University of San Francisco Athletics

Box Score

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OAKLAND, Calif.—In only his third collegiate start, Grant Goodman matched his teammates' pitching performances from earlier in the weekend and improved upon it as the Dons swept the Cal Baseball Classic by beating Tulane 9-0 on Sunday afternoon.
 
"When you look at how we pitched the last three games, we gave up one, we gave up zero and we gave up zero," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "Anytime you can give your offensive a chance to score that many times, good things are going to start happening for you. We just didn't feel the pressure like we had to score every inning so the hitters kind of settle in and relax."
 
The Dons pitching staff allowed one run in three games this weekend with each starter going at least seven innings and improving upon the last. Abe Bobb went seven innings, allowing one run on Friday against No. 27 Arkansas. Christian Cecilio allowed no runs in 7.1 innings on Saturday at California. Both performances were topped by Goodman.
 
The freshman right hander went eight innings, allowing no runs on two hits with seven strikeouts for his first career victory. No batter got past first base after the second inning.
 
"He got a clean start today in the first inning and that helped him. He wasn't able to do that in the first two starts," Giarratano said. "Today he was able to settle in and once they got him the lead, I really saw some confidence. I saw some confidence, I saw some aggressiveness. His fastball was just fantastic today. He was able to throw his off-speed for strikes. That's what we were looking for in that Sunday start."
 
The Dons (8-6) have won four straight games and five of the last six. They will hit the field again on Friday when they begin the West Coast Conference slate by hosting Gonzaga.
 
After getting only 10 batters to the plate through the first three innings, the Dons finally got going in the fourth. With two outs and Zack Turner on first, Derek Atkinson doubled to left center to score Turner from first and give USF a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Ryan Matranga doubled into the leftfield corner, scoring Atkinson and Brendan Hendriks, to go up 3-0.
 
Then the flood gates opened up in the fifth. With runners at first and second and no outs, Michael Eaton laid down a bunt and was able to beat the throw but ran into the glove of the first baseman and the ball scooted into rightfield, allowing Harrison Bruce to score, giving the Dons a 4-0 lead.
 
Later that inning with the Dons up 6-0, USF had runners on second and third with two outs when Matranga bounced a ball back to the pitcher but the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag, allowing both Atkinson and Zimmer to score and put San Francisco up 8-0.
 
The Dons scored four unearned runs and ran Tulane starter Emerson Gibbs out of the game in the fifth. He went 4+ innings and gave up six runs, four earned, on nine hits while striking out one.