NCAA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT: Zags stay alive; Pfennigs helps Oregon State win again

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BLACKSBURG, Va. — Down 9-4 and facing elimination from the Blacksburg Regional, No. 2 seed Gonzaga scored seven unanswered runs to beat No. 4 Wright State 11-9 and stave off elimination Saturday in their second regional game of the NCAA Tournament at Virginia Tech’s English Field.

The Bulldogs (37-18) stay alive for another day, set to face No. 3 seed Columbia (31-17) today at 10 a.m. PDT. (ESPN+) Columbia, which beat the Zags 8-2 on Friday, lost 24-4 to top-seeded Virginia Tech (43-12) on Saturday.

Virginia Tech awaits the Gonzaga-Columbia winner later today, needed one win to advance to the super regionals. The Gonzaga-Columbia winner would need to beat the Hokies today and Monday to advance.

Gonzaga righthander Owen Wild held Wright State (30-27) scoreless for the final 6 1/3 innings as the Zags chipped away at the deficit before a four-run seventh took the lead for good.

“I was just telling our kids it’s this time of year, a lot of weird things happen in a baseball game,” Gonzaga coach Mark Machtolf said. “Offenses heat up — we didn’t get off to a great start, and we made some mistakes, but I was happy with the way they battled and stayed with it. And then obviously Owen came in and gave us a chance to fight back into it.”

Wild’s seven-strikeout performance calmed down a Raiders lineup that exploded for six runs in the bottom of the third to take a commanding lead and knock righty Will Kempner out of the game, walking six and being tagged for three hits but never letting any of them get to home plate.

Savier Pinales’ 3-for-5 outing produced three RBI and two runs for GU, with Enzo Apodaca, Tyler Rando and Ezra Samperi each connecting on a pair of hits each. The Zags outhit the Raiders 12-8, but only had 3 knocks going into the fifth frame.

Oregon State 12, San Diego 3: Jake Pfennigs, a junior from Post Falls High, went 5 1/3 innings and got the win as the top-seeded Beavers (46-15) beat the No. 3 Toreros (37-20) in a second-round game in Corvallis, Ore.

San Diego will play No. 2 seed Vanderbilt (37-22) today at 1 p.m., with the winner playing Oregon State later today. The Beavers need one win to advance to the super regionals; the San Diego-Vanderbilt winner would need to beat OSU twice.

Pfennigs, who missed part of the season with a back injury, allowed six hits and three runs, all earned, walking three and striking out three. He threw 81 pitches before being lifted.

Oregon State backed Pfennigs early with four runs in the top of the first inning, and Garrett Forrester hit a two-run homer in the second to make it 6-0.