May 11, 2008

Final Stats

(San Francisco, CA) - San Francisco brought the bats to Benedetti Diamond as the Dons smash fifteen hits in a 14-3 victory over No. 8 San Diego in West Coast Conference action on Sunday afternoon. The Dons (31-23, 12-9 WCC) are just the second WCC team (Santa Clara) to win a season series over the Toreros (39-15, 16-5 WCC) this season.

After sophomore left fielder Kevin Muno gave the Toreros a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with his lead off homerun to center, the Dons took it back in the same fashion in the bottom of the frame. Senior second baseman Joey Railey extended his hit streak to 16 games with a lead off homerun of his own, a shot to right field to make it 1-1.

USD fell apart in the next inning and the Dons capitalized. Junior left fielder Zach Kim and sophomore catcher Ryan Lipkin singled to start the frame. Senior designated hitter Matt Lieb reached on a fielding error by Toreros senior second baseman Kevin Hanson, allowing Kim to score from second. With runners again on first and second, sophomore shortstop Derek Poppert reached on a fielder's choice and Lipkin scored on another USD throwing error, this time by freshman pitcher Kyle Blair.

Blair was then relieved by freshman left-hander Sammy Solis, but USF was far from finished.

Freshman third baseman Stephen Yarrow reached on a fielder's choice. San Diego tried to get Poppert out at second, but Hanson missed the bag. With the bases loaded, Railey singled up the middle, plating Lieb and Poppert. Freshman center fielder Connor Bernatz was hit by a pitch to load the bases once again, and senior right fielder Kyle Morgan singled up the middle, scoring Yarrow and Railey. Bernatz advanced to third on the play and scored on senior first baseman Mitchell Bialosky's sacrifice fly to center, making it 8-1.

San Diego scored once in the third off Hanson's RBI double to left, but USF plated three in the fourth to extend the score to 11-2, when, for the second time in two weeks, the Dons managed back-to-back homeruns. Morgan smashed a two-run shot to right field just before Bialosky's solo-shot to the same spot.

In the sixth, USF added two more runs. Bialosky doubled to start the frame and scored on Kim's triple to right center. Kim scored on the play when USD's sophomore right fielder James Meador airmailed the ball into the USF dugout. In the eighth, freshman pinch hitter Chris Escobar singled in Bialosky, who had doubled to lead off the inning.

Freshman left-hander Matt Lujan (7-2) earned the win, allowing just two earned runs off six hits, one walk, and struck out seven Toreros in 7.1 innings. Right-hander Blair (6-4) took the loss for San Diego, allowing five runs (four earned) off three hits, no walks, and two strikeouts in 1.0+ innings of work.

Bialosky (homerun, two doubles, two RBI) and Kim (triple, one RBI) each led the Dons with three hits. Morgan homered and singled, batting in four runs. Railey went 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Poppert doubled, while Bernatz, Lipkin, Escobar, and sophomore Bobby Ethel singled.

USF hosts Dallas Baptist for a three-game non-conference series at Benedetti Diamond next weekend to close out the 2008 regular season. Thursday's and Friday's first pitches are set for 3:00 PM, with Saturday's start set for 1:00 PM.

NOTES: - With his two hits tonight, Railey now has 235 for his career. He is one away from tying Arnie Sambel (1987-90/236) for fourth place on the Dons All-Time Hits chart. - This is the fourth time the Dons have beat a ranked opponent this season: 5-1 over No. 7 Cal (4/1); 13-9 over No. 6 Stanford (5/6); 6-3 (5/10) and 14-3 (5/11) over No. 8 San Diego.