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May 17-Nate Gold belted a grand slam to cap a five-run fifth inning Friday afternoon as Gonzaga (27-27, 14-14 WCC) tightened the West Coast Conference Coast Division race with a 6-2 win over Pepperdine (28-30, 16-12 WCC) at August/A
May 17-Nate Gold belted a grand slam to cap a five-run fifth inning Friday afternoon as Gonzaga (27-27, 14-14 WCC) tightened the West Coast Conference Coast Division race with a 6-2 win over Pepperdine (28-30, 16-12 WCC) at August/A.R.T. Stadium. The two teams will continue the WCC series on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. game. Pepperdine's magic number to win the division is one, while a Gonzaga sweep of the series would hand the Bulldogs the crown.
The Bulldogs struck first in the game with a single run in the bottom of the second. Jeff Culpepper doubled down the right field line and would come around to score on a Brian Munhall single. Pepperdine responded in the top of the third with an RBI single by Rock Mills. Cory Brightwell scored on the single after reaching on the first of three consecutive Waves hits.
Gonzaga put the game out of reach in the fifth inning against Waves starter James Carroll (2-4). Munhall opened with a double and came around to score on a Grant Zurmely single. After a Eric Rodland walk and Sam Hess single, Gold crushed his 33rd home run of the season to left field to give the Bulldogs a 6-1 cushion. With the four RBI, Gold passed Jason Bay on the single-season Gonzaga RBI list as he moved his single-season total to 76 RBI. Bay had set the previous record of 74 RBI during the 1999 season.
Brent Dayton (5-4) would pitch eight solid innings to pick up the win for Gonzaga as Pepperdine was only able to add a single run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Brightwell. Eric Everson would close out the ninth facing only three batters.
Brightwell, Mills, Ed Montague and Patrick Rooney each finished with two hits for Pepperdine. Rodland and Gold each finished with three hits for Gonzaga.
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