SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The West Coast Conference regular season champions have been eliminated from the conference tournament on the second day.
After a 13-to-4 loss to Saint Mary’s in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, Gonzaga needed to win two elimination games on Friday to make the championship round of the WCC tournament. Instead, a San Francisco Dons team also facing elimination knocked them out of the bracket with a 6-5 win.
Gonzaga ace and WCC Pitcher of the Year Karsten Sweum, who in his one start against San Francisco this season threw a seven inning no-hitter, got the start for the Bulldogs. San Francisco chased him from the game after just 1.1 innings pitched after Sweum allowed six runs on six hits.
The Dons tallied five runs in the first inning, then after Gonzaga answered with three runs in the top of the second, added another to make it 6-3 San Francisco after two innings played.
Gonzaga continued the comeback effort in the top of the third, driving in runs on a Jacob Wrubleski double and a Tommy Eisenstat single, but the Dons shut them down after that. The Zags would leave four runners on base from there to the end of the game, but were never able to push across the tying run. The Dons would take the game by a final score of 6-5 to avoid elimination.
The Zags chances at an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament do not look optimistic. Their RPI ranking was 55 coming into the game against USF, and will drop further following the loss. The Bulldogs’ season is likely over with a final record of 35-19.