The Rundown
SAN FRANCISCO - The University of San Francisco Dons baseball (25-25, 14-11 WCC) fell in game one of their three-game West Coast Conference series against BYU (20-24, 9-13 WCC), 9-2.
BYU got the scoring started in the second inning of the game, which began with a single off the right field netting. With one out, the Cougars would get a line drive off the glove of
Michael Perri and into center field to put runners on first and third. After a strike out, a ground ball to Perri would look to end the inning but the senior's throw would pull
Jason Kreske off first base and allow the run to cross the plate to make it 1-0, BYU.
The top half of the third inning would begin with a double down the left field line by BYU's Brock Hale. The next BYU batter would line a single into right field, which would bring the runner around from second to make it 2-0, BYU.
BYU would add another run in the fourth inning, which got started with a one-out ground ball into left field. After his hit, BYU's Casey Jacobsen would steal second to put himself in scoring position. The next batter would hit a fly ball into centerfield that would land in front of
Nick Yovetich, bringing Jacobsen in from second to make it 3-0 after four innings.
The Dons would get back into the game in the sixth inning, loading the bases on three straight walks, Yovetich would hit a towering fly ball over the glove of the leaping right fielder and off the netting.
Riley Helland and
Ross Puskarich would come around to score, cutting the Cougars lead to 3-2.
The Cougars would answer back against USF's starting pitcher,
Thomas Ponticelli, in the next half inning with four runs, two of which would come on a home run to left field wall from Brock Hale. Back-to-back doubles from BYU would add another run to the Cougars' lead. Following those doubles,
Grant Young would come in for the Dons and get an out on the first batter he'd face. But, a two-out double from Mitch McIntyre would extend the inning and bring home the fourth and final run of the inning, making it 7-2.
BYU would add two more runs in the ninth inning to extend their lead to 9-2, which would be the final score.
With this loss, the Dons move to 25-25 and 14-11 in the WCC. The two teams will return to Benedetti Diamond for game two on Friday at 3 p.m.
COACHES CORNER
USF head coach Nino Giarratano
GAME STATS
- Michael Perri and Brady Bate led the Dons with two hits apiece.
- Perri now leads the team in batting average (.342) and hits (69) following his two-for-five afternoon.
- Yovetich's two RBIs would tie his season single game high and put him on six RBIs on the season.
- Joey Steele's scoreless 1 1/3 innings moves his ERA down to 3.71, while his two strikeouts have him at 19 on the year.
