SAN FRANCISCO—After taking a five-run lead in the sixth, Portland stormed back in the late innings and had the tying run at third base with two down in the ninth but a diving stop and throw by Dons second baseman Michael Eaton preserved the 7-6 victory on Friday afternoon.
 
"We played good defense today. Offensively, we were good enough," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "Pitching wise, we just weren't as crisp as we had been all year but it's going to happen like that sometimes. It's nice to see the offense and defense pick us up for a change."
 
San Francisco (16-18, 9-4 WCC) has won five straight contests and can now earn its fourth conference series win tomorrow when they take on Portland at 1 p.m.
 
Already ahead 3-1, the Dons got some much needed separation in the fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, Derek Atkinson flied out to bring home one and Dominic Miroglio followed with a high hopper deep in the hole at short for an infield hit that moved the Dons lead to four.
 
An inning later, Aaron Ping scored from second on a wild pitch to give the Dons a 6-1 lead.
 
USF right hander Anthony Shew had retired 13 of his last 14 batters and struck out nine entering the seventh inning but Portland jumped on him early in counts and got four straight hits to open the frame and scored four times to cut the Dons' lead to one.
 
Shew went seven innings and allowed five runs on nine hits.
 
"He struggled with the changeup today, which is usually his pitch and it was a pitch he struggled with," Giarratano said. "I thought he made some really good pitches. They were just aggressive. It was their plan to come in and swing aggressively. You've got to hand it to them for battling back and being aggressive.
 
The Dons added an insurance run in the eighth when Miroglio singled sharply into leftfield to score Nico Giarratano and push it to a 7-5 game.
 
"We're starting to find some confidence offensively," Giarratano said. "We're starting to believe we can score runs. We're having guys step up in two-out situations. It was a good effort by the team, good effort by everybody."
 
Portland cut the lead to one again in the eighth and got a one-out double in the ninth to put the tying run in scoring position. Matt Narahara came on in relief and retired his batter with a groundout for the second out.
 
Travis Ulvestad was called upon to get the final out and, on a 0-2 pitch, Portland cleanup hitter Kevin Wade hit a one-hop liner towards the rightfield hole but Eaton dove to his left to snare the grounder and made the throw to end the game.
 
 
 
"I thought Portland was great today," said Giarratano. "They battled back from a 6-1 deficit, they put five runs up late… That's why the West Coast Conference is such a great conference because teams play hard every day."
 
Combined with the win and a Loyola Marymount loss to BYU on Thursday, the Dons have moved into sole possession of second place and are a half game back of San Diego for first place.
 
After a hit and run gave Portland runners at first and second with one out, the Pilots got one across with an RBI single to right to take the early lead.
 
Connor Hofmann got the Dons started in the bottom half of the inning with a four-pitch walk and Promptly stole second to give them a runner in scoring position. Following a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, Atkinson came to the plate and he crushed the 1-1 pitch to right center for a two-run home run.
 
Atkinson went 1-for-3 with three RBI.
 
The USF lead appeared in danger in the second inning when Portland loaded the bases on a single, hit by pitch, and a walk with one down but Shew rebounded to strikeout the next two batters to get out of the inning.
 
Hofmann was the catalyst again in the third when he reached on a one-out single and then came home when Nico Giarratano drove one into the rightfield corner for an RBI double and gave USF a 3-1 lead.
 
NOTES
Connor Hoffman, Nico Giarratano, Dominic Miroglio, and Aaron Ping each had multiple hits on the night… Ping went 3-for-4 with a triple and a run scored; in his 14 at bats this season, he has hit two doubles, a triple, and a home run… Miroglio threw out his ninth base stealer of the season and is now throwing out 53 percent of runners.