The Rundown
San Jose, Calif. - The University of San Francisco Dons (21-16) baseball team got back in the win column with their win over Bay Area opponent, San Jose State (14-21), while winning their season series against the Spartans, 2-1.
 
For the third time in five games, Jonathan Allen would get the Dons offense going in the first inning of the game, blasting a lead-off home run of the left field wall. Tyler Villaroman, moving up in the order to second, would come up next and hit a double to center field. Back-to-back fly balls from Michael Perri and Ross Puskarich would bring around Villaroman to score, giving USF an early 2-0 lead.
 
San Jose State would get a run back in the bottom of the third inning off USF starter, Grant Goodman. After allowing the first two batters of the inning to reach safely, Goodman would give up a one-out double to Kellen Strahm that would score one to cut the USF lead to 2-1. Goodman would load the bases before inducing an inning ending double play to keep the lead to one.
 
USF would increase their lead back to two an inning later. Matt Campos would lead-off the inning with a single and would advance to second on a stolen base a batter later. Nick Yovetitch would come up a batter later, lacing a two-out single to right field to bring Campos around to score to make it 3-1.
 
After adding a run in the sixth inning through a rundown that allowed Jack Winkler to score, USF would add another two in the eighth inning. Winkler would walk to begin the top half of the eighth, which was followed by a single from Brady Bate to move Winkler to third. Up next would be Allen, who would continue his great day with a single to drive in two runs and make it 6-1, USF.
 
After a solid three inning performance from Goodman, the bullpen would come in and do the rest for the starter as they kept San Jose State scoreless for six innings. Joey Steele threw two innings, while Scott Parker, Grant Young, Alex Pham and Daniel Slominski would all go one inning and scatter six hits.
 
The Dons would add another run in the top of the ninth. After striking out, Winkler reached first as the ball went all the way to the backstop, which allowed Jordan Barchus to advance to third from second base. In the next at-bat, Barchus would show off his speed and steal home to increase USF's lead to 7-1.
 
With this win the Dons snap their season long five-game losing streak and move to 21-16 on the year. Next the Dons will return home to take on Gonzaga in a three-game West Coast Conference series.

COACHES CORNER
USF head coach Nino Giarratano
On the performance from the pitching staff:
"I thought Goody was good in the first two innings but lost a little command in the third. Overall he had a good outing. Joey Steele was fabulous today, striking out six of the eight batters he faced. He was really sharp today. Scotty Parker was better today, he stuff was sharp. Grant Young came in and got his outs. Both Pham and Slominski were good. We had a great day with the bullpen, we threw strikes and did what we needed to do. I'm glad we got those guys sharpened up.
 
On Jonathan Allen's performance:
"Jon Allen, again, was fabulous. A lead-off home run, three hits and three RBIs. He's the guy for us right now, man, if he goes we go."
 
On the offensive performance:
We need (Ross) Puskarich and Mike (Perri) to get it going again. I was glad to see Riley Helland get it going again tonight. Winkler got it going, too. I thought the bench did great as well, Brady Bate came in late and got the job done."
 
On the resiliency of the team:
"We were always going to bounce back. We will bounce back again in conference on Friday. This team is a tough team, hopefully we get it rolling again this weekend and we'll go from there.

GAME STATS

• Allen has now led off three of the last five games with a home run. With his home run, Allen increases his team leading home run tally to seven.
• Continuing his impressive night, Allen notched three hits and three RBIs. He increased his team-high hit total to 56.
• Riley Helland's double brings him to 12 on the season, one behind Allen and Perri for the team lead.
• Puskarich's RBI is his 28 of the season, one behind team leader Perri.
• Winkler, coming on as a pinch hitter, scored two of the Dons seven runs.
• Goodman going three innings was the longest outing for the senior this year.
• The bullpen was fantastic tonight, throwing six scoreless innings between Steele, Parker, Young, Pham and Slominski.