University of San Francisco Athletics

Box Score  
 
RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Early offense and a strong pitching performance from Christian Cecilio helped the Dons wipe away the memory of Friday's loss away as they beat UC Riverside 6-3 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Dons (1-1) seemingly did everything wrong in the season opener, where they lost 10-2, but did nearly everything right in the second game of the three-game set.

"I think emotionaly we got ahead in the first inning. That was big for us," USF head coach Nino Giarratano said. "We swung the bats way better today. We were more efficient to the fastball."
 
Unlike Friday, the Dons were able to take advantage of early opportunities and got on the board in the first. Nico Giarratano doubled and two batters later, Zach Turner ripped a single into centerfield, scoring the freshman to give USF a 1-0 lead.
 
San Francisco added to the lead in the second. Back-to-back singles by Bob Cruikshank and Brendan Hendriks and a sacrifice bunt by Ryan Matranga set up second and third with one out for Harrison Bruce.
 
The leftfielder hit a shallow fly ball to left but it was deep enough to allow Cruikshank to score to take a 2-0 lead. It was one of two sacrifice flies for Bruce on the day and his first two RBI game as a Don.
 
Sinatro came up next and hit a rocket passed third, which allowed Hendriks to come home and give USF a 3-0 lead.

"The little things of moving runners and taking the extra base, we had a couple of key at bats where we started in the two hole and it helped 3-4-5 get to the plate," Giarratano said. "We had three sacrifice flies today and that's the difference in the game."

Zimmer was one of the players doing those little things. Twice he took extra bases on hustle plays and was able to stretch a single into double late in the contest. He went 2-for-4 and reached base three times.

"Bradley was great today," Giarratano said. "He was a diference maker with his speed and wat he was able to do at the plate."
 
Riverside fought back in the boom of the second. The Highlanders got on the board on a solo home run by Nick Vilter and it sparked a rally. After a walk to Matthew Ellis, Austin Roberts poked a double down the rightfield line to score Ellis and cut the lead to 3-2.
 
Graff only lasted 1.2 innings in his first career start and gave up two runs on four hits.
 
San Francisco chased Riverside starter Ben Doucette from the game in the fifth after a RBI single by Derek Atkinson that gave USF a 5-3 lead. Doucette went 4.1 innings allowing five runs on nine hits.
 
Cecilio (1-0) took care of the rest. After coming in for Graff in the second inning, he threw 5.1 innings allowing one run on five hits while striking out five.

"I think Ben had a great wind in inning No. 1. We just pitched backwards from what we normaly would," Giarratano said. "Ben got the first three outs of the game, which would have been his last three most of the time. He got a little tired in the second. Christian came in, got him out of the inning and he kind of rolled from there. I thought he was sharp."

"That's why we want him to pitch on Saturdays. It's a great hold if we lose on Friday and its a great series win if we can win on Fridays."
 
With the Dons up 6-3, they had a scare in the seventh when with two on and two outs, Vilter came within inches of hitting his second home run of the day but it came short and found the glove of Bruce.
 
MULTI-HIT GAMES
Atkinson was the only Don to have more than one hit on Friday. On Saturday, three Dons had multi-hit games including Giarratano, who recorded his first hit and extra base hit of his career. He also scored three times in the game.