PORTLAND, Ore.  – The Dons' hitters put up another double-digit offensive day and James Kannenberg surrendered just two hits over seven innings as USF posted a 10-3 win over the Portland Pilots in the rubber match of a three-game WCC series at Joe Etzel Field on Sunday afternoon.
 
Ross Puskarich kept his hot hitting going with three hits and a pair of RBI on the day. Brady Bate homered, drove in two runs and scored a pair, while Harrison Bruce matched his season best with three RBI.
 
Kannenberg (6-4) notched his third win in his last four outings, at one point retiring 12 of 14 Portland batters between the third and sixth innings.
 
"I think I was able to keep them off balance," Kannenberg said. "There were a lot of times when I got behind but was just able to attack them with the fastball." 
 
Bate ripped a one-out double into the left field corner that scored Puskarich in the second inning. After Bate advanced to third on a wild pitch, Bruce brought him in with a sacrifice fly to center to give the Dons an early 2-0 lead. 
 
A pair of Dons errors in the bottom of the second helped Portland (16-29, 3-18 WCC) get on the board. Aaron Ping mishandled a chopper to his backhand that allowed Hummel to reach. Then, Kannenberg's pickoff attempt on Hummel skipped past Puskarich at first and helped setup Kevin Farley's sacrifice fly that brought Hummel home from third.
 
From that point, Kannenberg settled in, not allowing another hit until the seventh inning, while USF (19-30, 13-11 WCC) scored in the next three frames to give Kannenberg a little breathing room.
 
"I feel like they were just really hunting the fastball early," added Kannenberg, who had four strikeouts on the day without issuing a walk, the second time this year he hasn't walked a batter in a start.
 
"I think because I was effectively wild today and they were sitting on that first-pitch fastball and weren't getting it, that they didn't know what to expect."
 
Allen Smoot lined an RBI single to center on a first-and-third hit and run in the third inning before Bate lined a solo home run over the left field fence to lead off the fourth for his team-leading sixth long ball.
 
Puskarich picked up his first RBI of the day by lining a single to left with one out and runners at second and third in the top of the fifth. He would add another run-scoring single in the eighth.  
 
The Dons' other run in the fifth came when Dan James helped plate Nico Giarratano from third when he bunted firmly back to the mound, but the ball slipped right between the legs of Portland pitcher Jackson Lockwood.
 
Bruce delivered with a bases-loaded two-run single in the top of the seventh right before Bate scored on a first-and-third steal.
 
"Just a really good job of the entire team showing up and being ready to compete," said associate head coach Troy Nakamura. "Everyone from Kannenberg, to the offense, to the defense; everyone played their part in executing a well-played game."
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Kannenberg struck out Grant Sutton looking with a runner on second to shutdown the Pilots' only real threat against Kannenberg after the second inning.
 
However, Portland did find some success against Kannenberg's replacement, Joey Steele, who allowed two Pilot runs on Cooper Hummel's two-run single in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Steele gave way to righty Joey Carney, who entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs and proceeded to strike Grant Taylor out looking to get out of it.  
 
Carney would close out the win with a perfect ninth.
 
Portland's Jordan Wilcox (4-3) took the loss, allowing three runs on four hits with a walk over 2.1 innings.
 
Hummel's two RBIs led the way for the Pilots offensively.
 
 
NOTES: Kannenberg's two hits allowed are the fewest for a Don starter this season… 1B Ross Puskarich has hit safely in his last 10 games, the third-longest streak on the team this year… 3B Allen Smoot extended his on-base streak to 17 games - the longest current streak on the team and the second-longest overall… USF's 22 runs scored over the three-game series was the highest series total for the Dons this season... with the win, USF concludes the weekend tied with Loyola Marymount in 5th place in the WCC standings. 
 
UP NEXT: The Dons travel to Reno for a nonconference matchup at Nevada on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Tuesday's action can be followed via live stats on NevadaWolfpack.com and a live video stream on the Mountain West Network.