SAN FRANCISCO — The University of San Francisco baseball team concluded the 2019 season on a high note Sunday, sweeping a non-conference doubleheader from CSUN at home by scores of 6-3 and 6-2 while honoring its departing seniors on Senior Day and getting contributions from all nine of them to reach the 30-win mark for the first time in six years.
 
All five seniors in the lineup reached base safely during Sunday's doubleheader, and all four seniors on the mound pitched at least 2/3 of an inning with three of them recording strikeouts. In 16 innings of play (seven-inning game one, nine-inning game two), CSUN (22-30) only scored in two of them, with the Dons (30-26) shutting them down in the other 14.
 
Sunday's doubleheader sweep got San Francisco to the 30-win mark for the first time since 2013, when the team won 35 games and was selected for the NCAA Tournament. It was the sixth 30-win campaign under head coach Nino Giarratano. USF has won at least 28 games (in a 56-game regular season format) for three consecutive years now.


 
GAME ONE

• Senior lefty Scott Parker (8-3) took the mound for the final time in his career in the opener and dazzled, earning his team-lead tying eighth victory of the season by pitching into the seventh with five strikeouts and just one hit allowed through the first six frames. CSUN finally chased him in the seventh with a leadoff double, two-run home run and an infield single, making it 6-2.
   
• Fellow senior Joey Steele – who tied the USF single season record this year with 11 saves – came in to close things down. He got a ground ball and a strikeout to quickly get two outs, but CSUN would get one more unearned run on an infield error before Steele induced another groundball to wrap up the victory.
   
• San Francisco jumped on CSUN starter Blake Sodersten early, scoring four runs and batting around in the bottom of the first to take a 4-0 lead. That rally included an RBI double from senior Riley Helland, as well as a two-run double from Robert Emery and a sacrifice fly from Jacob Westerman. Helland would hit a second double later in the fifth and score when Emery hit a two-run homer over the left-field wall, his fifth of the season, making it 6-0.

GAME TWO

• Senior Daniel Slominski (2-0) battled injuries all season long in his final year on The Hilltop, but he pitched efficiently in his seven appearances, including a two-inning start in the nightcap that sent him off as a victor. Slominski struck out two in the first inning, leaving two on, and fellow senior Jonathan Allen gave him a lead in the bottom half with an RBI groundout to make it 1-0. Slominski then stranded two more base runners in the second with two fly outs and a groundout. He started the third, but a leadoff double gave way to another senior arm, Benji Post.
   
• Post issued a walk and an RBI single, but then induced an exciting double play that cleared the bases and brought in a run. A sign of what's to come for the Dons in the future, freshman Josh Mollerus took it the rest of the way, ending the inning with a strikeout.
   
• The Dons had more than padded Slominski's lead in the bottom of the second before the Matadors scored those third-inning runs. San Francisco batted around for the second time on the day in the second, scoring five runs to take another 6-0 lead for the second straight game. A two-run double by senior Jason Kreske, which was preceded by an impressive bunt single by senior Jordan Barchus, as well as another two-run double from Tyler Villaroman and an RBI double from Allen put a crooked number on the scoreboard.
   
• Mollerus had a solid outing in relief to accent the end of his rookie season, throwing 4 1/3 shutout innings and striking out five while only allowing one hit and walking none. That paved the way for fellow underclassman, sophomore Alex Pham, who threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Steele came on again to tie the bow on the game and the doubleheader sweep, throwing a 1-2-3 ninth that included striking out the last two batters.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 41: Helland's two doubles Sunday gave him 41 for his career, just one outside of the USF top-10 career list. He finished his four-year tenure on The Hilltop with a .300 career batting average, 88 RBIs, 41 doubles and six home runs.
• 59: Allen had two RBIs Sunday to give him 59 in a historic offensive season in 2019 – his last at USF. His 59 runs batted in this year were the seventh-most all-time in a single season for a Don. Those went with his 17 home runs – fourth-most all-time in one year on The Hilltop.
• 90: Pham's two strikeouts on Sunday lifted him to the 90-strikeouts plateau. He finished 2019 with a team-high 90 Ks against just 28 walks (a better-than 3-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio), a team-best 3.30 ERA and a team-low .226 opponent batting average.