Early Runs Hold Up in Zags Win over ASU
6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | General
FORT WORTH -- In a battle of two all-conference starting pitchers, Gonzaga's Brandon Bailey was great and Arizona State's Seth Martinez was hit early as the Bulldogs beat the Sun Devils, 5-1, in the first game of the NCAA Fort Worth Regional at Lupton Stadium on Friday.
The Rundown
Making its first NCAA at-large appearance, Gonzaga (36-19) showed why it grabbed a tournament spot by jumping on All-Pac-12 pitcher Seth Martinez. The Zags scored two runs in the first, two in the second and one in the third to chase Martinez after just 2.1 innings.
The usual suspects were the run producers for Gonzaga as All-WCC selection Taylor Jones doubled in WCC Player of the Year, Jeffrey Bohling, who reached on an infield single just two pitches earlier in the first inning. Arizona State (34-22) then botched a potential double play ball at shortstop to score Jones from third and add a second first-inning run.
The Zags really got to Martinez in the second inning with four straight singles, the final two plating runs off the bats of Bohling and Jones, scoring Jace Vandebrake and Sam Brown, respectively.
Nick Brooks tacked on an RBI double in the third inning to chase Martinez and give the Bulldogs a 5-0 lead. In all, Martinez (9-4) went 2.1 innings and allowed five runs on nine hits.
Meanwhile, Brandon Bailey was cruising and got in serious trouble just once, that after cramping to start the fifth inning. After the athletic trainer visited Bailey, he gave up back-to-back singles, but rebounded to strike out two and force a fly out for the final out.
Arizona State's lone run came in the fourth inning when Ryan Lillard beat out a potential double play groundball to score Brian Serven.
Bailey (10-3) pitched 7.0 innings for Gonzaga, allowing just one run on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk. Sam Hellinger threw two shutout innings out of the bullpen to close out the game.
The Sun Devils got amazing work from Eli Lingos out of their bullpen as he pitched 6.1 one-hit, scoreless innings to keep ASU in the game.
Stats of the Game
0 -- Arizona State was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position with seven of those at bats coming against Gonzaga starter Brandon Bailey.
1 -- The Sun Devils' reliever, Eli Lingos, allowed just one hit in 6.1 innings of scoreless relief.
9 -- Gonzaga was 9-for-16 against Arizona State starter Seth Martinez, chasing the All-Pac-12 performer from the game after just 2.1 innings
Next Up
Arizona State will take on the loser of TCU and Oral Roberts in Saturday's 11 a.m. elimination game. Gonzaga moves on to face the winner of TCU and Oral Roberts in Saturday's 6:30 p.m. game.
Gonzaga Notes
- Brandon Bailey is now tied for fourth in the Gonzaga history with 278 career strikeouts. Additionally, Bailey has 125 on the season, the third most in a single season in GU history and has struck out at least five batters in 13 of his 15 appearances this season.
- Taylor Jones now has 25 doubles on the year and averages .46 two-baggers per game, leading the West Coast Conference in both stats. He is also tied for third in the nation in total doubles. As a team, the Zags have 127 doubles on the year, two away from tying the program record of 129 set in 2010
- Jones' two RBIs early in the contest gave the senior his eighth multi-RBI game of the year.
