The Dons have lost second baseman Jon Rochlin, who started 54 of 55 games last season, and shortstop Ricardo Banuelos to graduation. Hill seems unconcerned, though, as Bryan Bayze, a junior from Chaffey JC with a lefty stroke, seems to have played himself into the starting second baseman's spot. "He can really turn the double play," Hill praises. "He's gonna steal some bases. The question mark is, is he gonna be ready to make the jump to Division I pitching?" Hill also describes Derek Johnson and Jermaine Clark as "battling it out" for the shortstop position. The two pose a contrast in styles: junior right-hander Johnson (the other veteran of the Bowman days) is "Mr. Steady," according to Hill; freshman lefty Clark is "an exciting player. It's just a matter of when he's going to be ready."
Fegan scored from second on a Bayze single to give the Dons the lead they would not lose. Fegan added a seventh-inning RBI double, scoring on a Charles Sciutti sacrifice. In Saturday's series opener, USF, down 3- 1, rallied for four runs in the fourth inning, powered by shortstop Jermaine Clark's two-RBI double. Clark batted .500 in last week's lour games (6-12, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs) and added seven stolen bases to earn the WCC Player of the Week award. Clark, a freshman, is currently leading the conference in batting (.377) and stolen bases (15). Rich Igou took over for the Dons from that point, allowing just one SMC run from that point, striking out 12 in his six innings of work to pick up his second win of the season bv a final count of 7-4. Jeff Hrepich threw three no-hit innings in relief of Igou to pick up his first save of the season. McDaniels, Sciutti and Fegan all added RBIs, and Bayze chipped in a pair of his own. In the seven-inning darkness-shortened nightcap, another fourth-inning charge, this one led by Bayze, brought the Dons back from a 2-1 deficit. In that fourth inning, Bayze pounded out an RBI double and scored from third on a passed ball to give USF the lead, and handed Jeff Harris his first victory of the season, a 4-2 complete-game triumph. Harris struck out seven in his stint on the mound, and Clark added three of the Dons' eight stolen bases (TheFoghorn).
