STOCKTON, Calif. — Not in his regular starting spot Saturday with a night off, Jacob Munoz still had an opportunity to contribute.
 
Munoz pinch-hit in the top of the eighth with two runners in scoring position and a tie game, and after an eight-pitch battle, lined a ball to center field to put the University of San Francisco baseball team ahead for good, as the Dons evened their West Coast Conference series at Pacific with a 6-4 win at Klein Family Field.

"Good to bounce back and get back on our feet, play better defense and execute offensively in the eighth inning, something we didn't do last night," said San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano, "and be able to pitch late in the game, which we also didn't do last night."

M8 | #Dons 6 -- #Tigers 4

Jacob Munoz comes through with the pinch-hit, 2-run, go-ahead single in the Top 8th!

Heading to the Bot 8th now, Jesse Barron will return to the mound after getting the final out of the 7th#USFDons pic.twitter.com/EIzcfQIeMd

— USF Dons Baseball (@SFDonsBaseball) May 2, 2021

 
The Dons (17-20, 12-7 WCC) had led 3-0 and 4-1 throughout the evening, but the Tigers (12-26, 2-12 WCC) played USF's role from the night before, erasing the deficit with a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh. San Francisco saw four different pitchers throw in the seventh, but only one run came across after Jesse Barron (2-2) finally got a strikeout to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
 
USF had four multi-hit performances Saturday. Jacob Westerman (2 for 5) had a two-out, two-run double in the third that made it 3-0. Jack Winkler (2 for 4) scored twice and had a sacrifice fly that made it 4-1 in the fifth. Ryan Davis went 2 for 4 with a run scored and a stolen base in his first start in nearly a month (April 3). And Thomas McCarthy posted his fourth multi-hit game of the season and second in his last four games.
 
Pacific had three players with two hits each. Thomas Gavello went 2 for 5 with a third-inning leadoff home run that made it 3-1. After five total double plays turned by the teams in Friday's opener, the double play figured again into Saturday's result. The Tigers had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but a light popup to the second baseman and a quick throw over to first base with the runner too far away ended the game before a rally could begin.

"I thought (Grant) Nechak pitched great into the fifth, deserved a win but we couldn't hold it with the bullpen," said Giarratano. "I was happy with the way we defended today. We look forward to tomorrow with (Eric) Reyzelman. We need a good start. I'd like to see what (Julian) Washburn can do to help us win right now. (Owen) Stevenson is locked and loaded, and it's looking like we'll want to go back to Pham if we get late into the game with a lead."
 
Sunday's rubber match of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. Fans can find live coverage links on USFDons.com.