SPOKANE, Wash. — The new look Gonzaga baseball team is set to begin the 2023 season on the road in Lubbock against No. 24 Texas Tech on Friday afternoon.
The Zags were picked to repeat as WCC champions this season despite the departures of starters Gabriel Hughes, Trystan Vrieling and William Kempner.
A large reason for that is Gonzaga's new Friday night starter, Owen Wild.
Wild was 9-1 with a 3.03 ERA last season and threw 6.1 shutout innings against Wright State in Gonzaga's only win in the NCAA Blacksburg regional.
Head Coach Mark Machtolf has the utmost confidence in Wild stepping into this new role this season.
"We feel comfortable that he is going to come in and do well and have the bullseye on his chest now from day one. He is a very mature, tough kid, so we feel good on a Friday night that he will give us a good chance to win," Machtolf said.
Wild is the ace of a staff set to face one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation this season, but he feels he is ready to go.
"That's the way that we do things at this program. We choose to play the best teams we can to get ready for the postseason and I think it does a great job of letting us know where we are at. We are playing the best of the best so we (find out) where we match up with them and hopefully, come postseason, that will get us there," Wild said.
Wild has also had to step into a leadership role this season with all of Gonzaga's most experienced pitchers leaving at the same time, but Wild has adjusted well to his new role.
"I feel like it has been a pretty easy transition. I felt like down the stretch last year, especially those couple of big games, I had to step up and throw for us. It's kind of a passing of the torch moment. Right when Gabe (Hughes), Trystan (Vrieling), (William) Kempner and Brody (Jessee) all left and when we were saying goodbye at the regional, they all told me, 'This is your team now, so go do what you do,' so it has been pretty fun," Wild said.
Wild, a junior, was one of four Zags picked for the preseason all-WCC team, along with sophomore third baseman Cade McGee, senior shortstop Savier Pinales and redshirt junior outfielder Grayson Sterling.
McGee, a freshman All-American last season, is hoping to pick up where he left off, but he knows he will have to make adjustments and has a lot to prove heading into his sophomore season.
"It's a big target because I am going to get pitched differently and I have a lot to prove because having a good freshman year does not mean you are going to have a good next two years. There's a lot to prove and I am continuously working at my craft," McGee said.
The Zags will play on turf at the Paterson Baseball Complex for the first time this season. The players are doing their best to get accustomed to the new playing surface.
"I think a lot of our guys were really excited taking ground balls on the turf for the first time. There were a few hops last year that we are not going to get this year and we are excited to go out early for practice and not have to set everything up," McGee said.
"It is a little different. I am a big fan of the dirt mound, so I was a little sad to see that we put the turf in, but I understand it was totally necessary. It is going to let us practice in the rain and snow in Spokane, which I think is a huge advantage for us," Wild said.
Coach Machtolf believes the sheer amount of practices the team can add this season on the turf field will pay dividends.
"(The turf) is definitely a positive, it requires a lot less maintenance and is more reliable. Over the course of the year, the impact the turf will have from a development stand point is going to be huge for us. I project we will add 30 practices throughout the five or six months we are playing. We are excited about it and the kids are excited about it and that is kind of half the battle," Machtolf said.
The Zags open the season with Wild on the mound Friday afternoon against No. 24 Texas Tech. The non-conference schedule also includes matchups with No. 2 Tennessee and No. 25 Oregon.
Gonzaga's first home game on the turf at Coach Steve Hertz Field will be Friday, March 10th against UC Irvine at 6 p.m.
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