After sweeping nationally-ranked UC-Irvine, the Zags had their nine-game winning streak snapped by WSU in Pullman on Tuesday night 17-11.
Tonight at PBC, the Bulldogs (13-8-1) begin a three-gamer with the New Mexico Lobos (9-17). UNM's underclassman-laden roster plays to Gonzaga's favor, especially since the Lobos are on a two-game skid, dropping both games of their recent series to Arizona.
Read below the jump for a preview of the UNM series
The GU lineup has been on a roll the last few weeks, with standout Royce Bolinger hitting in the .330s, and rising star Billy Moon flirting with .400. The rest of the team is sitting comfortably between .260-.290. Over the course of the UCI series, however, last year's main issue resurfaced: runners left on base. In the last week (four games), Gonzaga has stranded 43 runners.
Let me repeat that: they did the equivalent of stranding the bases loaded more than three times per game. Pitching has been our saving grace this year, as it was for a good portion of 2010.Carpenter, Olsen, and Gonzalez have all been more than reliable, often going into the seventh inning (a rarity in college baseball, where pitchers are lucky if they last into the fifth or sixth).
New Mexico got off to an even rockier start to 2011 than Gonzaga: while GU dropped their first five, the Lobos lost eight to open up. After losing most of their key players to graduation, UNM is young and inexperienced. But they've played a brutal schedule which has toughened them up: #8 Arizona St., Oklahoma St., San Diego St., UNLV, #11 Arizona. I can't be certain if this has improved their game or just demoralized them; they're mostly underclassmen, after all.
It's supossed to be 60 degrees in Spokane today, but I'm not buying that for a second. All of us students are in our flip-flops ready for the sun...but it's totally overcast outside. If you're planning on attending the game tonight, bring a jacket.
Schedule: Friday 6pm, Saturday 1pm, Sunday 1pm.
Friday and Saturday's games will be broadcast live on GUTV (channel 15) in Spokane, and the Athletic Dept. is going to put them on Zags All-Access. If you'd like to hear the radio call, it's on 1510 KGA+online.
GO ZAGS!