RENO, Nev.—After scoring 28 runs in a three-game sweep of Santa Clara over the weekend, the Dons kept the offense rolling on Monday night and notched their fourth straight win against No. 19 Nevada 8-3.
"When we had runners in scoring position," San Francisco head coach
Nino Giarratano said. "We were ready to go. We're doing a lot better job of seeing the ball. Hopefully this is a great trend for the second half of the season.
"We just have to keep our heads down and play one game at a time. That's what we had to do to battle back to where we are now. Excited about what we're doing. Hopefully we can stay focused and keep on doing it."
It was not an easy trip for the Dons as it took the team seven hours to reach Reno after having two different set of snow chains break on the team bus' tires and they did not arrive until 1 a.m. Despite the less than ideal traveling conditions, it did not slow the Dons down on the field as they punched out 14 hits and it is the fifth time in the last six games they have had 10 or more hits.
"They've been traveling like champs," Giarratano said. "They've played 25 of the 33 games on the road. They keep working at it. It would be great to get home and play well at home to put ourselves in a good position."
San Francisco will return to the Bay Area and have three days off before hosting Portland for a three-game set, beginning on Friday at Benedetti Diamond.
The Dons hopped on the board in the first when
Derek Atkinson followed a
Brendan Hendriks double with a single to bring him home and give them a one-run lead.
After Nevada tied it up in the third, the Dons came back up in the fourth and quickly retook the lead.
Dominic Miroglio singled to lead it off and moved over to second on a groundout for
Aaron Ping and the freshman hit a hanging curveball over the left center wall to give the Dons a 3-1 lead.
San Francisco had a chance to add on more later in the inning when the Dons were able to get runners at the corners with two outs but they tried a double steal and
Michael Eaton was thrown out at the plate by the Nevada shortstop.
Nevada answered the two-run homer by getting one back on a sacrifice fly to right and cut the USF lead to 3-2.
In the fifth inning, Atkinson stole second and moved into scoring position for Miroglio with two down and he ripped a double down the rightfield line to bring home the run and give USF a two-run lead.
Miroglio picked up two more hits against Nevada and went 2-for-3.
The Dons kept piling on in the sixth when Ping doubled to lead off the inning. After a sacrifice bunt to move him to third, Eaton doubled down the leftfield line to score another.
Connor Hofmann came up next and singled, Eaton beat the throw home to make it 6-2.
"Ping was outstanding all game today, had a chance to hit for the cycle," Giarratano said. "I'm really happy with his effort offensively."
Ping went 4-for-5 with a home run, double, and two RBI.
The Dons (15-18) were able to cash in on several opportunities throughout the game and went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position and 5-for-13 with two outs.
The bullpen was strong and the combination of
Sheldon Lee,
Anthony Buonopane,
Frank Waliczek, and
Travis Ulvestad,
Matt Narahara went seven innings and allowed three hits and two earned runs.
Dons pitching stifled the Nevada offense, which led the nation in doubles coming into the contest, as it went 1-for-15 with runners on base and 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Nevada had its last chance to get back into the game when Ulvestad walked two straight batters with two down in the eighth to load the bases but battled and got a strikeout to end the inning.
NOTESJedier Rincon made the start and was able to find his way out of danger early. Nevada had a runner on with two down and then Rincon walked the next two to load the bases but got a fly ball to right center to end the frame….
Justin McCullough hit his second home run of the season in the seventh to make it an 8-2 game.
