USF Baseball Takes Convincing 9-1 Win Over Pacific :: Joey Railey Blasts First Homerun of the Season

March 12, 2008

(San Francisco, CA) - San Francisco earned its first home victory of the 2008 season 9-1 over Pacific on Wednesday afternoon. In the friendly confines of Benedetti Diamond, the Dons (7-8) bats caught fire with 11 hits, including two doubles and a homerun, against a struggling Tigers (2-11) team.

Four Dons pitchers held the Tigers to just one run off seven hits. Starter, freshman lefty Matt Lujan (1-0) earned his first win as a Don, throwing 5.0 innings and only giving up one earned run off three hits. Lujan struck out four Tigers and did not walk a batter. Sophomore right-hander Alex Kalogrides threw 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing three hits, and struck out two. Sophomore righty Joe Oropeza threw a scoreless inning of relief, without giving up a hit and striking out two. Freshman right-hander Jonathan Abramson threw a scoreless ninth.

Senior second baseman Joey Railey came up big, going 2-for-4, including his first homerun of the season. Senior shortstop Tavo Hall was 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Junior left fielder Drew Johnson also had two hits, an RBI, and scored a run. Sophomore center fielder Bobby Ethel doubled. Adding singles in the contest were senior first baseman Mitchell Bialosky, junior pinch hitter Zach Kim, senior right fielder Kyle Morgan, and junior third baseman Dane Braunecker.

Pacific's sophomore righty Hunter Carnevale (1-3) took the loss, giving up eight runs (five earned) off eight hits, in 3.0 innings. The Dons final run came off freshman right-hander Corey Kohnke, who gave up three hits, two walks, and struck out two Dons in 5.0 innings of relief. Junior first baseman Kurt Wideman led the Tigers at the plate, going 4-for-4, including a double and a homerun.

USF took a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning. Railey homered to right center to lead off the inning. Hall doubled before sophomore designated hitter Derek Poppert was hit by a pitch, and Bialosky singled to left. Hall scored on a Morgan sacrifice fly and Poppert scored on a Johnson ground out. The Dons added a run in the second to make it 4-0 before putting it out of reach with four in the third.

Poppert was hit by a pitch again to lead off the inning, and an out later Morgan reached base on an error by Pacific's junior shortstop Jonathan Lewis, putting runners at second and third. Johnson singled to left, scoring Poppert. Ethel then doubled, scoring Morgan and again putting runners on second and third. Sophomore catcher Sam Wiley sacrificed to left, scoring Johnson and Braunecker singled to right, scoring Ethel.

Both teams traded zeros in the fourth, but Pacific got on the board in the top of the fifth when Wideman blasted a two-out solo homerun to center. USF added an insurance run in the seventh. Kim pinch hit for Bialosky, singling to right. Pacific's Kohnke threw two consecutive wild pitches, putting Kim on third. Morgan hit his second sacrifice fly of the game, scoring Kim.

USF hits the road this weekend, playing a three game series in Houston. First pitch on Friday is set for 4:30 PM Pacific.