SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Following their first road win of the season, the USF Dons baseball team (2-2) is back at Benedetti Diamond to welcome the Utah Valley Wolverines (1-3) to the Hilltop for a four-game weekend set. Saturday morning includes a doubleheader with first pitch scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and the second game following the conclusion of game one.
The Dons are fresh off a 6-2 road win over UC Davis on Tuesday after battling hard against the No. 17 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos last weekend dropping the series two games to three. USF has received strong production early on from graduate transfer
Gabe Giosso, who leads the team in batting average, RBI and OPS through the early portion of the season, and starting pitcher
Owen Stevenson had a tremendous debut with 5 1/3 shutout innings against the potent Gaucho offense.
SERIES DETAILS:
Friday, Feb. 25, 2022
Utah Valley vs. USF | 2:00 p.m.
Benedetti Diamond | San Francisco, Calif.
Probable Pitchers: RHP Devin Smith (0-0, 3.37 ERA) vs. RHP
Owen Stevenson (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Links:
Watch |
Live Stats
Saturday Feb. 26, 2022 (Game One)
Utah Valley vs. USF | 10:30 a.m.
Benedetti Diamond | San Francisco, Calif.
Probable Pitchers: RHP Coop Rust (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP
Weston Lombard (0-0, 2.08 ERA)
Links:
Watch |
Live Stats
Saturday Feb. 26, 2022 (Game Two)
Utah Valley vs. USF | 12:30 p.m. (Tentatively)
Benedetti Diamond | San Francisco, Calif.
Probable Pitchers: RHP Mason Gray (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP
Jesse Barron (1-0, 5.40 ERA)
Live:
Watch |
Live Stats
Sunday Feb. 27, 2022
Utah Valley vs. USF | 12:30 p.m.
Benedetti Diamond | San Francisco, Calif.
Probable Pitchers: LHP Cole Yocum (0-1, 16.87 ERA) vs. RHP
Sam Beck (0-1, 4.15 ERA)
Live:
Watch |
Live Stats
THINGS TO KNOW:
- USF enters this weekend's series feeling good following their 6-2 win over the UC Davis Aggies on Tuesday. Seven total pitchers combined to hold the Aggie offense to two runs, and a four-run fourth inning with the Dons' offense stringing hits together proved to be a strong cushion leading to the win.
- The Dons hope to receive more quality starting pitching this weekend after the top two pitchers in the rotation delivered in a big way against the Gauchos with Stevenson not allowing an earned run, while Lombard held the UCSB lineup hitless in his 4 1/3 innings of work and allowed just one earned run.
- Leading the USF offense is the trio of Giosso, Mario DeMera and Luke Keaschall who are all hitting over .300 and have been driving the ball all over the field to begin the year. DeMera had a three-hit afternoon in Davis as he also drove in a run with an RBI double, and Keaschall currently leads his team with three doubles in the early portions of the season.
- This weekend's series will be the first time since 2017 that the two teams have competed against each other with USF coming away with the 4-1 victory on the Hilltop over Utah Valley in February 2017.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES:
- Utah Valley is off to a 1-3 start to their season as they dropped three of four games at Texas State to begin their season and had their home opener against Utah postponed due to inclement weather.
- The Wolverine offense has gotten off to a slow start this season as they're hitting .220 as a team, but they're getting on-base at a much-higher .301 on base percentage showing their patient team approach at the plate.
- UVU's pitching staff has had their struggles so far this season as well with a team ERA of 9.56 as they had trouble limiting the powerful offense of Texas State last weekend.
- Senior infielder Mitch Moralez is off to a nice start for the Wolverines as he's hit .357 through his team's first four games of the season with a team leading five hits so far. He's done a great job of reaching base at the top of his team's order with a .438 OBP as well.
TRACK THE ACTION:
Live streams of all three contests will be available on the WCC Network at game time. Live stats are also available and can be found on the team's schedule page via usfdons.com.
FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the USF baseball program, be sure to follow @SFDonsBaseball on Twitter, @USFDonsBaseball on Instagram and @University.of.San.Francisco.Baseball on Facebook.
