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NEW ORLEANS, La.—The Dons took a lead into the ninth inning behind a brilliant performance from Christian Cecilio but it slipped away in extra innings as they fell to Tulane 3-2 on Saturday night.
 
The senior left hander, Cecilio, picked up right where Anthony Shew left off on Friday night, and retired seven of the first eight batters he faced and went 7.2 innings while allowing only one run with eight strikeouts.
 
However, he needed an assist in the eighth after Cecilio surrendered a single and a walk to put runners at first and second with two down. Matt Narahara came in and the runners advanced on a passed ball but he got the Tulane cleanup man, Lex Kaplan, to bounce one back to him to get out of the jam.
 
USF starting pitchers have given up one run in their last 23.2 innings against Tulane.
 
The Dons looked on the verge of taking their first win but with two outs in the ninth Hunter Williams punched one over the centerfield wall to tie the game at two. Two innings later with the bases loaded, Tulane scored on a wild pitch by Mack Meyer for the walk-off win.
 
It is the second straight one-run loss for the Dons. They will return to action on Sunday at 11 a.m. with Jeider Rincon on the mound.
 
San Francisco got on the board first in the sixth inning when, after Dominic Miroglio reached on an error and Justin McCullough walked, Michael Eaton came to the plate with two outs and laced a single up the middle to bring home Miroglio and put the Dons on top 1-0.
 
Eaton went 3-for-4 for the game.
 
Tulane answered with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning. After a double and a groundout had Stephen Alemais at third, Hunter Hope brought him home on a single to right.
 
The Dons battled back in the seventh and it started with a lead-off single from Connor Hofmann. He then stole second to give USF a runner in scoring position and Miroglio cashed in with an RBI single to right to go back ahead 2-1.
 
San Francisco had an opportunity for some insurance runs in the eighth and had runners at the corners with one down but Matt Sinatro grounded into the 6-4-3 double play.
 
USF also had some early chances to get on the board.
 
With a runner at first in the first inning, Derek Atkinson ripped a double down the rightfield line and gave the Dons runners at second and third with one down. But both Brendan Hendriks and Miroglio went down on strikes to end the inning.
 
USF had another rally started in the fourth when Miroglio led the inning off with a single. Two batters later, Eaton singled to put runners at the corners with two down but Sinatro grounded out to third to end the frame.
 
NOTES
Connor Hofmann continued to swing a hot bat and went 3-for-5 on the afternoon… Derek Atkinson's double in the first inning extended his streak of reaching base in 24 of his last 25 games and has reached base in the first seven this season… With his 7.2 innings of work, Christian Cecilio now has 232.1 career innings as a Don and passed Matt Hiserman (224.2) for 14th on the school's all-time list. Next up is Ken Bullock (234.2) and Ken Huffman (235.2).