March 29, 2002

Final Stats

Spokane, WA - Saint Mary's (9-14, 2-3 WCC) and Gonzaga (13-14, 4-4 WCC) combined for forty hits Friday afternoon, but it was the Gaels who finished with the upper hand in the contest winning 17-11 over Gonzaga. The two teams will conclude their West Coast Conference series on Saturday at noon at August/A.R.T. Stadium.

Saint Mary's opened with back-to-back four-run innings in the first and second against Bulldogs starter Eric Dworkis (4-3). Brian Houle had a two-run double in the first while Mike Sansoe, Tim Spooner, Neal McSherry each added RBI doubles during the Gaels early outburst.

Gonzaga chipped away at the lead with four runs in the bottom of the third inning. Nate Gold and Sam Hess each connected for two-run home runs against SMC starter Mike Byer (3-4). Byer would work seven innings allowing nine runs to pick up this third victory of the season.

After a solo home run by Nick Conte extended Saint Mary's lead to 9-4 in the fifth inning, Gold connected for his second two-run blast of the game in the bottom of the fifth to bring the Zags to within 9-6.

Tim Spooner's grand slam in the Gaels five-run sixth inning erased any chances of a Gonzaga comeback. Gold delivered his third two-run home run of the day in the seventh inning while Hess hit a solo shot in the seventh. A Sansoe two-run single in the eighth would add to Saint Mary's lead while Kemp Quackenbush added a two-run home run for Gonzaga in the bottom of the ninth.

Houle led Saint Mary's with a four hits, finishing with four RBI. Spooner added five RBI on two hits. Gonzaga was led by Gold with a 3-for-5 afternoon and 6 RBI. Gold now has 19 home runs on the season, two shy of the Gonzaga single season record set by Jeff Hainline in 1984. Kevin Richardson, Hess, Quackenbush and John Gebbers also added three hits each for the Bulldogs.