Baseball

No. 3 San Francisco Eliminates No. 1 Gonzaga

USF advances to Friday's night cap

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - No. 3 San Francisco jumped out to an early lead and held off No. 1 Gonzaga, 6-5, in an elimination game in the 2026 West Coast Conference Baseball Tournament from Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Ariz. 

With the win, the Dons will play the non-advancing team between Saint Mary's and Pacific tonight at 7 p.m.

The Dons took a stranglehold of the game early with a five-run first inning. Gonzaga starting pitcher and the 2026 West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year Karsten Sweum got into trouble with back-to-back walks and a passed ball that put runners in scoring position. Jackson Nystrom knocked the first run in with an RBI single. Then Eddison Esquivel followed suit with another RBI single. Tyler Harries got the big hit in the inning with a double to left that just got over the third baseman's outstretched arm to plate two more Dons. The inning was capped off with an RBI single by Jayden Garrison, scoring Harries to make it 5-0 USF. 

Gonzaga responded with a two-out rally in the top of the second. Three straight basehits resulted in Tommy Eisenstat singling to left to score Hudson Shupe to make it 5-1. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Ricky Sanchez slapped a single up in the middle to score two more Bulldogs, cutting the Dons' lead to 5-3. 

Nystrom responded in the bottom of the second with another RBI single to give San Francisco one run back and increase its lead to 6-3. During the bottom of the second, after Sweum had previously no-hit the Dons during the regular season, USF was able to chase him out of the game as the Bulldogs brought in 2026 West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year Landon Hood. 

Another two-out rally with nobody on led to Gonzaga stringing together a pair of RBI hits in the top of the third. Jacob Wrubleski doubled to left-center bringing Shupe home all the way from first. Wrubleski later scored on an RBI single to left by Eisenstat to cut the Dons' lead to 6-5. 

Hunter Holzemer got the win throwing three and two-thirds innings, allowing two earned runs with four strikeouts. Starting pitcher Gabriel Barrett came in to get the save, his first of the season in the ninth.