Top-seeded Gonzaga looks to finish WCC tenure with flourish at conference tournament

May 20-Gonzaga's baseball team saved its best for last, putting together arguably its finest West Coast Conference regular season in its final year as a league member.

The Bulldogs set a program record for WCC wins with 22 - the most by any team since Pepperdine's 23 in 2003. GU won the conference regular-season title by seven games - the largest margin for a WCC champion since 1992. The Zags broke the team record for consecutive wins with 14. They also swept the conference's top end-of-season awards, claiming the WCC Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors.

The Zags, bound for the Pac-12 next year, are looking to finish their tenure in the WCC with an extra flourish and claim their first conference tournament crown since 2018. Top-seeded GU, which received a first-round bye, opens the tourney with a quarterfinal-round matchup at 2 p.m. Thursday against fifth-seeded Saint Mary's at Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona.

"It'd be great to win the last one," longtime GU coach Mark Machtolf, the WCC Coach of the Year, said Monday at Patterson Baseball Complex in Spokane. "It was great to win the league title, but this is a whole new season now."

The Zags (35-17, 22-5 WCC) have good odds, considering their dominance of the conference throughout the regular season. They won every WCC series except one, sweeping five of their last six series and closing the schedule on a seven-game winning streak. Gonzaga boasts a potent lineup that hits a combined .313, and a deep pitching staff that's headlined by all-conference first-teamers Karsten Sweum - the WCC Pitcher of the Year - and Justin Feld.

"It's amazing. We're pretty relentless," said Sweum, a sophomore from Snohomish who went 8-1 with a 4.07 ERA, leading the league with 108 strikeouts and holding WCC opponents to a sub-.200 batting average. "Each day when we come to the ballpark, I feel like you can't tell if we lost the last five or won 10 in a row. I think the energy we bring every day is what's made (this success) happen."

Feld (8-1, 4.16 ERA) will presumably start the opener with Sweum taking the bump in Game 2 of the double-elimination tournament. They'll be backed by plenty of options in the bullpen, which is paced by WCC Freshman of the Year Landon Hood (3-1, 2.83 ERA).

WCC opponents have struggled to keep pace with GU's explosive lineup, which leads the conference with 397 runs, 134 doubles (fourth nationally), 63 homers and 367 RBIs.

"They're very hard to kill in a nine-inning baseball game," Machtolf said. "They don't ever quit. They just keep punching. I think that's something that's carried us throughout the entire year."

The Zags' tone-setter offensively is junior third baseman Mikey Bell, who on Tuesday was named WCC Player of the Year for the second straight season. Bell batted a WCC-best .384 and led the league with 24 doubles (tied for fourth in the nation), adding nine homers and driving in 46.

"He's just the classic guy that we preach about getting better, and he's done that each year, where he'll start off good but ends up getting better it seems like every weekend," Machtolf said of the Zags' star. "He has a great demeanor for baseball. He's competitive but not overly emotional."

There's not much let-up in the Zags' lineup behind Bell. Several newcomers have emerged as standouts, including shortstop Ricky Sanchez (.364) and outfielders Maddox Haley (.364, 10 homers), Noah Meffert (.319, 11 homers) and Ryder Young (team-high 12 homers, 53 RBIs).

"Our arms have always been great, but having a lot of good bats come in and make an impact right away ... guys have come in and hit," Bell said. "And everyone's done their job. ... There's never a missed beat throughout the order."

The Zags' march to their first WCC regular-season title in four years didn't get off to the smoothest start. They stumbled to a 4-11 record during a difficult nonconference slate, but the new faces started to find their swings, pitching roles got sorted, and the Bulldogs began putting it together in mid-March. By early April, they'd become a complete outfit, winning a GU record 14 consecutive games from April 3-26.

"Once we kinda meshed and got some home games in, it's been great," Bell said.

Added Machtolf: "Our pitchers have really settled in and improved throughout the year. Offensively, we started slow, and have just been clicking the last couple months.

"Our first goal is always to win the league. It's tough to do," continued Machtolf, who became GU's all-time winningest coach this season. "I thought this team would be good on offense, and I thought we had some good young arms that would get better, and some older guys who had to refine where they'd been in the past to do well. I had high hopes, for sure."

Asked to describe the team's character, the coach and players pointed to camaraderie and the Zags' ability to bring the same positive attitude to the field no matter the circumstances.

"I'd put this team up there with all the best teams (in his 23 years as GU coach) in terms of how they take care of each other and really just like each other, and play for each other," Machtolf said. "It's a powerful thing."

Sweum said this season has been "the most fun I've ever had playing baseball. This team has so many great personalities ... guys that are just bringing the energy every day, bringing that relentless attitude." Bell said humor is one of the team's defining characteristics, and the Zags are adept at keeping it light, staying levelheaded and confident.

"This group has obviously meshed really well," Bell said. "I think it's been a really good dynamic between all the returners and new guys. It's obviously been super fun. It's fun to be winning.

"I think we're in a great spot (ahead of the postseason). Vibes are really high. Everyone's having a good time. It's the perfect time for everyone to kinda get hot."

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