SAN DIEGO — The San Francisco baseball team earned its first win of 2019 Saturday, rallying from behind in both games of a doubleheader split at San Diego State, winning the opener, 9-8, before dropping the nightcap, 6-3, to conclude a season-opening three-game series at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
 
GAME ONE

• The Dons (1-2) jumped ahead early in the opener with three runs in the top of the first. Two RBI singles by Riley Helland and Nick Yovetich, as well as a sacrifice fly, gave the Dons their first lead in the series. San Francisco took advantage of three free passes in the inning (two walks and a hit-by-pitch), two of which scored.
   
• But as they did in Friday's series opener, San Diego State (2-1) answered in the bottom half of the first with a two-out rally. The Aztecs racked up four runs with five consecutive two-out base runners, including three RBI base hits. That made 12 consecutive two-out runs in the series for the Aztecs.
   
• San Diego State would score more runs in the second (1) and the third (3), building its lead to 8-3 and seemingly putting the game away early. But San Francisco wasn't done. It got two runs back in the top of the fourth to make it 8-5, but would go scoreless over the next four innings with nine strikeouts (including seven straight from the fifth to the seventh).
   
• Then in the ninth, the Dons' bats awoke again. San Francisco put together a game-winning four-run rally in the top of the ninth with five consecutive hitters reaching base. That also included RBI doubles from Brandon Greim and Jack Winkler, and RBI sacrifices by Jason Kreske and Jonathan Allen.
   
• Joey Steele got the save in the ninth, even after SDSU got the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on base. The game one win went to Julian Washburn, his first as a Don.

GAME TWO

• Allen staked the Dons to another early lead in the nightcap, hitting his second home run of the series in the second inning with a two-run blast to put USF up 2-0. And yet, once again – San Diego State answered. The Aztecs scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning, the first coming on three consecutive singles, and the go-ahead blast coming with two outs on a two-run double from Mike Jarvis, putting SDSU up 3-2.
   
• San Francisco erased its deficit for the second time on the day in the sixth thanks to an RBI groundout by Matthew Mendibles. Yovetich led off the inning with a single, then proceeded to steal second and third base to put himself in position to score. The Dons finally got a shutdown inning in the bottom of the sixth, stranding a leadoff double with two strikeouts and a popup.
   
• But an inning later, San Diego State went to work. The Aztecs went ahead for good with three runs in the seventh. Another leadoff double started the three-run rally, spurred by a two-run RBI single by Julian Escobedo. And like it did all series, SDSU tacked on one last two-out run with an RBI single from Brian Leonhardt.

COMING UP

• San Francisco debuts at Benedetti Diamond with its 2019 home opener on Friday versus CSU Bakersfield. The Dons host the Roadrunners for a three-game series starting Friday and running through Sunday. Fans can purchase tickets and find live coverage links on USFDons.com.