SAN FRANCISCO—Christian Cecilio was masterful against Portland on Saturday as he stifled the Pilot hitters and outdueled Portland starter Kurt Yinger en route to his third complete game shutout in a 1-0 West Coast Conference win.
 
"He put up nine zeroes today and 11 strikeouts, only one walk. What a great day for him," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "He's been like this all year so it's not a shock to anybody. We're extremely excited about that outing."
 
Cecilio went the distance for his third complete game shutout of the season and struck out 11. It was also his third complete game shutout during West Coast Conference play, dropping his conference ERA to a minuscule 0.82.
 
It was the sixth straight win for the Dons (17-18, 10-4 WCC) and secured their fourth conference series victory. They will go for the sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. with Sam Granoff on the mound. He has not allowed a run in his last 16.1 innings.
 
"We need to play well tomorrow," Giarratano said. "We need to get back on track offensively. We put ourselves in a good situation to make tomorrow a game that really puts us in a great position in the conference."
 
Ryan Matranga tried to get the Dons started in the third when he doubled down the third base line. After Matranga moved over to third on a wild pitch, Connor Hofmann topped a slow roller that was fielded by Portland starter Kurt Yinger and was thrown out to end the inning.
 
One inning later, Brendan Hendriks hit a one-out double that bounced off the leftfield wall but he would also be stranded to keep it a scoreless tie.
 
Christian Cecilio had little problem with Portland and cruised through the first six innings as he scattered five hits and struck out seven.
 
The Dons lefty gave the Dons offense a chance to get on the board and was rewarded in the sixth when Hofmann stepped up to the plate and skied a 2-2 pitch into rightfield and it sailed just over the wall for a solo home run.
 
"[Aaron] Ping hit one there yesterday that got into the air and it went all the way off the wall. There was a chance and then right at the end, it got over the fence. You've got to get lucky sometimes."
 
It would be the only run for the Dons, who had scored at least six runs in each of the last five games, as Yinger went eight innings and allowed the one run on seven hits.
 
"Yinger was great," Giarratano said of the Portland right hander. "He commanded the fastball, he threw the breaking ball like he needed to, the changeup was a really good pitch for him. He kept us off-balance and we've been pretty hot with the bats."
 
The Dons had a chance to add on in the eighth when they got hits from Zack McCoy and Michael Eaton to put runners second and third with two down but Yinger wiggled out of the jam with a strikeout to end the inning.
 
Portland had its best chance to even the game in the eighth when they got two on with one out but Cecilio shut the door with a strikeout and a groundout to third to end the inning.
 
NOTES
Since starting the season 0-10, the Dons are 17-8 and are 7-3 at Benedetti Diamond.