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LUBBOCK, Tex.—After seeing a lead slip away early in the game, the Dons put together a furious rally in the ninth, which included a three-run home run by Dominic Miroglio, but it was not enough as they dropped the finale of the four-game set at No. 12/5 Texas Tech 9-7 on Sunday afternoon.
 
San Francisco had leads of in three of the four games during the series but was unable to hold onto those advantages.
 
"It's going to be hard to put up 16 hits and lose," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "We gave them way too many opportunities… We've got to get better in a lot of phases of the game."
 
San Francisco entered the ninth inning trailing 9-3 and instead of laying down on a travel day, the team battled back. Cody Snider led off the inning with a double and three batters later, with runners at the corners, Atkinson singled to drive home the run and make it a five-run game.
 
Miroglio came up to the plate two batters later, having already collected three hits on the afternoon, and launched a three-run homer to left, which ignited the Dons' bench, to cut the Texas Tech lead to 9-7.
 
"It's a great sign for us," said Giarratano. "We gave guys some opportunities to get guys in there. If we get a base hit at the end, we have a chance to tie the game…. We could have got beat 9-3, they chose to fight. Maybe that fight will help us down the road."
 
Miroglio went 4-for-5 on the afternoon with three RBI and two runs scored.
 
It was the first four-hit game by a Don since Apr. 13, 2014 when Bradley Zimmer went 4-for-6 against Pacific.
 
The Dons will return to action on Tuesday at San Jose State at 6 p.m.
 
Texas Tech scored first for the first time in the series when in the first inning when Eric Gutierrez singled up the middle to give the Red Raiders a 1-0 lead.
 
The Dons struck back in the second on an RBI single to center from Zack McCoy that brought home Miroglio to tie the game at one apiece. San Francisco then put together a two-out rally one inning later when Atkinson doubled to center and Brendan Hendriks drove him in on a single to left to take a 2-1 lead.
 
It was one of two hits on the day for Hendriks, who picked up his third multi-hit game of the season. The 3-4-5 hitters of Atkinson, Hendriks and Miroglio went a combined 19-for-44 on the weekend.
 
"That's going to be a plus if we could continue to do that," Giarratano said. " Hitters 1 through 9, we put some good at bats together all weekend."
 
After Texas Tech tied it up on a wild pitch in the third, Jack Hall came up in the fourth and untied it with a solo home run to left, his first of the season.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, Texas Tech got the first two runners aboard but Christian Cecilio battled back to retire the next two batters before walking leadoff hitter Stephen Smith to load the bases. The senior lefty showed his poise and froze Cory Raley on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning.
 
Cecilio found himself in trouble again in the fifth after the first two batters reached base. He retired the next two batters and looked primed to get out of a jam for the second straight inning. But Cecilio hit the pinch hitter, Quinn Carpenter, to load the bases and it cost him as the next batter, Michael Davis, singled to third to tie the game at three.
 
Frank Waliczek came in to relieve Cecilio and promptly gave up two straight hits and they gave Texas Tech a 6-3 lead. Texas Tech added some insurance runs in the seventh by scoring three more times to take a six-run lead.
 
NOTES:
Derek Atkinson hit four doubles in the opening weekend… he had 15 all of last season… the home runs by Dominic Miroglio and Jack Hall were their first career big flies… three newcomers led the team in hitting over the weekend: Miroglio (.538), Hall (.500), and Zack McCoy (.556)… Ross Puskarich picked up his first career hit in the ninth inning on Sunday.