After winning their West Coast Conference regular-season title since 2022, the Gonzaga Bulldogs (35-17, 22-5 WCC) won four of the five conference awards.
Player of the Year: Redshirt junior third baseman Mikey Bell (back-to-back)
Coach of the Year: Mark Machtolf (sixth in his 23-year career)
Pitcher of the Year: Sophomore left-handed pitcher Karsten Sweum
Freshman of the Year: Right-handed pitcher Landon Hood
The only award that the Zags didn’t win was the Defensive Player of the Year, given to San Diego Toreros senior catcher Jayden Lobliner.
Gonzaga’s junior outfielder/designated hitter Maddox Haley, junior infielder/outfielder Ryder Young, and senior right-handed pitcher Justin Feld were also named to the All-West Coast Conference First Team with Bell and Sweum. Graduate shortstop Rickey Sanchez, along with Hood, was placed on the All-West Coast Conference Second Team. Redshirt senior infielder/outfielder Noah Meffert and junior catcher Jacob Wrubleski were named All-West Coast Conference Honorable Mention.
The Bulldogs set a program record for West Coast Conference wins at 22, finishing the year with seven more than every other team in the conference. That’s the largest margin of any West Coast Conference team since 1992.
The Zags will have the No. 1 seed in the West Coast Conference Tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona. Their first game will be against the lowest advancing seed from the first round at 2 p.m. PT on Thursday, May 21. The matchup can be viewed on ESPN+.
After the completion of the first round, the tournament will turn into a double-elimination bracket. Gonzaga is the clear favorite to win it all at -190, according to DraftKings. They haven’t won the West Coast Conference Tournament since 2018 and haven’t appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 2022.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho
