The Rundown
LOS ANGELES - The University of San Francisco Dons (20-16, 10-5 WCC) baseball team dropped the final game of their three-game West Coast Conference series against Loyola Marymount (17-18, 10-5 WCC) in heartbreaking fashion in extra innings.
 
For the second consecutive game USF would load the bases in the first inning, but were unable to capitalize and stranded three runners. However, the Dons would get their runs in the next half inning as they loaded the bases with two outs again with a walk from Jack Winkler, Jon Allen and Riley Helland. Michael Perri stepped up and hit a ball back to the pitcher, which the LMU starter committed a throwing error that allowed Perri to advance to second, while allowing Winkler and Allen to cross the plate.
 
The Lions would answer back with back-to-back one run innings in the third and fourth. In the third inning, the lead-off batter would single before being moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt. LMU's Billy Wilson would come up a batter later and single to right field bringing home the Lions' first run of the game. In the fourth, a walk and a single to lead off the inning put runners on the corner and no-outs. The next batter, Trevin Esquerra, would ground into a double play that score LMU's second run and even the score at 2-2.
 
USF would regain the lead in the fifth inning, which began with a single from Matt Campos, and the Dons second baseman would advance to second on a wild pitch during the next at-bat. After a Brady Bate walk, Winkler stepped up and hit a single to left field that brought Campos in to score to make it 3-2, USF.
 
After coming into the game for Bourassa in the sixth inning, Daniel Slominski would load the bases in the seventh inning with no outs. After getting the first out on a force at the plate, LMU's Nick Sogard would work a walk to drive in the tying run. Brendan Jenkins would come on for Slominski and shut the door on the Lions to keep the game tied at 3-3.
 
In the ninth inning, the Dons would threaten as a one-out double from Ross Puskarich and an intentional walk for Cordeiro would put runners in scoring position. However, the Lions pitching would get a strikeout and a foul out to keep the game tied heading into the bottom half of the inning. The Lions would load the bases in the next half inning before Jenkins would get a fly out and ground out to send the game into extra innings.
 
LMU would win the game in the bottom of the 11th inning when a throwing error from Perri allowed the lead off runner to advance to second. The next batter would ground out to the first base, advancing the runner at second to third. Benji Post would come on for Jenkins and walk the first batter he faced, putting runners on the corners with one out. A wild pitch in the next at-bat would allow the winning run to cross the plate and end the game.
 
With this loss the Dons are now 20-16 on the year and 10-5 in WCC play, which is tied for first with LMU in the conference standings.

COACHES CORNER
USF head coach Nino Giarratano
On the performance from the team today:
"It was a hard-fought game today, LMU really pieced it together well with their pitching. We got a good effort from Bourassa to get us into the sixth, and a great effort from Jenkins to get us into the 11th. It was just the same mistakes that hurt us today. We made a base running mistake to get doubled off in the top of the 11th then went out and made a pretty easy error throwing it over the guy's head. We just haven't really executed, it comes down to playing defense, running the bases and making some pitches."
 
On the offense:
"The biggest disappointment was the offensive execution. We haven't hit with runners in scoring position, not sure what the numbers are but I would have to think they were pretty bad. We might have left 30 guys on base and 2-for-40 something with runners in scoring position."
 
On what the team needs to do going forward:
"We need to run the bases better, we need to bunt better, we need to play defense and we need our bullpen to come in a throw more strikes. We had a lot of things go off the rails for us today, we were getting by with just four guys offensively and four pitchers. Those four guys can't carry the load anymore, we need more people to step up."

GAME STATS

• Allen and Perri combined for four of the Dons eight hits on the afternoon.
• Allen's 2-for3 afternoon bumps his batting average to .364, he came into this series third in the WCC in that category.
• Winkler's RBI in the fifth inning was his seventh of the year.
• Puskarich's double is his seventh of the season and his second of the week.
• Jenkins' four innings pitched match his longest outing of the season, striking out four and allowing one run.