SAN DIEGO — In an important series between two contending teams midway through the conference schedule, a statement needed to be made in Friday's opener.
 
And make it, the University of San Francisco baseball team did.
 
The Dons dominated San Diego at Fowler Park, getting eight innings from starter Landen Bourassa and five hits from leadoff hitter Luke Keaschall in a 12-1 victory.
 
"That's a good win for us," said San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano. "I thought Landen was fabulous for us. All through the game he was sharp. He was great. He set the tone."
 
Bourassa (4-2) posted his longest outing of the season and longest since he went a career-long 8 1/3 in 2018. He was perfect through the first three innings and would limit the WCC's best and nation's No. 8 offense to only one run on six hits. He struck out five and walked just one while throwing less than 100 pitches in his outing.
 
On the offensive side, the Dons (14-16, 9-4 WCC) collected a season-high 16 hits and scored 12 runs – their second-most in a game this season. The 11-run margin of victory was USF's most over San Diego since May 11, 2008, when it also won by 11 (14-3) in San Francisco. The Dons scored runs in each of the first five innings, running out to a 9-0 lead before the Toreros (20-8, 6-4 WCC) got on the board.
 
Keaschall's five-hit performance from the leadoff spot was the first five-hit game by a Don since April 22, 2019, when Jack Winkler had five hits against UC Davis. He drove in three runs and scored three more. Darius Foster followed behind him with a 3-for-6 performance in the two-hole with two RBIs, a run scored and his 15th stolen base of the year.
 
"Offensively, we were great with 16 hits tonight," said Giarratano. "We had a great night other than the one error that led to them having extra opportunities. That's a good win for us on the road, or anywhere.
 
"Luke's been marvelous all year and he was good again tonight. We had good balance in the lineup. Obviously, Jack did his job, we had great contributions from (Jordan) Vujovich, great at-bats like he's been giving us all year long."
 
San Francisco and San Diego entered the weekend both in second place in the WCC with a .667 winning percentage. The win helps the Dons keep pace with first-place Gonzaga, who were 10-0 winners at Pepperdine on Friday and are now 10-3 in WCC play. The Dons will look Saturday to clinch their first series win over San Diego since 2018 and their first in San Diego since 2015.
 
"It's been a long time since we've been able to have (Alex Pham) for day two with a chance to win the series," said Giarratano. "We have to do our job tomorrow. We'll be ready to play tomorrow when the game is 0-0 and keep this mojo going."
 
Saturday's game two is scheduled for 4 p.m. Fans can find live coverage links on USFDons.com.