PORTLAND, Ore.  – The USF baseball team did all the things a team needs to - hit, pitch and play defense – in a 10-2 win to open up the three-game West Coast Conference series at Portland on Friday evening from Joe Etzel Field. 
 
The Dons (18-29, 12-10 WCC) jumped on Portland starter Jordan Horak early and never looked back. Allen Smoot hit the first home run of his USF career and drove in three to help lead the offense. Brady Bate picked up a pair of hits and a home run, while Aaron Ping matched his season high with three hits and a long ball of his own.
 
"We liked a couple of the matchups early that worked in our favor," said associate head coach Troy Nakamura after the Dons clubbed three home runs for the first time since Mar. 8, 2015 against UC Riverside. "We put together some quality at-bats throughout the game and continued to apply pressure on the offensive side."
 
With runners on first and third, Smoot drilled a 3-1 pitch from Horak over the center field fence, giving the Dons a 3-0 lead after the first. Matt Sinatro led off the first with a walk and moved to third on a nice hit and run combo with Giarratano, helping setup Smoot's three-run blast.
 
USF starter Anthony Shew took over from there, scattering eight hits over seven complete innings where he allowed just two runs while striking out eight for the third game in a row, matching his season high.
 
"Anthony did a very good job using all his tools today," said Nakamura. "He had everything at his disposal and he attacked the zone for seven innings.
 
One of Shew's few blemishes came when Portland (15-28, 2-17 WCC) cut into the lead in the bottom of the first with Barr's two-out RBI triple off the base of the wall in center field.
 
"I showed up and knew I wasn't going to feel my best physically," said Shew, who recorded his seventh quality start in his last eight outings. "I've been kind of hurting this past week, so I knew I had to put it together for the squad. I knew coming in that they were pretty aggressive at the plate, so I was able to throw stuff that started as strikes and ended up as balls, and thankfully that worked out."
 
Shew (4-6) benefitted from the Dons' second-highest scoring game of the year. The Dons had runners on base in every inning and runners in scoring position in eight of the nine frames on the night.
 
"It's takes a lot of pressure off," Shew said. "Even if you have runners in scoring position, you're able to make your pitches as if there's no one on base."
 
Ping lifted a solo home run to left in the top of the fourth, his second of the year, followed the next inning by Bate's team-leading fifth long ball, a two-run shot to left center.
 
USF loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth, coming away with two runs on Nico Giarratano's sacrifice fly and Ping's run on a wild pitch from Portland reliever Cameron Richman.
 
With the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, Matt Sinatro scored on a wild pitch from new Pilot pitcher Jake Hawken, who had just entered the game. Two batters later, pinch-hitter Riley Helland plated a run with an RBI fielder's choice to the shortstop.
 
"We'll take the offensive output today, but we know we need to go right back to work tomorrow," added Nakamura.  
 
A wild pitch by Shew in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and runners on second and third helped Portland cut into the lead and bring it to 8-2.
 
USF reliever Frank Waliczek ran into trouble after he started the eighth, surrendering walks to the first two hitters of the inning. However, Brock Larson came out of the bullpen to strikeout the next two batters and induce a groundout to strand both runners.
 
Smoot contributed on the defensive side as well, taking a hit away from Jason Rosen with two outs in the bottom of the fifth when he barehanded Rosen's bunt attempt and fired to first on the run to end the inning. 
 
Horak (1-6) was saddled with the loss for the Pilots, allowing six runs on eighth hits over five innings while walking three and striking out six.
 
Kevin Farley had three hits to lead Portland at the plate while Caleb Whalen added a pair of hits as well.  
 
 
NOTES: This was the Dons' fifth consecutive win over Portland, but just their second in their last eight games at Joe Etzel Field… 3B Allen Smoot extended his on-base streak to 15 games, the longest current streak on the team.
 
UP NEXT: The Dons and Pilots continue their three-game set on Saturday with another 6 p.m. start. Freshman righty Thomas Ponticelli (3-4, 5.46) will get the start opposite Portland right-hander Davis Tominaga (3-8, 4.57). All of this weekend's action can be followed via live stats on PortlandPilots.com and a live video stream on TheW.tv.