitting .264 with 29 hits, four doubles and 11 RBI. Jeff Culpepper, Senior, CF: Gonzaga University's lone senior, Jeff Culpepper, saw his nine-game hit streak come to an end on Saturday. Culpepper is second all-time at Gonzaga in career hits with 257 and career doubles with 52. Culpepper is hitting .328 with 58 hits, 12 doubles and 35 RBI. Jackson Brennan, Junior, RF: Jackson Brennan is third on the team in hitting with a .313 batting average and has 25 hits, six doubles, two home runs and eight RBI. Will Ayala, Junior, DH: Junior transfer Will Ayala is hitting .289 with 43 hits, five doubles, one home run and 15 RBI while hitting in the seventh spot for the Bulldogs. CULPEPPER IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Gonzaga University senior outfielder Jeff Culpepper has continued to write his name into the all-time record books at Gonzaga. Culpepper is currently ranked second all-time career hits with 257, second all-time in career doubles with 52, ninth all-time in career RBI with 145, tied for fifth all-time in career games played with 200, tied for eighth all-time in stolen bases with 40 and is tied for fifth all-time in runs scored with 155. MONROE'S SOLID PERFORMANCE: Gonzaga University junior right-hander Josh Monroe had another solid peformance on Friday. Monroe picked up his eighth win of the season in the 12-4 win over the University of San Diego allowing two runs on three hits in seven innings of work which earned himself a West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week nomination. CARLSON CHASING RBI LIST: Gonzaga University junior first baseman Bobby Carlson continues the chase to place his name on the Gonzaga single-season RBI list as he leads the Bulldogs with 49 RBI this season. That total also puts Carlson in the West Coast Conference lead as the Bulldogs play their final nine games of the season. Culpepper needs five more RBI to tie three players in 10th place on the list with 54 RBI. ZAGS APPROACHING 30 WINS: Gonzaga University currently sits at 26-20 overall and are only four games away from the 30 win mark. It has been 15 years since a Bulldog team recorded 30 wins, and 24 years since the Zags have made a postseason appearance. CAMPBELL LEADING BATTING RACE: Sophomore Scott Campbell now leads the Bulldogs batting race on the season as the second baseman is hitting a team best .333. Over the weekend Campbell hit .417 going 5-for-12 at the plate. His 60 hits currently leads the Gonzaga team. McGUINNESS HAS GOOD WEEKEND: Sophomore shortstop Aaron McGuinness had a solid performance over the weekend for the Bulldogs. McGuinness went 7-for-13 (.538) with two RBI, two runs scored and one double to raise his batting average to .293. HOLCOMB'S STREAK HALTED: Gonzaga University's freshman third baseman Darin Holcomb saw his season-high 10-game hit streak come to an end during Friday's 12-4 win over the University of San Diego. Holcomb is second on the team in hits with 59 and second in doubles with 13. ZAGS TABBED FIFTH IN WCC POLL: Gonzaga University was picked to finish fifth overall in the West Coast Conference in the preseason poll of WCC coaches. Gonzaga received 22 total points to finish one point ahead of the University of San Francisco in the overall poll. In divisional play Gonzaga was tabbed to finish third in the WCC Coast Division behind the University of San Diego and Loyola Marymount University. Gonzaga will be playing against San Diego, Loyola Marymount and Saint Mary's College in the Coast Division. Pepperdine University, University of Portland ,San Francisco and Santa Clara University comprise the WCC West Division. The WCC Champion will be determined in a WCC Playoff between the two divisional champions at the site of the team which wins the regular-season series between the two schools. SKIPPER Mark Machtolf: Considered one of the Top 10 rising stars in the Division I coaching ranks by Baseball America in its 2000 publication, Mark Machtolf now enters his second season at the helm of the Gonzaga baseball program. Machtolf, an 11-year assistant at Gonzaga, was officially handed the coaching reigns on August 7, 2003, from 24-year head coach Steve Hertz who moved into an administrative position at the school. During his 11 years as an assistant, Machtolf coached the Bulldogs hitters and outfielders as well as serving as the Bulldogs recruiting coordinator. Under his guidance Gonzaga became one of the top power hitting teams in the nation, setting a West Coast Conference and school record with 92 home runs in 2002, the seventh best home run per game average in the nation. Machtolf also coached Bulldogs slugger Nate Gold who led the NCAA with 33 home runs in 2002 en route to All-American honors. A 1987 graduate of Stanford University, Machtolf was a member of the Cardinal's 1987 College World Series championship team and was an All-CWS selection. A 4-year baseball letterman and 2-year football letterman he graduated from Stanford in 1987. WCC FORMAT TO CHANGE IN 2006: Starting in 2006 the West Coast Conference will change it's conference format and schedule for the baseball conference season. A one-division format will once again be implemented, and the eight institutions will compete in a 21-game conference season. Currently teams compete in a two-division format, West and Coast, with a 30-game conference schedule. The two-division format was origionally implimented in 1999, but underwent realignment, swapping a pair of teams from division to division, in 2000, 2002 and 2004. The 2005 season will be the last season to feature the two-division, 30-game format for conference games. Under the one division, 21-game format, each school will play the other seven opponents one time over the course of an eight-week season. Each school will play seven three-game series, with one week serving as a bye week. The WCC championship series will continue, despite the change in the format. Under the current format, the two division winners compete in the WCC Championship Series with the winner of the non-division series holding home field advantage. Under the new format in 2006, the top two teams with the best conference record will compete in the WCC Championship Series, with the regular season series winner holding the home field advantage.
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