SAN FRANCISCO – The Dons had plenty of opportunities to strike but came up short all day long in suffering a 4-1 loss to Portland in the series finale on Saturday afternoon at Benedetti Diamond.
 
USF (18-18, 5-10 WCC) left 13 runners on base – including the bases loaded in the first, fourth and eighth innings – as they had their season-long four game winning streak snapped by the Pilots.
 
"We didn't play well over the first three innings and that kind of took the life out of us; we played tight the rest of the way," head coach Nino Giarratano said. "It was a frustrating day. We had runners in scoring position and just couldn't come up with a big hit. When you give up three runs early like that and you're not hitting, it's tough to come back from that."
 
Allen Smoot was the only Don to register multiple hits, going 2-for-5 on the day, while Matt Sinatro drove in the lone USF run with his one-out fielder's choice that brought home Brady Bate in the second inning.
 
Right-hander Daniel Slominski (2-4) took the loss, going just 2 2/3 innings where he allowed all four runs on six hits while walking two and striking out four.
 
Portland (8-27-1, 4-11 WCC) did all their damage in the second and third innings as Tate Budnick connected for a solo home run off Slominski in the second to put the Pilots on the board.
 
In the top of the third, Devin Kopas and Kevin Wade hit back-to-back RBI singles and Cody Hawken drew a bases-loaded walk to give Portland a 4-1 advantage that would hold for the remainder of the contest.
 
Bate was hit by a pitch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, followed by consecutive walks to Dan James and Sinatro, but Nico Giarratano flew out to left to end the inning for the second of his two fly outs with the bases full.
 
Giarratano started a USF scoring threat by drawing a walk with one out in the bottom of the first. A Smoot single and walk by Ross Puskarich loaded the bases for Miroglio, who grounded to second base for the third out.
 
"We just tried too hard to get back to where we need to be," Giarratano added. "We lost our first four WCC series and we put all this pressure on ourselves to have to win every game. But we did win two out of three at home and that's a step in the right direction, so hopefully we can keep doing more of that."
 
The Dons' bullpen held Portland in check for the last 6 1/3 frames, as Benji Post, Joey Carney and Brendan Jenkins combined to allow just two hits while striking out seven.
 
USF returns to action on Monday and Tuesday of next week when they travel to Sacramento State for a 6 p.m. nonconference road game, followed by a return trip to Benedetti Diamond to host the Hornets at 3 p.m.