BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Faced with playing from behind early on the road for the fourth straight road game Friday, the University of San Francisco baseball team was finally able to reverse its fortunes late, scoring eight runs in the last three innings to erase what had been a 5-0 deficit and take the opener of a three-game non-conference series at CSU Bakersfield, 10-6, at Hardt Field.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Still trailing 5-2 in the seventh, the Dons (2-3) went to work. Kyle Knell led off the inning with a single and later with the bases loaded, was the first of two runs that scored on a CSU Bakersfield error, making it 5-4. Jacob Munoz drew a walk to load the bases again, and that's when the red-hot Nick Yovetich drove them all in with a two-out, full-count, go-ahead three-run triple down the right field line to make it 7-5.
   
• Alex Pham (1-0) was already cruising by then, having retired five straight in relief with three strikeouts to get the Dons to that rallying seventh-inning at-bat. He'd retire five more in a row before a dribbling single back to the mound broke up his streak, but he struck out the next batter and got the first hitter of the ninth to make it 12 of 13 retired since he came out of the bullpen with one out and two on in the fifth.
   
• Meanwhile, San Francisco added on insurance in the ninth with three more runs. Robert Emery drove in Jacob Westerman, who had led off the inning with a single, and fellow catcher Thomas McCarthy recorded his first career triple, bringing home two more runs and making the score 10-5 at the time.
   
• Pham's only real blemish of the night was the one-out solo home run in the ninth he allowed to Damian Henderson, but with a five-run lead, it made little impact. Pham struck out the next batter after a 10-pitch battle and got the final hitter to fly out on the first pitch, nailing down his first victory of the year with 4 2/3 innings of one-run, two-hit ball with six strikeouts and no walks.
   
• CSU Bakersfield (2-3) had jumped out to a 5-0 lead after only two innings, thanks in large part to a four-run second frame that included two unearned runs. Nick Grossman's RBI triple and Aaron Casillas' RBI single back up the middle helped start the four-run spurt.
   
• The Dons' first two runs in the third were also unearned. With two outs and two runners in scoring position, Jack Winkler hit a ball that the third baseman couldn't make a play on, allowing a two-base error to Winkler and allowing both runs to score, making it 5-2.

COACH GIARRATANO QUOTES

• "We had a really big night. Yovetich went 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs, he had a two-out triple to put us ahead in the game, hit it down the RF line, it was great to see him come through."
   
• "That's a momentum builder. We hadn't pitched well early in the games and hadn't come back. We had some good at-bats all the way through, Riki Urata had great at-bats and didn't have much to show for it. Winkler had great at-bats. Harris Williams came off the bench and got a base hit, Westerman came off the bench and got a hit… a lot of guys came in and did a job."

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 2: San Francisco had not had two triples in a game since May 19, 2018, when it had two at home versus Kansas State. Both of those triples came off the bat of Nick Yovetich, as did one of the Dons' two on Friday.
• 10: USF's 10 runs were a season-high. It was the most runs it had scored since April 22 of last season when it scored 19 on the road at UC Davis.
• 11: San Francisco had 11 strikeouts on the mound for the second consecutive game, both victories (Tuesday vs. UC Davis, Friday at CSU Bakersfield).

COMING UP

• Senior lefty Grant Young (0-1, 4.91 ERA) takes the mound Saturday for the Dons in game two of the series, looking to clinch a series win. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.