SAN FRANCISCO — The University of San Francisco baseball team used a key eighth-inning rally Friday to break a tie and beat visiting Loyola Marymount, 8-6, clinching a West Coast Conference series victory at Benedetti Diamond.
 
Free passes played a big role in Friday's game two of the series, with the two teams combining for 21 walks and hit batsmen. Five of them scored, including one of the Dons' (9-15, 5-3 WCC) deciding runs in the bottom of the eighth.
 
Jack Winkler started the game-winning rally with a leadoff single through the left side of the infield – his first hit of the game after starting 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly. Then came the free passes, with back-to-back walks for Jordan Vujovich and Jacob Munoz putting two runners in scoring position.
 
Jacob Westerman and Kyle Knell then got the job done for the Dons, hitting consecutive sacrifice flies to right field to bring home two runs to break a 6-6 tie, putting USF ahead for good.
 
"Nice to see the offense get us out to a 6-1 lead, disappointing in the middle of the game to give back five, but it was nice to see the offense add there in there in the eighth, which is always nice at home," said San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano.
 
The Dons had led by as much as 6-1 in the game, but LMU (9-16, 2-6 WCC) whittled away at the deficit thanks in large part to free passes issued by USF. All of LMU's runs in the game came from leadoff batters reaching base. Back-to-back extra-base hits in the second (triple, double) put its first run on the board. A leadoff single and double in the fifth put two runners in scoring position with no outs, and LMU would score on run-producing outs to make it 6-3.
 
A leadoff walk and single in the sixth both came around to score for LMU, making it 6-5. And the Lions finally tied the game in the top of the seventh without a hit. Four free passes (three walks and a hit-by-pitch) in the inning forced home the tying run and made it 6-6.
 
"Eight walks and three hit-by-pitches, not good, not good," said Giarratano. "We've gotta get better if we wanna make a run at this thing. That middle part of our bullpen is just not doing a good job of throwing strikes. They're not doing a good job of getting outs when we need it."
 
Max Jones entered in relief and got five big outs for the Dons. He escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh to keep the game tied at 6-6, and then he faced the minimum in the eighth to send the Dons to their game-winning rally.
 
San Francisco capitalized on free passes to score runs in each of the first four innings and get out to a big 6-1 lead. The Dons drew eight free bases (six walks, two hit-by-pitches) through the first four frames, with two of them scoring and four others getting into scoring position.
 
It was back-to-back two-out walks in the first inning that loaded the bases and set up an RBI chance for Harris Williams. Williams fell behind 0-2 against LMU starter CJ Fernandezees, fouled off the third pitch, then worked the count full before scooting a ground ball through the right side for a two-run single and a 2-0 early lead for USF.
 
A pair of two-out free passes in the third pushed home two more runs for USF and made it 5-1 Dons. A fielding error that could've ended the inning for LMU loaded the bases. Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch and Darius Foster drew a four-pitch walk to push in two runs.
 
San Francisco will go for the series sweep on Saturday. Right-hander Grant Nechak will throw for USF. Fans can find all live coverage links at USFDons.com.