Karsten Sweum threw the sixth recorded no-hitter in Gonzaga history on May 9, leading the Bulldogs to a win that secured a share of the West Coast Conference Regular Season Championship.
Sweum struck out 15 batters, tying for the second most strikeouts by a Gonzaga pitcher in program history. He allowed just two walks and kept San Francisco hitless through a run-rule shortened game. The game ended after seven innings with Gonzaga ahead 13-0. Sweum is only the second Gonzaga player to throw a no-hitter in the past three decades, joining current Padres pitcher Alek Jacob in school records.
Sweum struck out 11 of 12 batters during a perfect stretch from the third through sixth innings and finished with just 93 pitches, throwing 63 for strikes. This performance brought his season total to 99 strikeouts, which leads all pitchers in the conference.
With this victory, Gonzaga built a four-game lead over every other team with more than a week left in the regular season and secured tiebreakers over every other team currently set for the WCC Tournament field. This gives them the top seed when tournament play begins on May 20 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Bulldogs’ offense scored early to support Sweum’s effort, collecting fifteen hits overall. Mikey Bell led with four hits and was one of three players—alongside Noah Meffert and Maddox Haley—to record three runs batted in each. Meffert hit a home run during a four-run first inning before an eight-run second inning put Gonzaga firmly ahead.
Gonzaga has now shut out San Francisco in both games played at USF this weekend and leads their series by an aggregate score of 20-0. The Bulldogs have shut out San Francisco at home for four straight games and have won each of their last twelve meetings against them. The series concludes Sunday afternoon.
