CORVALLIS, Ore. — On a historic day already for the Zags, the team made more history.
The team defeated No. 2 Oregon State 13-6 in Corvallis Monday night, which is the highest ranked opponent Gonzaga has ever beaten in program history.
Monday morning, the Bulldogs achieved their highest ranking ever in head coach Mark Machtolf's 19-year tenure at the Gonzaga helm and their third highest ranking ever. The highest they've ever been ranked is No. 8 in 1980.
"It’s been a good day," said head coach Mark Machtolf with a laugh. "We’ve been playing good baseball, so I felt confident we would play well."
"It feels really good," said catcher Ezra Samperi, who had a two RBI triple in the game. "I think today was huge for us just because we were able to piece everything together. The pitching was there, the hitting was there, defense was there, we played clean all day. I think that provided us with a lot of momentum throughout the game."
Gonzaga scored 11 runs in the first three innings of the game and added two more on for assurance over the next six. In particular, the third inning was very kind to the Zags as they put up seven runs in that frame. Meanwhile, the Beavers scored six runs in the first two innings and never scored again.
Pitcher Jacob Rutherford was the star of the day for the Zags as he pitched 4.2 innings, only allowing one run and recording six strikeouts.
Gonzaga had five players record two RBI. Those players were Enzo Apodaca, Grayson Sterling, Stephen Lund, Jack Machtolf, and Samperi. No Zags hit a homerun.
"Obviously, a ton of confidence going away from this against one of the top teams in the country. It’s a good feeling," said Rutherford.
"It gives us a lot of confidence considering when we played them earlier in the season when we were in Arizona, and they beat the breaks off us," said Samperi. Oregon State beat Gonzaga by a combined 11 runs in two games in February.
The Bulldogs recorded 17 hits and 11 RBI overall. They also held the No. 2 team in the country to just ten hits. As you would imagine with 17 hits, the Zags had an excellent performance at the plate, only getting struck out by the Beavers four times. The Zags overall hit .386.
The goal for the Zags is bigger than just Monday’s win though. They have their sights set on hosting a NCAA Tournament regional for the first time in program history.
For Rutherford, who’s a Post Falls native, he knows how big that would be.
"It would be pretty incredible. Growing up in the Spokane area, you’re a Zags fan through and through whether it be basketball, baseball, whatever sport. Grew up around it and going to a lot of games, so to be able to do that in a local sense would be great," said Rutherford.
However, the team also knows they’re not there yet.
Last season, they dropped their last two games and that prevented them from hosting a regional. This year you can tell it’s motivating them.
"There is very, very little margin for error. I’m happy where we’re at right now today, but we have bigger goals in mind. We’re more concerned about where we’re at in June," said Machtolf.
"The only thing I can say is that the job's not finished. We’ve got so much more to prove and so much more work to put in. We’ve just got to keep building," said Samperi.
The team plays Oregon State again on Tuesday at 5:35 PM on Pac-12 Network. 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.