April 27, 2008

Final Stats

(San Francisco, CA) - San Francisco took the West Coast Conference series from Portland with a 5-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Benedetti Diamond. USF increased its record to 25-19, 8-7 WCC, and drop Portland to 18-25, 3-12 WCC.

Freshman left-hander Matt Lujan (5-2) threw seven scoreless innings before allowing the Pilots to cross the plate in the eighth. In 7.1 innings, Lujan allowed just one earned run off seven hits, no walks, and had a career high six strikeouts against the Pilots.

Senior right-hander Mitchell Bialosky threw the final 1.2 innings, not allowing a run off just one hit, a walk, and a strikeout.

USF scored in the third to take a 1-0 lead. Freshman third baseman Chris Escobar singled up the middle, earning his first hit in conference play. Senior shortstop Tavo Hall pushed Escobar to second on a sacrifice bunt before senior second baseman Joey Railey doubled down the left field line. Escobar scored on the play. Railey now has 215 career base knocks, good enough for seventh place all time on the Dons hits chart. He needs just two more to take over sixth place from Jermaine Clark (1995-97/216) and Joe Jacobitz (2002-04/216).

In the sixth, the Dons attached some insurance, plating four. Senior pinch hitter Matt Lieb singled up the middle to start the frame, and was followed by a single up the middle for senior right fielder Kyle Morgan. Freshman first baseman Stephen Yarrow singled, plating Ethel who had pinch ran for Lieb. After a pitching change, Bialosky smashed a pitch high on the net in left field, good enough for a three run bomb.

Bialosky had a hot day at the plate, going 3-for-4, including his fifth homerun of the season, three RBI and a run scored. Yarrow had two hits, along with an RBI and a run scored. Escobar earned his first and second hits in WCC play, and scored a run. Railey singled in a run, while Lieb, Morgan, and Kim each singled as well.

Portland tallied a run in the eighth off a bases loaded sacrifice fly by senior center fielder Danny Meier.

Junior right-hander Brennan Thorpe (2-1) suffered the loss for Portland, allowing four earned runs off nine hits, one walk, and struck out one Don. Bialosky's homerun came off junior right-hander Matt Lange, who allowed one earned run off one hit in 0.2 innings. Freshman left-hander Scott Burris threw the final 2.1 innings, not allowing a run off one hit, and struck out three Dons. Senior designated hitter Billy Krause led the Pilots with three hits on the day.

USF has another busy week ahead, traveling to Stockton for a 6:35 PM game on Tuesday, hosting Fresno State at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, and heading north to play a three game WCC set in Spokane, WA. Friday's game with Gonzaga is set for 6:30 PM. Saturday's and Sunday's contests versus the Bulldogs are set for 1:00 PM.