FRESNO, Calif.  – USF's first meeting with Fresno State since 2012 went the way of the Bulldogs in Thursday night's series opener at Beiden Field. Nico Giarratano homered for USF, but that accounted for the only offense of the night for the Dons in a 10-1 loss.
 
Senior righty Anthony Shew matched his season high with eight strikeouts in his final collegiate outing. Unfortunately, Shew (4-7) was on the hook for the loss after allowing six runs on eight hits over 6.1 innings. 
 
Brady Bate contributed a pair of hits on the night.
 
Shew had to work out of a jam in the first frame. He fanned two Fresno State hitters in a row to strand runners at first and second.
 
A wild pitch by Shew with runners at second and third helped Fresno State (36-18) take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.
 
Shew had limited the Bulldogs to just two hits and kept them at 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position through the first four frames, but four consecutive singles by Fresno State with runners on base in the bottom of the fifth put the Bulldogs up 4-1. 
 
Shew ran into trouble again in the sixth as Fresno State loaded the bases with two outs. Shew plunked Aaron Arruda in the helmet and uncorked a wild pitch in the dirt during the next at-bat that put Fresno State ahead 6-1.
 
Fresno State kept the pressure on all night long, putting runners in scoring position in every inning but two.
 
Giarratano took the first offering of the fourth inning from Fresno State lefty Ricky Tyler Thomas and deposited it over the left field wall for his third long ball of the year, tying the game at 1-1.
 
USF (20-34) threatened with runners in scoring position in the third, fourth and fifth and seventh, but couldn't push any across.
 
The Dons used a fielding error, a hit-by-pitch and a walk to load the bases with two outs in the seventh, but Smoot's long drive was caught on the warning track in left field.
 
Shew capped off his USF career by striking out Kevin Viers in his last hitter faced to start the seventh, matching his season high with his eighth strikeout of the night.
 
Grant Goodman came on in relief and retired the next two Bulldog hitters with groundouts, keeping Fresno State off the bases for the first time in the game.
 
Fresno State's four-run eighth was the dagger. The Bulldogs got run-scoring base hits from Scott Silva and Jesse Medrano sandwiched around a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch by USF reliever Frank Waliczek facing Fresno State pinch-hitter Ross Dodds.
 
Silva led Fresno State offensively by collecting four hits and scoring three runs. Ryan Dobson had two hits and two runs scored of his own, while Medrano and Austin Guibor each drove in a pair.
 
Thomas (9-4) earned the win with 6.1 innings of work where he allowed just one run on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
 
 
NOTES: 1B Ross Puskarich extended his hitting streak to a team-best 15 games with a single up the middle in the fourth… SS Nico Giarratano has hit safely in his last nine games.
 
UP NEXT: The Dons and Bulldogs continue their three-game series on Friday evening with another 6:05 p.m. first pitch from Beiden Field. Freshman righty Thomas Ponticelli (3-5, 5.62) will get the nod for USF as he matches up with Fresno State right-hander Jimmy Lambert (10-0, 2.22). All of the weekend action in Fresno can be followed via live stats on GoBulldogs.com, a live video stream on the Mountain West Network and a radio broadcast on 940 AM ESPN in the Central Valley.