SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Dons had just rallied for a three-run inning to take a 4-3 lead, but San Diego's Roman Garcia had other plans as he belted a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to hand the USF baseball team a 6-4 loss in the series opener at Fowler Park on Friday evening.
 
Michael Perri went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Harrison Bruce added three hits of his own and Allen Smoot went 2-for-4 with a run driven in.
 
Trailing 3-1 heading into the top of the seventh, USF (14-12, 2-5 WCC) got a leadoff single by Harrison Bruce that helped kick start the rally as Bruce came around to score shortly after on a wild pitch by Torero starter Nick Sprengel. The Dons then took advantage of an error that allowed Brady Bate to score, tying the game at 3-3, before Smoot's two-out RBI single brought in the go-ahead run.
 
However, the momentum would be short-lived as Garcia, one of the top home run hitters in the WCC coming into the weekend, turned around a one-out 2-2 offering from USF reliever Thomas Ponticelli and deposited it over the left field fence to give the Toreros (17-6, 6-1 WCC) the 6-4 lead they would ultimately hold onto.  
 
"We battled back and took the lead but just couldn't hold it," head coach Nino Giarratano said. "It's just tough. Thomas's stuff was good, but he just wasn't sharp. He probably wasn't ready to come in and pitch yet, plus there were some defensive plays that we missed."
 
Just prior to the home run, Ponticelli entered the game and struck out the leadoff hitter, but the Dons couldn't convert the out on the dropped third strike, allowing the leadoff man to reach. Two batters later Riley Adams walked, setting up the deciding long ball.
 
USF starter Grant Goodman went six complete innings, allowing three runs on nine hits while walking one and striking out two in the no-decision.  
 
"Grant competed great tonight," Giarratano said. "He got into trouble, but made a really good pitch in the sixth inning that we just didn't field. I thought he did great job keeping us in the game, we just couldn't get it done. We can't seem to hold a lead in the seventh inning right now. We're going to struggle until we get that fixed."
 
The Toreros jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Kevin Collard delivered an RBI double and Dante Gutierrez drove in a run on a one-out comebacker to the pitcher.
 
USF got on the board with Perri's RBI single in the top of the sixth, but San Diego responded immediately with a run-scoring single from Bhret Bewley.
 
"We lost tonight because we couldn't make pitches," added Giarratano, "but the guys are resilient. They'll keep battling and they'll get after it again tomorrow." 
 
The Dons and Toreros will play game two from Fowler Park at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Right-hander Daniel Slominski (1-2, 3.58) is slated to matchup with San Diego lefty Chris Murphy (2-0, 2.30).