The Pacific Tigers will become a member of the WCC in July 2013

It was announced Wednesday morning that the University of Pacific in Stockton, Calif. would be joining the West Coast Conference in July of 2013. This makes U o P the tenth member of the WCC, and is finally a conference realignment decision that makes sense. With the Tigers joining the league, it creates a larger, more stable western region conference out of the WCC.

Pacific is the perfect addition to the conference, as they provide an even number of schools—ten, and are very similar in the style of university compared to the other schools; aside from BYU. When the Cougars joined the league in 2011, it made no sense; they are a humongous institution in Utah, not on the west coast, like the rest of the schools. They also created an odd number of conference participants.

U o P on the other hand, is a medium sized non-denominational private school in the heart of California, with a strong athletic department. It expands the Northern California fan base to the Central Valley region from the primarily focused Bay Area conference. All the while, the Tigers make travelling to multiple conference games much more accessible with four universities in the region; perfect for sports like volleyball and basketball that play two opponents in a weekend.

If common sense continues to reign in the WCC, it would be likely that within a few years or less, BYU would exit the league and Seattle University would join the conference. Right now, Seattle U is an independent school, who would thrive in the West Coast Conference, and be a much more suitable member than the Cougars overall. But for now, the league welcomes Pacific to one of the great private university athletic conferences in the nation.

It was the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2011, and Gonzaga was set to face BYU in Denver’s Pepsi Center. National superstar Jimmer Fredette was leading the then 31-4 Cougars on a campaign for a spot among the nation’s best collegiate basketball teams deep into March Madness, and GU had just knocked off the No. 6 seed St. John’s; it was going to be a good game.

When the Zags play in Provo Thursday night, Jimmer won't be there to drop 30+ points, so the Cougars will struggle to keep up with the reigning WCC kings

Gonzaga happened to be the next team on the chopping block for Brigham Young University, however, as the Zags fell 89-67 to end their season. For the Cougars, they would fall to Florida in the Sweet Sixteen and finish with a 32-5 record; but would also graduate the key component to their success—Fredette.

Now, about 10 months later, the two teams are slated for a rematch. It’s up to the fans to determine whether this game has more on the line than last years’ tournament battle, however. The Cougars entered the WCC this school year, and were expected to come in at the top of the league and dominate.

St. Mary’s has been the powerhouse team on the men’s side, destroying BYU twice and taking it to the Bulldogs once. It is now time for the Cougs and Zags to settle who will be the other force in the conference. Currently, the Zags hold an edge over the Cougars in the WCC standings, but when the two teams face off in Provo Thursday night so much more will be on the line.

First, GU will want to redeem themselves from the throttling they took last March. Next, the Zags will want to establish that the West Coast Conference belongs to Gonzaga—no newcomer is going to come into the league and take away the perennial power’s ownership of the conference. Lastly, the Bulldogs need to continue their winning streak to close the gap on St. Mary’s for the hope of sealing another WCC title. Thursday’s game should be, in some ways, treated like any other—a must win.

The media, critics, and BYU fans may have though the Cougars could waltz into the small school conference with their massive university and cause mayhem, but the Zag faithful knew that wouldn’t happen.

Thursday’s matchup will be the opportunity for GU to prove that the WCC belongs to the Bulldogs, and the newbies need to take a hike.  Mr. Fredette won’t be there to rack up 34 points against the Zags like he did in 2011.

For goodness sakes the background on the West Coast Conference’s website is an image of Gonzaga’s campus—does anyone really think the Zags don’t run the WCC? GU put the conference on the map, so don’t expect this Eastern Washington Jesuit university to step down from the thrown and let the new kid on the block to have any say in what happens in the conference. The rivalry is still Gonzaga and St. Mary’s and BYU is just an outlier, not even on the west coast, scraping some post-Jimmer hope.

There are seven NCAA Division I schools that have both their men’s and women’s teams ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. Gonzaga is one of them.

After losing to St. Mary’s on January 12^th, the men dropped out of the rankings, but have finally returned this week at No. 24. The Zags have rallied together four straight wins to rank among the elite teams in the nation.

The women continue to climb the polls as they remain tied with BYU at the top of the WCC and earned a spot at No. 20 in the AP standings. BYU sits at 22 in the polls. The two teams face off on February 9^th in Provo for the first time this season to potentially determine the conference leader.

Both the men’s and women’s teams have several similarities in their success this season. Each team has a 17-3 record for the season and one conference loss to St. Mary’s. The talent level on both teams is very broad and there isn’t one superstar that really controls the game like both programs have had in the past.

However, the height and depth in the post position, along with very gifted guards, has enabled both teams to grab victories on the court.

Kayla Standish, Kelly Bowen, and Katelan Redmon are the Big Three for the ladies, as they are all over six feet tall. Freshman Sunny Greinacher stands atop all of them at 6’4” and brings great height off the bench.

The guys have a similar situation, with Elias Harris, Rob Sacre, and Sam Dower bringing size and experience to the post. Ryan Spangler is the freshman coming off the bench and producing good minutes.

The men's basketball team

The Lady Zags

At guard for the women, Haiden Palmer, Taelor Karr, and Jazmine Redmon have contributed in various roles with much success. Two first year Zags (Palmer and Karr both transferred) and a sophomore make up the trio who rotate constantly throughout the game. Both Karr and Palmer are shooting very well from the perimeter.

On the men’s side, Kevin Pangos, Gary Bell Jr., and David Stockton share the most minutes on the court for the one and two positions. Pangos and Bell are first year players at GU and Stockton is a sophomore. Bell Jr. and Pangos are also incredible three point shooters.

It is interesting to see the parallels between the two squads. They are both very talented teams with a diverse array of players in various positions. Look out for both the men and women to make a run come March.

It sucked—badly. A 21 point loss in Moraga to St. Mary’s, the arch nemesis, was not a good start to the four day California road trip Gonzaga began Wednesday evening. The Thursday night loss for the Zags was the worst conference loss they have suffered in a decade.

There is not much to highlight from the pounding. Elias Harris played well, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 boards to earn a double-double. Kevin Pangos went 3-6 behind the arc on his way to 12 points.

The game was all Gaels from the beginning and Matthew Dellavedova’s 26 points for the night was proof. He was supported by fellow starters Brad Waldow’s 17 and Stephen Holt’s 13 points. Also in double figures for SMC was Mitchell Young off the bench with 12.

With all those high scoring Gaels, it’s surprising that St. Mary’s leading scorer for the season, Rob Jones, did not even get a basket until the final two minutes of the game—he started the game and played 33 minutes, yet only had two points at the final buzzer. I guess that could be a testament to Gonzaga’s defense; if you are trying to find a bright spot in the pit of despair called a basketball game.

One other interesting note on the game is that Sam Dower started in Rob Sacre’s place in the second half. It is about time, considering both players’ performances over the past month, but it was definitely a surprise.

Overall, St. Mary’s shot 50% from the field and GU really couldn’t stop their perimeter shooting—something the Gaels are known for. Hopefully this is the only WCC loss the Zags will face this season, as SMC now controls the conference lead with sole possession of first place.

Big 10 basketball is helping the Zags

Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team has lost twice this season; first to Illinois on December 4^th on the road, then one week later at home to Michigan State.

Neither team was ranked when GU lost to them, but the Zags were in the top 25 during that time frame. Those two losses caused the Bulldogs to drop from the rankings, but the Illini and Spartans began to receive more votes in the polls.

As of Tuesday night, the Illini are 15-3 on the season, 4-1 in Big Ten play, and Tuesday knocked off No. 5 Ohio State. That win not only boosts UI, but makes Gonzaga’s close loss to them a better loss. If the Illini can keep up their dominating performances, it should only improve the No. 21 Zags in the standings.

Likewise, MSU has won every game (7) since playing in the Kennel to improve their overall record to 15-2. The Spartans have had big wins over Indiana and Wisconsin to reaffirm their status as a national power—while earning a number seven ranking this week.

By the looks of it, the Big Ten could be the toughest conference in Division One basketball this year, so two losses to two successful teams in the nation’s best league may not hinder the Zags at all if they can keep their composure in the WCC and continue to win like they have in the first three conference games.

The WCC logo before BYU joined

The West Coast Conference is comprised of nine schools. Eight schools have a student population ranging between 3,000 to 8,000 students. The ninth school, BYU, has approximately 34,000 students. That just doesn’t make sense.

Why is BYU in the WCC? It’s a great school, with a tremendous athletic program, but it is completely unnecessary for that size of a school to be in the same conference as schools less than a quarter of its population.

This past weekend, Gonzaga’s women’s soccer team hosted a nail biter game against the Cougars, and then the Lady Zags played against the team from Provo on the volleyball court for four great games.

This weekend was GU’s first real hosting of the newest WCC member school. While the Cougars prevailed in both games, it’s not just because of the losses that I think BYU should take a hike; actually, they never have joined the conference in the first place.

Everyone knows football is king in college sports, and BYU has had a fairly decent reputation in football over the years. Yet, they made a football based decision—to become an Independent football program—and then send the rest of their teams to a non BCS, rather, a non-football conference.

The WCC logo after BYU joined

That is just wrong. Now because of BYU’s football based decision, a giant school, especially in comparison with the rest of the West Coast Conference members, has infiltrated the league that was doing quite well without them.

I know I’d be happy if this was the only year they were in the WCC. I’d be perfectly fine to send the Cougars to the Big 12, where some of the rumors are speculating they might head next. Brigham Young University is a very reputable school, but they do not belong in the West Coast Conference.

Thomas Henderson batted in three runs Sunday to give the Zags a 5-0 win.

Friday was nice, Saturday sucked, and Sunday was a beauty. Gonzaga took the two of the three games at Pepperdine to make it an interesting race in the WCC title hunt.

Friday, in the usual Zag fashion, Ryan Carpenter pitched seven solid innings giving up only one earned run. He struck out nine batters.

Closer Cody Martin took the mound in the eighth inning and tossed two scoreless innings with only 22 pitches. The defensive efforts by the Zags gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 win over the Waves.

Billy Moon, Andy Hunter, and Steven Halcomb all collected RBI’s on the offensive end. Both Tyler Chism and Thomas Henderson had multi-hit games with two apiece.

Saturday’s contest was not so nice for the Zags. The 3-0 loss was credited to Tyler Olson, who was relieved by Mark Phillips in the sixth inning. Olson gave up six hits, three earned runs, and only had one strikeout on the mound. Phillips didn’t give up a hit.

Offensively, Keegan Acker went 2-3 at the plate. Chism, Clayton Eslick, and Marco Gonzales each had one hit.

Gonzales took the mound Sunday and earned yet another win (10-2). He now has the most wins in the conference. The freshman ace had eight K’s an only three hits in seven shutout innings—he did not walk a batter. Martin closed out the game, securing the win.

Cameron Edman went 2-2, while Royce Bolinger and Moon also notched two hits for Gonzaga. Bolinger and Hunter each had an RBI in the game.

Yet, it was an unfamiliar face that was the most valuable offensive player for the Zags in the game—Henderson. Thomas Henderson played second base in his fourth start of the season. He batted in three runs and went 2-3 at the plate.

Henderson has only played in 17 games for Gonzaga with 18 at bats, but is batting .389. This could be a very promising addition to the starting lineup. The junior transfer may be just what the Bulldogs need to make a push for the postseason.

Sunday was a must win for the Zags, as the team is in the mix for a WCC crown. With their 5-0 victory, Gonzaga moves into a first place tie with USF in the West Coast Conference standings.

The Dons travel to Spokane next weekend to wrap up conference play and the chase for the title. The winner of the series will also earn a berth to the NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament.

Gonzaga's weekend pitching staff at Santa Clara (from top left) Ryan Carpenter, Tyler Olson, Marco Gonzales, and Cody Martin.

They may not have thrown perfect games, but Gonzaga’s pitching staff was darn near perfect in their efforts this past weekend at Santa Clara.

WCC Rawlings Pitcher of the Week, Ryan Carpenter threw a complete game shutout Friday night as the Bulldogs took down the Broncos 8-0. This was the second straight start Carpenter finished an entire game, showing his dominance in the WCC. Offensively, Billy Moon tallied 3 hits and an RBI. Tyler Chism and Cameron Edman were the other Zags to have multi-hit games Friday, notching two hits and driving in one run a piece.

Saturday, was similar to Friday as the Bulldogs won 9-0 behind another complete game effort, this time by Tyler Olson. He had six strike outs on the mound and gave up only five hits the shutout. Moon and Chism continued their offensive production collecting two RBI’s each. Steven Halcomb also drove in two runs, and leadoff hitter Eric Lane went 3-4 on the day. As a team, the Zags collected 15 hits to guarantee the series win.

Freshman Marco Gonzales showed his tremendous potential on the mound Sunday, as he became the first pitcher in Gonzaga baseball history to record seven wins in a season. His six innings in the game consisted of two earned runs and five strike-outs. Cody Martin came into the game for the save. Not only did the senior closer, Martin, shutout Santa Clara, but he recorded his first ever college hit with a double to lead off the ninth inning. (He also “retired” a bird in the bullpen earlier in the day as he warmed up for the game—the poor animal never knew sitting on a fence at a baseball game would be the end to its life.)

Gonzaga rallied for 15 hits again as a team, sweeping the Broncos 8-3. Chism went 4-5 with two RBI’s and designated hitter Chris Sturdivant did his job driving in two runs while going 3-4. The Bulldogs are now 9-3 in WCC play and sit one game behind USF.

Next Monday and Tuesday, the Zags will travel to Provo, Utah to face BYU. The Cougars will be joining the WCC next season, so this two game series is a chance for the Bulldogs to see what their competition will be in the future. Gonzaga will return to WCC play May 13^th-15^th in Portland.

Cameron Edman hit two home runs in the Zags loss Saturday.

The expression fair-weather fans is typically applied to those spectators that support “their team” when they are winning. Well for the GU baseball team, their fair-weather fans come to the game when there is nice weather, not when they are winning. There was an abnormally large crowd at the Patterson Baseball Complex, despite most students being out of town for the Easter weekend.

In a sunny and pleasantly warm Saturday afternoon game, the Bulldogs lost to the Gael’s 7-6.

A few post ago I said that precipitation was the secret weapon for Gonzaga baseball’s home success. (The Elements to Winning: http://aeryssports.com/big-dance-crashers/2011/04/11/the-elements-to-winning/). Apparently that is true, because in the first moderately warm game of the season in Spokane, the Bulldogs dropped the game to arch rival St. Mary’s.

Yesterday, there was no precipitation either, and the Zags lost. Two straight days of sun and two straight losses; just saying there might be some weird connection there.

Going into the ninth inning it was tied 5-5. The Gaels tallied two runs to take the lead 7-5. Hope wasn’t lost in the bottom of the ninth though, when lead-off batter Cameron Edman hit his second homerun of the afternoon to cut the lead to one.

Unfortunately, after designated hitter Clayton Eslick struck out, the bottom of the order was left to try and tie, let alone win the game, which just wasn’t all that likely.

The first five batters for the Zags are averaging .332, and all above .300 with their batting averages. The bottom four batters in the ninth, average a .214 with none of them over .300. When that is what you are left with to win a game, can you really expect much? No.

So, as the Bulldogs lost to St. Mary’s for the second straight day, they also dropped their first conference series of the season. This puts the Zags (6-3) into second place in the conference behind USF (7-2).

To the Gael's credit, starting pitcher Kyle Barraclough threw a complete game and recorded seven strikeouts.

Even though the Bulldogs lost, some of the boys really stepped up offensively.  Edman had his two homeruns, making that a team high of six for the season.  They say baseball is a game of threes, and by looking at Edman’s stats from the game it was. He went 3-3 with three RBI’s and scored three runs himself.

Eslick also notched a three of his own, hitting a very nice RBI triple in his first at bat of the game. He tallied another RBI in the sixth inning with a single.

The team has Easter Sunday off, before they take on in-state rival University of Washington on Monday and Tuesday at home.

Gonzaga's athletic facilities.

A lot happened this week in Gonzaga’s athletic department. From golf, to basketball, to baseball, to former Zags, there are plenty of little stories to talk about.

Monday, Clayton Mortensen was brought up by the Colorado Rockies for their game against the San Francisco Giants. Mortensen played for the Bulldogs in 2006 as a junior pitcher. He then went into the MLB and bounced around playing in farm systems occasionally getting called up to play a game or two for the major team. After being called up Monday from his Triple A team in Colorado Springs, the Idaho native was the bright spot for the Rockies in their dismal 8-1 loss to the defending World Champs. Mortensen threw the final six innings, only giving up two hits, while notching one strikeout and walking two batters. His scoreless debut will hopefully keep him on the roster for a lengthily period time.

Tuesday, Gonzaga’s women’s golf program made a statement, finishing second in the WCC tournament. The highest finish in program history was greatly appreciated by the team, and most of the WCC, as Pepperdine and USF are always the top two teams in the conference, and never has any other school broken up their dominance. While Pepperdine did clinch the overall title for the 10^th straight year, Gonzaga played well, and earned quite a bit of recognition doing so. Coach Brad Rickel was the recipient of the WCC Coach of the Year Award. Victoria Fallgren, a sophomore, and TJ Kliebphipat, a freshman, earned first team WCC honors, while senior Sage Suffecool and juniors Stephanie Corey and Jessica Howe were honorable mentions.

Wednesday, a tweet surfaced about Mangisto Arop possibly leaving the basketball program and exploring opportunities elsewhere to continue his collegiate career. That rumor was confirmed Thursday, as the school released a statement saying the 6’6 sophomore was granted a release by head coach Mark Few. After a promising freshman season, Arop suffered a broken foot in the conference semi-final game. He came back with a decent first half of his sophomore season, but ultimately was not found in the favor of the coaching staff as his minutes dwindled to nearly nothing the final half of conference play.  Manny is not sure where he will attend school next year, but is in the process of finding the best fit for his future.

Thursday, a whole lot happened in the Zag sports bubble. Sophomore golfer, Travis Johnsen was named to the all WCC team with his fourth place finish in the conference tournament. Thursday night, the baseball team hosted St. Mary’s in the first of a three game series. The Bulldogs clinched a 5-2 win, with junior pitcher Ryan Carpenter completing the whole game. Seniors Tyler Chism and Cameron Edman both tallied an RBI in the win, as sophomore Billy Moon drove in two runs during the game.

In the late night highlights on ESPN, Gonzaga baseball got a shout out as former Zag Jason Bay made his season debut for the New York Mets. Bay left the Bulldogs after his one and only junior season in 1999, but has made an impact in the Big Leagues since he got there. In the Mets’ game against the Astro’s Thursday night, Bay hit a long shot to right field that should have been a high fly ball. Well, the right fielder bobbled the ball and it kept rolling back into the corner. Meanwhile, Bay sprinted around the diamond getting an unlikely inside the park home run off the four-base error play.

Friday, the baseball team will take the field against the Gaels again, as they try to clinch the series with a win. Tyler Olson is expected to be the starting pitcher for the Bulldogs.