SPOKANE, Wash. — For the second straight night, the University of San Francisco baseball team took a lead on the road over first place and nationally ranked Gonzaga, but also for the second straight time, the Bulldogs found a way to rally back and hold on for a close win, squeaking out another one-run triumph in beating the Dons, 6-5, at Patterson Baseball Complex.
An issue that has rarely plagued the Dons (22-27, 15-11 WCC) – if at all – for the past two months came back to haunt them like it did during the early goings of the season, and that was free passes. Gonzaga (32-14, 19-4 WCC) drew multiple walks in both of the innings in which it rallied to both tie the game and go ahead late.
The Bulldogs trailed 5-1 entering the bottom of the fifth and had to face one of the Dons' top arms in
Alex Pham. But they were patient, and even though Pham recorded his team-leading 70th strikeout in the inning, he also issued five walks, including four with the bases loaded – three of them back-to-back-to-back – pushing across four runs and tying the game at 5-5.
Gonzaga again took advantage of multiple walks in the bottom of the eighth to score what would be the game-winning run. Ernie Yake led off the inning with a bloop double into right field, and consecutive walks followed to load the bases. Yake then scrambled home on a wild pitch, making it 6-5.
The Dons, like in Friday's opener, were not without their chances on Saturday. They had two on and one out in the first but rolled into a double play to end the threat. They had runners on the corners in the third but left them there to stunt a two-out rally that had already netted three runs and the lead for USF. They left a runner in scoring position in the fifth and eighth innings, and got the tying run to third base in the ninth, but couldn't bring it home.
Luke Keaschall got the Dons rolling in the third with a game-tying home run, his fourth homer of the season. He'd finish the day going 2 for 5 for his third multi-hit game in his last four. Two walks later,
Jordan Vujovich tripled home two runs to put USF ahead, 3-1. The very next inning,
Darius Foster hit his third homer of the year, a two-run shot that made it 5-1 at the time.
Jesse Barron was solid in only his second career start, throwing four innings and striking out two while only allowing one run in a no-decision.
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.
