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THIS WEEK: San Francisco hosts Oregon for one game at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23 at Benedetti Diamond. The Dons then play a three-game series against Pacific with the series starting at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 25 at Pacific. The final two games of the series take place at Benedetti Diamond at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, March 26-27.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Dons' host California for a 2 p.m. game on Tuesday, March 29th and then travel to Fresno State for a three-game series taking place April 1-3. The first two games are scheduled for 6:05 p.m. starts and the third to begin at 1:05 p.m.
LOOKING BACK: USF played five games in seven days and began with a 10-0 win against San Jose State in the Sixth Annual Dante Benedetti Classic at AT&T Park. The next day, the Dons took down No. 15 California 7-6 in 11 innings. Then-No. 11 Arizona swept the Dons in three games in Tucson, Ariz.
LIVE RADIO/STATS: Fans can visit http://sports.yahoo.com/top/collegebroadcast/teams/saf to listen to all four games this week. Visit http://usfdons.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/schedule for the links for live stats and/or game tracker for this week's action.
A PLACE IN HISTORY: USF right-handed pitcher Garrett Luippold's appearance in the ninth inning of the Dons' third game against Arizona marked the senior's 88th appearance on the mound. That moved him into a tie with Patrick McGuigan for most appearances in USF history. Luippold's next appearance will give him sole possession of most trips to the mound in school history.
SCOUTING THE DUCKS: If USF is playing a partial Pac-10 schedule then consider Oregon to be playing a partial West Coast Conference schedule. The Ducks will play 14 games against five WCC teams this season. Wednesday's tilt against USF is Oregon's eighth WCC game after going 2-1 against Saint Mary's, losing to Portland and winning three at San Diego. Oregon and USF have both played Long Beach State this season. The Dons lost 5-4 and the Ducks lost two games in a three-game series against Dirtbags. Ducks' freshman outfielder Aaron Jones was named Pack-10 Player of the Week and is currently hitting .329.
LAST TIME VS. OREGON: This is the first time in three decades that the two programs have faced off. Oregon won the last meeting 15-13 in 1981.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Pacific returns six starting position players from a team that went 31-23 last season and finished fourth in the Big West. The Tigers and the Dons both posted 3-2 wins against Sacramento State this year. After beginning the season 3-12, Pacific rallied last weekend to take a series at USC; winning games two and three by scores of 10-9 and 7-2. The Tigers are hitting .261 this season and have committed 22 errors compared to the Dons' total of just 11.
LAST TIME VS. PACIFIC: After rain forced the series to move to Pacific to open the 2010 season, the Tigers came away with 3-1 and 10-3 wins and the Dons won one game 6-5. Friday's game will be the 122nd meeting between the two programs.
RUNNING WITH THE PAC (10): San Francisco may play in the West Coast Conference, but the Dons will play 20 percent of their games this season against Pac-10 teams. USF has already played once against California and three times against Arizona and UCLA and will face Oregon once this week and again in mid-April. The Dons will also host California next week and make a trip to Stanford in mid-May.
GUEST APPEARANCE: Dons fans listening to the audio broadcast of USF's game at California were treated to a special surprise when Giants' announcer Duane Kuiper stopped by the radio booth to do an inning with Anthony D'Albora, the voice of the Dons. Kuiper spoke at the team's crab feed kickoff dinner and pledged to keep in touch with the team.
TWICE AS NICE: USF has totaled 26 doubles this season, with 10 different players having notched a two-base hit. Junior Adam Clear leads the team with seven, but Nik Balog and Stephen Yarrow are right on his heels with six each.
YOU ARE OUT: Junior Nik Balog is now sixth in all-time put outs at USF. The first baseman has amassed 716 put outs and leads the West Coast Conference with 161 putouts this season. He needs just 37 more to move into fifth.
GOING STREAKING: USF shortstop Adam Clear is riding a 15-game hitting streak. The junior's streak began with a single against UC Davis on Feb. 27 at Benedetti Diamond. Clear has totaled 26 hits this season and has hit safely in 17 out of 20 games.
TOPPING THE CHARTS: Senior
Pete Lavin leads the West Coast Conference in batting average, (.390), walks (15), stolen bases (12) and hits (30). Junior
Adam Clear is fourth in the league with a .338 batting average.
WALK THIS WAY: The Dons lead the West Coast Conference in walks, having totaled 64 free passes this season. A total of 12 different players have drawn walks with Pete Lavin leading the way (15) and Connor Bernatz and Stephen Yarrow drawing 12 and 10, respectively.
GOING THE EXTRA MILE: The Dons claimed their second extra inning win of the season on March 16 at No. 15 California. USF senior Stephen Yarrow fought off numerous pitches pitches, behind in an 0-2 count, before lacing a fastball into left field to score the eventual game-winning run. The Dons played in just three extra inning games last season and have already matched that total a third of the way into the 2011 season.
HOME RUNS FOR HEALTH: Junior Graeme Agate and senior Travis Higgs join teammate Ted LeMasters in having notched home runs this season. Agate's came against San Jose State and Higgs hit his blast in Arizona. Keep donating to USF's Home Runs for Health Campaign! Junior pitcher/outfielder Bob Mott and teammates Cameron Love, Nik Balog and Jared Denham dreamed up a fundraising campaign for the Nothing But Nets Foundation, which raises money to buy malaria nets for families in Africa. For each home run USF hits this season, the Dons plan to donate a malaria net to the Nothing But Nets Foundation. Each net costs $10. To donate, please visit nothingbutnets.net and search for the USF team page.
COMING TO AN END: The Dons' streak of 50 consecutive innings ended in the desert against Arizona, on an extremely low-cut infield at Frank Sancet Stadium. USF had totaled just five errors in 17 games going into the series.
RECORD-SETTING SKIPPER: Head coach Nino Giarratano is just five wins away from collecting his 350th victory at USF. Another 13 West Coast Conference wins would give Giarratano the seventh most league wins in WCC history.
