The road-weary Dons will finally receive a reprieve from all of the travel they had in the early portion of their schedule. With four home games on the docket this week, USF (10-6, 0-0 WCC) will look to extend their strong record at the newly renovated Benedetti Diamond (11-5).

"We put in a lot of work on the road," head coach Nino Giarratano said. "We traveled and played and hung in there. Now we get a chance to come home, but you still have to play well if you're going to win, you can't just play at home. Hopefully we can continue to play well here at home, and feel the home crowd, and sleep in our own beds and eat some of the food that we're used to."

First up will be a showdown with Fresno St. (8-6, 2-1 Mountain West) on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. Brendan Jenkins will make his first start as a Don in that one. On the season he is 0-1 with a 2.61 ERA with nine strikeouts in 10.1 innings in 6 appearances all as a reliever. 

The Bulldogs opened their season in impressive fashion by taking two games on the road in Eugene against Oregon. They have also taken two out of three from Nevada and Eastern Michigan.

Offensively they have seven batters hitting over .300 on the year and one hitting well over .400. Zach Ashford has only started three games so far this season but has appeared in 13 of them and has amassed a .467 batting average over 30 at bats. Austin Guibor leads the team in runs scored at 15. Aaron Arruda is the top RBI man with 15.

Adam Medrano will get the start for Fresno St. The 6-foot 3-inch Freshman from Covina, California will be making his first collegiate start. So far on the year he has made five appearances, going 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA. In 5.1 innings pitched he has allowed three hits and walked eight while striking out six.

Then, come the weekend, it will be time to open WCC play as the Dons host LMU.

"In conference we are starting a 27-game sprint," Giarratano said. "You're playing in conference right now to try to play in the NCAA Tournament. Every game matters. It's not like you get 162 like they do in the big leagues." 

The Lions have some impressive wins on the young season as they opened the year taking two of three from UC Santa Barbara. They also registered two wins against Washington St., Arizona St., and Cal Poly.

Phil Caulfield leads the way for the Lions with a scorching .417 batting average after having started all 16 games so far. He has scored 10 runs and driven in nine while walking 12 times for an on-base percentage of .514. He has also stolen five bases this year. Sophomore Steven Chavez is hitting .464 in 28 at bats over 13 appearances with seven starts.

The calling card for this edition of the Lions, though, is their pitching.

"Loyola is playing great right now," Giarratano said. "They've played a really good schedule. I really think the one thing they can do is, they can really pitch."

Senior lefty, Brenton Arriaga has shot out to a dominant start to the 2017 season. Standing 6-feet 5-inches tall, he has already registered a complete game shutout on the season in a win over then ranked No. 19 UC Santa Barbara. On the year as a whole, he is 2-0 with a 1.75 ERA in four starts amassing 26 strike outs in 25.2 innings.

Fellow senior Blake Redman also has had a strong start to the year. In four starts he is 1-3 but with a 2.70 ERA. In 23.1 innings he has struck out 27 batters. Sophomore Codie Paiva has made two starts this season and is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA with 15 punch-outs in 18.2 innings.

That LMU staff will have no easy task, though, as the Dons offense is hot and only getting hotter.

"Is it going to be good hitting, or is it going to be good pitching that wins this weekend?" Giarratano asked. "That's going to be the big question. Are we going to be able to score the runs we need to offensively or are they going to pitch and we will have to hold them down?"

Matt Sinatro was inserted back into the lead-off spot after some slight early season struggles and in doing so was the catalyst for a USF offense which won two out of three games on the road against Grand Canyon University this past weekend. Over the three games, USF managed to score 28 runs and seven of those were Sinatro crossing the plate. He also drove in three runs as he accounted for 10 on the weekend. He hit .500 over the three games with an on base percentage of .562 and a slugging percentage of .643 thanks to two doubles. He also stole three bases without being caught.

Short stop Nico Giarratano has really taken off over the past three weeks as he is now the Dons leading hitter in many categories. He currently leads the team in hits (23), doubles (7), and total bases (36). He is second on the team in slugging percentage (.529), home runs (2), on base percentage (.408) and runs scored (13). He is also third on the team in batting with an average of .338.

Brady Bate is having a breakout season as he is leading the team in batting average (.350), on base percentage (.458), and slugging percentage (.600).

Then there is the ever-present Allen Smoot and Ross Puskarich. Puskarich is hitting .349 on the year and has 10 RBI which is good for third on the team. Smoot is tied for second on the team in RBI with 12.

But it is the emergence of two bats in particular that has taken this Dons offense to the next level. Dominic Miroglio has found his power stroke as over the past two weekends as he has cranked four home runs over that span (the most on the team). He is also tied for second on the team in RBI with Smoot at 12.

The other burgeoning hitter is Pepperdine transfer Michael Perri. Over his last 10 games he is hitting .353 with nine runs scored and two RBI. He also hit his first home run as a Don in that time.

This week of action is set to be a fun one. For tickets, click the links below.
Wed. 3/15 vs. Fresno St., 2:30 p.m. BUY TICKETS
Fri. 3/17 vs. LMU, 3 p.m. BUY TICKETS
Sat. 3/18 vs. LMU, 3 p.m. BUY TICKETS
Sun. 3/19 vs. LMU, 1 p.m. BUY TICKETS