SAN FRANCISCO—One day after being held to six hits in 15 innings, the Dons busted out the lumber as they unloaded for six extra base hits and 13 total knocks en route to the 10-1 win against UC Riverside on Sunday afternoon in the rubber game of the series.
"I thought all together it was a pretty good offensive day for us," San Francisco head coach
Nino Giarratano said. "Probably the best game we've played where we were able to take the lead, add to the lead, answer back. I'm happy with the performance. We needed to play well.
"We got on track. We kind of relaxed a little bit."
It was the first series win for the Dons (3-12) this season and a step in the right direction for a team that has been a part of 10 games decided by three runs or less.
"Everyone is hoping we could win all of those back at one time but we can't," Giarratano said. "A two-out-of-three series for us is pretty good. It's a good start."
The Dons got two runners aboard with two down in the first and
Dominic Miroglio, as he has done for most of the season, came through with a single to center to bring home
Nico Giarratano and give them a 1-0 lead.
USF struck again with two down in the second when
Connor Hofmann crushed the 0-1 pitch over the right field wall for the solo home run.
An inning later,
Derek Atkinson repeated the feat and hit a towering fly ball to right center that cleared the wall and gave the Dons a 3-0 lead. The senior centerfielder, who was in the midst of a 2-for-22 stretch, went 2-for-4 with three runs scored on the day.
"It was good to see Derek get on track for us," said Giarratano.
Already with a 3-1 lead, the Dons broke the game open in the fifth.
With one on,
Dominic Miroglio doubled off the warning track in centerfield to plate Atkinson and put USF up by three. After a sacrifice fly from
Justin McCullough,
Michael Eaton tripled down the right field line to bring home one and
Zack McCoy followed with a single and gave the Dons a 7-1 lead.
Miroglio added on with an RBI triple in the eighth and put the Dons up 10-1. The catcher went 3-for-4 with a triple, double, and three RBI.
"It's been nice to see what Dom has been able to do for us in the five hole," Giarratano said. "If we get [
Brendan Hendriks] and [Atkinson] going and Dom keeps doing his thing, we've got three guys in the middle of the order who are major threats."
The three-game set marked the first home games of the season for the Dons and they will hit the road again this week as they take on No. 19 Oregon for two beginning Tuesday and begin West Coast Conference play at Gonzaga on Friday.
The offensive burst provided plenty of support for
Jeider Rincon. The freshman left hander went a career-best 6.1 innings and allowed one run with six strikeouts.
"I thought today was what we needed," Giarratano said. "We needed him to get into seventh and give our bullpen a chance to catch their breath a little bit. It was great he got out of a couple of jams with the bases loaded. We didn't have to get the bullpen up.
"He's a gutsy kid, a gutsy performer. I think if he keeps doing that, he is going to be successful."
UC Riverside threatened in the second when it loaded the bases on a single, a walk, and a hit batsman but Rincon was able to find a way out of the jam with a strikeout to end the inning.
He retired seven straight before getting into a jam in the fifth where UC Riverside scored one and loaded the bases with two down but got a groundball to end the frame.
Dons starting pitching went 22.1 innings this weekend and combined for a 1.20 ERA with 25 strikeouts.
