SAN FRANCISCO—The offense was stagnant for most of the afternoon but Sam Granoff had another stellar outing to keep the Dons around long enough to get an RBI double from Nico Giarratano in the eighth to drive home two as the Dons beat No. 29/24 California 3-1 on Tuesday.
 
San Francisco has now won seven of its last nine games and has won three games over ranked teams in the last eight days.
 
"Back-to-back days, we didn't swing the bats well," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "We got two hits up until the eighth inning and got two to win the game [at Gonzaga]. Kind of the same thing today. We had two hits going into the eighth inning and we were able to get it done."
 
The Dons entered the eighth inning with only two hits but were able to get the offense going when Ryan Matranga singled on a bloop hit to center. After a sacrifice bunt moved Matranga to second and an intentional walk to Connor Hofmann, it brought up Nico Giarratano.
 
The sophomore shortstop had struggled at the plate for much of the season but came through and hit a tailing fly ball down the leftfield line that was just out of the reach of the diving Cal outfielder. Both runners raced around third to cross the plate on the double and put USF on top 3-1.
 
"They walk Hofmann to get to him. He responds with the base hit down the line," Nino Giarratano said. "It's great to see him get started. I'm happy for him. It's been a rough road where he's had some tough at bats. Glad to see him come through today."
 
Cal had a chance to break the game open in the seventh with runners at second and third and one out but Granoff induced a groundball to Giarratano on a pulled-in infield and gunned down the runner at home.
 
In only his second career start and both coming against ranked teams, Granoff went 7+ innings and allowed one run on eight hits. He has thrown 13.1 innings over the two starts with an ERA of 2.02.
 
Giarratano said, "The gritty part is our pitching keeps putting up zeroes for us to give us an opportunity to stay in the game. The day belongs to Sam Granoff."
 
The Bears had another opportunity in the eighth but the Dons pitchers came through again. With two on and no outs, Sheldon Lee came into the game. The first batter laid down a bunt to move the runners over for the first out and Lee struck out the next two to end the inning.
 
"Early in the season, we struggled in these spots," Giarratano said. "Now we get into those situations and breathe and keep playing.
 
"We've been able to bounce back. We've got to keep it going. We've got to take this into conference on Friday and we have to play up to our capabilities. Hopefully we can keep running with this."
 
The Dons will return to action on Friday when they open a three-game West Coast Conference set at Pacific.
 
San Francisco escaped an inning that could have quickly turned disastrous. Cal quickly loaded the bases with no outs on two straight errors and a would-be sacrifice bunt that turned into an infield single. After an infield fly for the first out, the Cal No. 3 hitter Lucas Erceg came to the plate.
 
But Cal bailed the Dons out as the runner at third attempted to steal home but Justin McCullough took the pitch and dove to make the tag at the plate for the second out.
 
On the next pitch, Erceg flied out to left to end the inning.
 
"They had an opportunity," Giarratano said. "With the bases loaded, they felt like they could run on Sam with the big leg kick and we delivered a good pitch and made the play. We were fortunate today with some of the plays we made and some of the pitches that we made. Sometimes you have to be fortunate to win."
 
Cal starter Alex Schick kept the Dons off balance and did not allow a hit in his five innings of work.
 
The Dons broke through in the sixth and got started with a high hopping single by Justin McCullough. Blake Valley came in to pinch run for McCullough and he promptly swiped second to give USF a runner in scoring position.
 
After a walk, Cal reliever Dylan Nelson turned to throw to second but tossed it into centerfield to advance the runners and put runners at second and third with no outs. Hofmann, who had hit balls hard in each of his first two at bats, laced a single in front of the Cal centerfield to score Valley and tie the game at one.