SAN FRANCISCO — This time, the comeback was completed.
 
San Francisco scored nine runs in the seventh and eighth innings Saturday to erase a three-run deficit and win its home opener, 10-6, at Benedetti Diamond in game three of the series versus California.
 
The Dons (3-3) came back to tie Friday's game two in the ninth inning, only to see the Bears (3-4) walk off in the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff home run. Saturday, the Dons trailed 4-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, having been held scoreless for the last five innings with three three-up, three-down frames and two runners left in scoring position.
 
Ryan Davis – who had the game-tying hit on Friday – got the Dons' comeback started in the seventh with a leadoff solo home run over the center field wall, his first of the year, making it 4-2. Jacob Westerman doubled and Brandon Greim was hit with a pitch, bringing up Jack Winkler. Winkler hadn't made much noise in the series leading up to that at-bat, going just 3 for 12 in two-plus games. He fouled off three pitches against new Cal reliever Nick Proctor, and was behind in the count 1-2 before launching a go-ahead three-run blast over the left field fence to put the Dons ahead for good at 5-4.
 
Very similar to yesterday's game when we were down and we just kept battling, battling, battling, and then we finally got those big hits," said San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano. "Winkler's home run, Westerman's pinch-hit at-bat, Davis gets us going with a home run to make it 4-2, and then just all those extra at-bats at the end right there, the hit-by-pitches, the sac fly by Kyle Knell, just some wonderful, wonderful stuff. Darius (Foster) comes off the bench and steals a base, we did what we needed to do."
 
The rally continued in the eighth. Foster pinch-ran after a leadoff walk and stole second, showed his speed by tagging to third base on a fly ball to left, then scored an insurance run on an RBI single from Jacob Westerman to make it 6-4. The next five batters all reached base, including an RBI single from Winkler, two free passes (hit-by-pitch, walk) with the bases loaded to bring in runs, and a pinch-hit sacrifice fly from Kyle Knell to make it 10-4.
 
Grant Young (1-0) earned the victory with two shutout innings of relief in the sixth and seventh. Max Jones was strong in his second career appearance, allowing only one run in four innings of work with three strikeouts and no walks. Alex Pham had two strikeouts in one inning and so did starter Eric Reyzelman.
 
"Pham got back out there, put a zero up, we were able to extend the game and get him out of there so we can probably use him tomorrow, which is wonderful for us, so we've got Barron and Pham in the backend of the bullpen tomorrow," said Giarratano. "Get a good start from Nechak and we're off to the races."
 
Cal took advantage of three consecutive leadoff free passes (walk, two HBP) in the second, scoring all of them to break a 1-1 tie. With the bases loaded and no outs, all it took was a seeing-eye RBI single, a sacrifice fly and an RBI fielder's choice to make it 4-1.
 
Keshawn Ogans led the Bears' offense with the team's only multi-hit performance (2 for 3) and three RBIs. Cal starter Sean Sullivan was strong for the first six innings of his outing, limiting the Dons to one run on three hits with nine strikeouts. But Davis and Westerman chased him in the seventh with their extra-base hits, tagging him for two more runs and leaving him with a no-decision.
 
San Francisco will look to even the series in Sunday's finale. USF right-hander Grant Nechak is scheduled to face Cal righty Paulshawn Pasqualotto. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.
 
"We were one pitch away from being up 2-1 (in the series), probably two or three pitches away from being up 3-0, but we're down and we've got to even the series tomorrow," said Giarratano. "Playing at home on a Sunday, I like our chances. We extended their bullpen guys, so tomorrow will be a battle of who can make the least mistakes and hopefully that's us."