Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – San Francisco completed the series sweep over Missouri with a 6-0 shutout behind Christian Cecilio in the Sunday finale. The freshman from Bellarmine College Prep tossed 6.1 innings, allowing just three hits and striking out three. All told, the Dons (5-2, 0-0 WCC) three starting pitchers shutout the Tigers (2-4, 0-0 Big 12) across 18.1 innings in the three-game set.
The Dons scored twice in the first, twice in the second, and once more in the third to take a 5-0 lead after just three innings of play.
Leadoff hitter Justin Maffei was brilliant again, reaching base four times on the afternoon. The junior centerfielder led off the game with a line drive base hit up the middle. Jason Mahood, who was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI on the day, followed with a single of his own. A sacrifice bunt from Adam Clear brought DH Matt Chavez to the plate with runners on second and third. Chavez came through in a big way, pounding a two-run double into the right centerfield gap to give the Dons an early 2-0 lead.
"I was hanging out with Christian [Cecilio] last night and told him that if I came up in the first inning, I would get him some runs," Chavez said. "So when I came to the plate with runners on in the first, I felt like I had to keep my promise, and thankfully, I did."
An RBI double from shortstop Aritz Garcia and an RBI single from Mahood pushed the Dons advantage to 4-0 after two innings.
In the third, junior Bob Mott came through with a run-scoring single of his own. Mott earned the start in left field, his first of the season, and went 1-for-2 with one run scored, a walk, and an RBI.
Cecilio settled into a nice groove and used the run support to his advantage, working ahead in the count for the majority of the day. Similar to Abe Bobb and Kyle Zimmer in the first two games of the series, Cecilio got first pitch strikes and induced consistent ground ball outs. Cecilio's two walks were the only two that the Dons starters surrendered over the weekend, as Zimmer and Bobb both didn't walk any Tigers.
The dominant pitching efforts carried into the bullpen as well, as the Dons only allowed two runs in the entire series.
San Francisco takes to the road on Tuesday, February 28 as they drive across the Bay Bridge to take on the Cal Bears at 1:30 p.m. The Dons split a pair of games with Cal last season, winning the first contest 7-6, and dropping game two, 4-0.
For live stats and radio coverage from Matt Hiserman and Rory Davis on the Diamond Dons radio network, tune into Stretch Internet: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/usf.portal#
