May 18-Sunday marked the final day of regular season play in West Coast Conference baseball. Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 9-8, LMU out-slugged Portland 15-9, and Santa Clara downed Saint Mary’s 8-3. San Francisco ended their season on a sour note falling to Sacramento State 5-4 in non-conference action. Pepperdine and San Diego will face-off in Malibu, CA in the WCC Championship Series on May 23-25.

Gonzaga 9, Pepperdine 8
Gonzaga senior Kemp Quakenbush broke a 7-7 tie with a two-run home run in the bottom seventh inning to help Gonzaga register a 9-8 victory over Pepperdine in both team’s regular-season finale Sunday afternoon at Spokane Falls Community College.

Gonzaga concluded its season with a 26-25-1 overall record and 14-16 mark in the WCC. The Bulldogs rallied from a 7-3 deficit to record the victory and their season with a winning record.

The Waves conclude the regular season with a 35-21 overall record and champions of the West Coast Conference’s (WCC) Coast Division. Pepperdine will seek its 14th WCC title and 20th NCAA appearance when it hosts San Diego in the conference championship series at Eddy D. Field Stadium beginning on Friday at 3 p.m.

Trailing 7-3 entering the fourth inning, Gonzaga scored three times in the fourth and one in the fifth to tie the score against Pepperdine starter Brandon Boesch.

Matt Reding (3-0) helped the Bulldogs escape the third and worked into the ninth inning allowing only one run in the top of the ninth. John Gonzalez struck out the Waves final batter with bases loaded to pick up his sixth save of the year.

Gonzaga finishes the season one game over .500 as Hess and Culpepper each had three hits in the finale. Quackenbush and Gordon Corder also had two hits in the Bulldogs win.

Harper, Klosowski and junior first baseman Chris Kelly each had three hits apiece for Pepperdine. Klosowski also had three RBI.

Freshman right hander James Johnson (3-2) worked three innings of relief and suffered the loss.

LMU 15, Portland 9
Loyola Marymount and Portland combined to score at least three runs in each of the first five innings during Sunday afternoon's match-up at Page Stadium. LMU won the slugfest 15-9, ending the season at 26-30 overall, 13-17 in the West Coast Conference, while the Pilots dropped to 9-43-1, 5-24-1 in the league. The victory sealed a six-game season sweep for LMU over the Pilots.

Both Joe Frazee and Jonathan Higashi had three hits for LMU, with a combined five RBI and six runs scored, while Joshua Whitesell drove in a game-high four runs. Stephen Kahn threw five shutout innings in relief for the Lions to up his mark to 5-4. The freshman allowed just three hits while striking out seven, including the side in the eighth inning.

After Portland's Kory Casto drew a two-out walk in the top of the first inning, Travis Vetters hammered a triple to rightfield, handing the Pilots their first lead of the season over LMU.

The Lions answered right back in the bottom of the frame with four runs. Portland starting pitcher Trent Kristjanson walked three of the first four Lions he faced, as 14 of his first 20 pitches were balls.

Whitesell worked a bases-loaded walk, forcing in Lockin, before freshman Chris Pettit grounded into a fielder's choice to plate Joe Frazee. LMU third baseman Jonathan Oller provided the big blow of the inning. The sophomore drilled a double to straightaway centerfield, scoring Higashi and Pettit.

With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Frazee and Higashi hit back-to-back singles, before Whitesell hit a three-run home run to centerfield. It was Whitesell's team-leading 15th home run of the season.

Not to be outdone, Casto provided a three-run home run of this own in the top of the third inning. It was Casto's team-leading 13th home run, as both he and Whitesell hit two homers in the three-game series.

LMU scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the third to up its advantage to 10-4. The frame was highlighted by a two-RBI triple by Frazee.

The first four Pilots of the fourth inning all singled and scored, narrowing the margin to 10-8, but it wasn't enough as Kristjanson dropped to 2-9.

The Pilots continued their comeback effort as Brock Griffin led off the fifth inning with his second home run of the season, bringing Portland to within 10-9. But after Joe Silva reached base to lead off the bottom of the frame, Lockin smashed a RBI double to left-centerfield. Lockin scored his fourth run of the game, to make the score 12-9, on a Higashi single.

The Lions added three insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings, as LMU won its final regular season game for the third straight year and posted the most wins since the 2000 team won 40 contests.

Santa Clara 8, Saint Mary’s 3
The Santa Clara University baseball team swept Saint Mary's by a score of 8-3 Sunday afternoon at Buck Shaw Stadium, concluding the season for both squads. The Broncos finish the year having won 19 of their last 26 games and a 31-26 overall record. Their West Coast Conference mark of 21-9 was the second best record in the league, finishing three games ahead of WCC West Division Champion, San Diego. The Gaels fall to 18-37-1 overall with the loss, while their WCC record drops to 8-21-1.

Joe Diefenderfer picked up the win for the Broncos on Senior Day as the left handed senior tossed five full innings in which he allowed only three hits to go along with three strikeouts. His record improved to 8-3 on the year while his ERA fell down to 3.40 for the season. In conference play alone he finished the year with a 6-0 record and a minuscule 1.54 ERA.

Jack Headley was the offensive star of the day for the Broncos as he ended his Santa Clara career by going 3-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored. Fellow senior David Mandley connected on his first home run of the season as he was the second half of the back-to-back home runs in the two-run seventh inning. Mandley went deep to left field, following Will Thompson who led off the inning with a line shot over the right field fence, giving him 11 home runs on the year.

Seniors A.J. LaBarbera, Jim Wallace and Scott Dierks also added to the SCU offense in their final game as LaBarbera belted a two-run single in the fifth, scoring Wallace who reached earlier in the inning on a single. Dierks picked up his 42nd RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly in the second inning that put the Broncos up by a 1-0 score.

Anthony Rea came in for 1 1/3 innings of effective relief, filling in for John Redmond who allowed three runs on two hits in just 2/3 of an inning to go along with two walks and two strikeouts. Patrick Overholt closed out the game for the Broncos, throwing the final two innings and recording two strikeouts in the process despite it not being a save opportunity.

Tim Spooner, James Gaulke and Jeff Cunningham each had two hits in the game for Saint Mary's, accounting for all but one of the Gaels' hits in the game. Adam Thompson notched the other SMC hit as Cunningham posted two RBI with a single to center in the sixth inning with Gaulke picking up the other as he drove in Cunningham with a triple to center field just one batter later.

Matt Yourkin falls to 1-9 on the season as he allowed four runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts in five innings on the mound. Gabe Palma allowed four runs, two of which were earned, on four hits with a walk in two innings of relief. Tom Carroll and Dane Dobrinich combined to throw the scoreless eighth inning for the Gaels.

Sacramento State 5, USF 4
Sacramento State ruined the final game of the season for USF rallying for four runs in the fifth and holding off a late rally by the Dons in the eighth to defeat San Francisco, 5-4, Sunday afternoon at Hornet Field.

San Francisco jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after a sacrifice fly by Armand Gaerlan. Jonnie Knoble led off the inning with a walk and then stole second base. After moving to third on a groundout by Cy Donald, Knoble scored on a drive by Gaerlan to right field.

Sacramento State answered back in the bottom of the inning after an RBI single by junior Mikela Olsen. Senior Tim Reimer led off the inning with a double to right field and was thrown out at home after a single by sophomore Bret LeVier. With one out, junior Jesse Schmidt was hit by a pitch to move LeVier to second. Olsen followed with a liner up the middle to score the Hornets' first run.

The Dons made it 2-1 in the second after an RBI groundout by Royce Fukuroku.

The Hornets took a 5-2 lead after scoring four runs on four hits and a three-base error by Don rightfielder Nick Tarbat in the fifth inning. Freshman Jim Strombach led off the inning with a single to center. Strombach advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Everet Rincon and then stole third. With one out, Reimer drew a walk and Schmidt followed with a single to left to score Strombach. In the next at-bat, Olsen hit a fly ball to right which carried to the right due to a gust of wind. Tarbat tracked the ball and positioned under it but the ball glanced off of his glove, allowing both runners to score and Olsen to advance to third. Junior John Acha followed with a single to left to tally the Hornets' final run of the inning.

San Francisco cut the margin to 5-4 in the eighth after an RBI double by Ryan Sittauer and a an RBI single by Ryan Hanson. Gaerlan off the inning by advancing to second on a fielding an throwing error by Rincon at short. With a Gaerlan on third and two outs, Sittauer double down the right-field line and Hanson followed with single to center. Junior Renecke Stelzriede, who entered the contest with a man on first and two out, ended the threat by getting Royce Fukuroku to fly out to center.

In the ninth, Tarbat drew a walk to lead off the inning but was gunned down at second by sophomore Matt Wilson to take the wind out of the Dons' come back.

Steve Cuckovich (7-4) earned the win after allowing four runs (two earned) on seven hits while walking three and striking out two in 7.2 innings.

Derek Tate (2-4) earned the loss after allowing five runs (two earned) on nine hits while walking two in 4.2 innings.