SPOKANE, Wash. — The Zags keep climbing up several of college baseball's polls and on Monday they achieved their highest ranking ever in head coach Mark Machtolf's 19-year Gonzaga tenure. The Zags are now ranked No. 12 by both DI Baseball and Baseball America.
The highest previous ranking in Mark Machtolf's Gonzaga career came last year when the team was ranked No. 14 by DI Baseball on May 24. The highest-ever ranking for the program was in 1980 when they were ranked ninth by Collegiate Baseball.
The Zags currently hold a 23-9 record and sit atop the WCC. They haven't lost a single series in conference play so far this year and have only lost one series overall. The series they lost was to Long Beach State, and that was thrown together at the last second as weather forced the Zags the cancel all but one game of their series at the University of Missouri the same week.
Gonzaga came close to hosting an NCAA regional site last year for the first time in program history but just missed the cut due to dropping their final series of the season at home. If the Zags are able to keep up their winning ways, they're well on their way to hosting a regional this time around, as 16 teams get that honor.
The Bulldogs are next slated to play against an Oregon State Beavers team that is ranked #2 by DI Baseball and #3 by Baseball America. Those games are supposed to take place Monday and Tuesday in Corvallis. However, rain in the forecast is putting those contests in question. The Zags' next WCC series is Friday through Sunday at Saint Mary's. Their next home game isn't until April 29 against LMU. They also will play down at WSU on April 26.