For a WCC-leading eighth-straight season, Gonzaga University baseball (26-25, 16-8 WCC) is headed to Las Vegas for the West Coast Conference championships, seeking its third WCC Tournament championship under head coach Mark Machtolf and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2022.

Following a 24-game conference slate, the top six seeds of the nine teams in the WCC will travel to Las Vegas, and the top two seeds get an automatic bye into the double-elimination portion of the bracket. Defending tournament champion San Diego clinched the WCC regular season title and the one seed, while GU corralled the two seed.

No. 3 Saint Mary’s will face No. 6 San Francisco, and No. 4 LMU will square off against No. 5 Portland on Wednesday. Each of these games is a win-or-go- home scenario, with the highest remaining seed facing San Diego and the lowest remaining seed set to face GU. 

Starting on Thursday, the remaining four teams will battle it out in a double-elimination format. The team crowned WCC champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“Come Thursday, there’s no advantage…the only advantages we’re gonna get on Thursday are gonna be the ones that we create,” Machtolf said. “But it is nice to know we get an extra practice day, and you’re not in an elimination day for sure. All the other stuff [from this season] is water under the bridge, and we’re starting fresh.”

GU is coming off a victory against Portland in its final series of the season, taking two of three games to clinch the all-important top-two seed and receive a bye. Conference awards were announced on Tuesday, and redshirt sophomore Mikey Bell walked away with the WCC Player of the Year award. Seven Zags received all-conference honors, the third most in program history.

“Everyone’s full steam ahead, and we’re looking forward to every game,” Bell said. “Very exciting, very fun time to play baseball.”

Set to compete in his first WCC Tournament after transferring from Cuesta College in California, Bell enters the postseason leading the team in batting average (.365), OPS (1.066), doubles (16), home runs (11) and RBIs (44). Bell slashed .436/.514/1.291 in WCC play, the second best in the conference in each category. Fellow Second-Team All-WCC hitter Hudson Shupe heads to Las Vegas with an 11-game hitting streak, and All-WCC honorable mentions Ty Yukumoto (six multi-hit games in his last 12 appearances), Josh Hankins (hit .444 in the closing series against Portland) and Max Coupe (hit in 12 of the last 13 games) have been hot at the plate to close the season.

GU has a combined 9-6 record against the remaining teams in the field, with a losing record to only No. 1 San Diego (1-2) and No. 3 Saint Mary’s (1-2). GU went 2-1 against Portland and LMU and won all three contests against San Francisco.

“We’ve played these teams pretty recently, so we’ll rely on that,” Machtolf said. “I feel confident that we’ll be prepared.”

Sophomore Finbar O’Brien, who’s been the consistent Friday starter for most of the season, gets the starting nod on Thursday for game one. O’Brien earned First-Team All-WCC honors after a 4-0 record in WCC play and a conference-leading 55 strikeouts. As a freshman last season, O’Brien pitched 2.1 innings against San Diego in the WCC Tournament and said he is looking forward to the competitive nature of the postseason.

“We’ve had a lot of fun when the pressure is on, and we’re looking forward to it,” O’Brien said. “Our last couple of series have been tests for us, for sure. We haven’t always won all those series, but that kind of shows that it’s not just an easy road for us. We’re gonna have to grind out some games.”

Closer Erik Hoffberg, coming off WCC Pitcher of the Week recognition, also earned First-Team All-WCC honors and is expected to be featured heavily in Las Vegas after his two saves in the series against Portland. Second-Team All-WCC honoree Miles Gosztola is expected to take the mound to start in the second game of the tournament as the normal Saturday starter for the Zags.

The tournament runs from Wednesday to Saturday at Las Vegas Ballpark, with GU’s first game on Thursday beginning at 6:05 p.m. If the Zags win game one, they play on Friday at 4:05 p.m., or they will play on Friday at noon with a loss. A champion will be crowned on Saturday, with all games streaming live on ESPN+.

Kyle Sweeney is a sports editor.