University of San Francisco Athletics

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Boxscore

SAN FRANCISCO — USF claimed yet another come-from-behind victory to beat Pepperdine 8-6 on Sunday afternoon at Benedetti Diamond on a day that the Dons' honored their nine seniors.

The win completed a three-game series sweep for USF, making it the first time in 40 years that the Dons have swept the Waves. It was only the second time in the history of USF baseball that the Dons have captured a three-game sweep against the Waves.

USF is now 14-4 in West Coast Conference play with just one series left to play. Second-place Gonzaga is 11-3, but still needs to play four more league games before hosting the Dons for an end of the season showdown from May 27-29 in Spokane.

It was a wild affair early as Pepperdine took a 5-0 lead in the top of the second after Joe Sever hit a grand slam and a wild pitch scored another run. The Dons did not flinch, however, as they immediately went to work on the deficit in the bottom half of the inning.

Sophomore Jared Denham began the scoring with a RBI-single up the middle, followed by a 2-RBI single from Dons' leadoff hitter Pete Lavin. Two batters later, senior Stephen Yarrow doubled to center field to send two runs across the plate and tie the game at 5-5.

"We just put together the rally hit by hit," Lavin said.

USF totaled five hits, two walks and a sacrifice bunt in the inning after sending 10 batters to the plate. 

The next two innings were quiet for both teams, before the Waves took the lead again on a two-out RBI-single to left field in the fifth.

USF tied the game again after Ted LeMasters led off the sixth inning with a double down the right field line and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Lavin singled through the right side of the infield to collect his third RBI of the afternoon. The Dons' weren't finished as Travis Higgs powered a RBI-single to centerfield to give USF a 7-6 lead.

Shortstop Aritz Garcia added an insurance run for the Dons with a solo home run to left field in the seventh. He turned in a 2-for-3 day. 

"This has just been one of those years," USF coach Nino Giarratano said. "The resiliency of this group and how and why they do it they way they do has been great."

All four senior position players in the lineup notched multiple hit games with Lavin leading the way on a 3-for-5 day. Yarrow went 2-for-5, Higgs was 2-for-4 and Connor Bernatz finished 2-for-3 with a walk and a sacrifice bunt. With that sacrifice hit, Bernatz tied USF's single-season sacrifice record with 11 on the year.

Junior Cameron Love earned his first win of the season after pitching two hitless innings with two strikeouts. Senior Garrett Luippold earned his second save after striking out three in the top of the ninth. Classmate Jonathan Abramson pitched 3.1 strong innings in relief, giving up one run on four hits with three strikeouts.

USF improved to 15-3 this season at Benedetti Diamond and has now won 10-straight home games.

"The way we have protected home this year has been awesome," Bernatz said.

USF (28-22) travels to Stanford (28-18) for a 5:30 p.m. game on Tuesday, May 17^th at Sunken Diamond.