Gonzaga baseball opens home schedule against Oregon after dominant pitching display on extended road trip

As the Gonzaga baseball team was making final weatherproofing preparations to Steve Hertz Field, coach Mark Machtolf watched on the side as his players yanked tarps onto the field, raked the dirt and cleaned up leaves down the right field berm.

The rain-soaked grass coupled with yard work didn’t dampen the spirits of the team who is eager to play in front of its home fans for the first time this season.

“It’s not the most fun, but it means we get to have a home game,” sophomore Steven Lund said.

The Bulldogs (14-4, 3-0 WCC) open their home schedule Tuesday against the Oregon Ducks (13-6, 5-1 Pac-12) at Patterson Baseball Complex at 3 p.m.

The game is the first leg of a home-and-home series with the Ducks as the Bulldogs are scheduled to head to Eugene on May 17.

It has been a successful season on the road for the Bulldogs thus far, as they have three road series sweeps and an 11-2 record in true road games.

But with a home battle against the Ducks on tap, it means for the first time this season, the Zags will get to lay their head on their own pillow before taking the field. It also means they get to be on a normal gameday schedule.

“I’ve seen a lot of different parts of country, love seeing the sun down in California, but it’s going be nice take a breath, kind of take a step back and get into a rhythm now that we started conference and now we have some home series,” sophomore Gabriel Hughes said. “Ready to show out for all the fans here in Spokane.”

The home tilt is the latest start in the past three seasons. In 2021, the first home game was March 5 and in 2020 it was March 6.

“Well, it is a little bit by design, because we were just able to get some really good opponents,” Machtolf said. “And it just is a little with the weather issues, it just makes more sense. And we just feel like it helps us from a nonconference RPI standpoint to go on the road and play.”

The Zags were able to schedule road games against Oregon State, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Long Beach State – all of which have high-end pitching staffs.

And while the GU pitching hasn’t skipped a beat to start the young season, the bats have yet to shake off their winter slumber. That doesn’t mean that the offense hasn’t been present, it just hasn’t been in step with the other facets of the ballclub.

Machtolf said it is important experience for the younger players and the junior college transfers to face staffs with good stuff and to struggle against it.

“They’re getting tested under the fire here,” Machtolf said. “And I think the biggest thing they have to do is mentally have to stay confident, because a lot of these guys, especially the freshmen, even junior college players, they haven’t dealt with a lot of failure.”

That hardening at the plate sets up the Bulldogs for strong West Coast Conference play, and Lund also believes some home cooking is all they need to get the bats rolling.

“We’ve really faced a lot of primetime arms,” Lund said. “That’s what coach (Machtolf) always preaches to us is don’t necessarily look at the numbers right now. Nobody’s really lost confidence offensively, which is the biggest thing.”

As a team, the Bulldogs are hitting .269 with a .706 OPS.

Catcher Tyler Rando and right fielder Grayson Sterling lead the team with a .353 average and .333 average respectively. Rando also has a .923 OPS.

Machtolf said their maturity, experience and ability to handle offspeed pitches is what has gotten those two specifically off to good starts.

Average offensive numbers have allowed 23rd-ranked GU to start 14-4 and continue to stay in the D1baseball.com Top 25, so if those numbers can be elevated along with the already dominating pitching, the Zags would be a force.

“Just the makeup has been has been really, really positive, and I’m happy with that,” Machtolf said. “And if we continue to just improve, I think we’ll be in good shape come the end of the year.”

Coming into the season, the pitching was expected to be a strength and over the past three weeks, Bulldog pitchers have taken home the West Coast Conference pitcher of the week award – two by Hughes and one by Trystan Vrieling.

“It just speaks to the depth and consistency to our pitching stuff and just how many guys we have that can go out every week, and just show the consistency that you need from the weekend starters,” Hughes said.