LAS VEGAS, Nev. - After their 14-10 win in round one of the WCC tournament, Saint Mary's got a rematch with two seed Portland after being swept by them to end the regular season just last weekend. Lefty
Ryan Sanders made his fifth start of the season and faced off against one of the conference's best in Nick Brink who took game one against the Gaels in their conference series.
The Gaels had a great plan of attack early on, working lengthy at bats and getting Brink's pitch count up early. Sanders worked his way through two innings giving up just a run and pitching to contact but the Pilots exploded for five runs in the third which included three straight RBI hits to give them a 6-1 lead. They would tack on seven more runs in the next two innings with another two out RBI single in the fourth and then a three run homer to the pool in right center in the fifth.
The Gaels would get on the board in the top half of the fifth with a booming shot to right field from
Christian Almanza, his second of the tournament and 24th of the season.
Gavin Napier and
Dalton Mashore led off with hits to set the stage for Almanza as the program leader crushed one of his longest of the season.
The Saint Mary's offense slowly started to pick things up as they added two more runs in the sixth thanks to an RBI double from Napier followed by an RBI single from
Coleman Schmidt. Napier was a great spark plug for the Gaels as he finished with a pair of doubles and his one in the sixth inning was just feet from getting out.
Almanza would come to the plate with runners on first and second and the Pilots would go to a lefty for the specific matchup but he would get on with a walk and load the bases for
Ryan Pierce. Pierce would fight his way to a full count but go down swinging to end the Gaels best chance to climb back in the game, keeping the score at 13-5. Saint Mary's would put another two runners on in the seventh but Portland got a crucial 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
Portland got deeper into their bullpen and Saint Mary's would get a hit and take advantage of some walks to load the bases and plate a pair of runs in the ninth but the night belonged to the Pilots as they got the best of the Gaels, earning the 16-7 victory. Almanza had two hits and a team high three RBI's on the night while Napier also had two hits featuring a pair of doubles and an RBI of his own. After Sanders,
John Damozonio,
Owen Cuffe,
David Thomas and
Adam Enyart would piece the rest of the game together on the mound for the Gaels. Freshman catcher
Bear Harrison also had some great plate discipline on the night finishing with a game high four walks.
The Pilots have now won four straight against Saint Mary's this season but the road does not end here for the Gaels as they will take on four seed Gonzaga at noon tomorrow in an elimination game. The winner will face the loser of San Diego and Portland which will follow at 4:05 PM. The full tournament schedule can be found
HERE and you can purchase tickets for tomorrow's game
HERE or at smcgaels.com.
First pitch for Friday's game with the Bulldogs is slated for 12:00 PM and you can stream the game live on ESPN+. Be sure to follow your Gaels on Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter to get all the latest Saint Mary's athletics updates and information.
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