WEEK THAT WAS: The Dons went 1-1 in their midweek games against Cal and San Francisco State. USF dropped a close game against the Golden Bears on Tuesday, narrowly losing, 4-3. The Dons bounced back with a victory against intracity San Francisco State on Wednesday, 8-7. The win against the Gators snapped a four-game skid for the Dons. Matt Chavez hit a two-run home run, his first of the year and Logan West won his first collegiate game, pitching three innings of one-run ball in relief.
THIS WEEK: USF now welcomes Big West power UC Santa Barbara for a three-game weekend set starting with the Dons' first doubleheader of the season on Saturday, March 24. The Saturday games have been moved to Laney College in Oakland due to weather concerns. Game one of the doubleheader starts at 12:00 pm, while the second game will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one. Sunday's game is still temporarily scheduled for Benedetti Diamond and a 1:00 p.m. start.
LOOKING AHEAD: After playing the Gauchos, USF will host Sacramento State on Wednesday, March 28 for a single game and then kick off conference play against rival San Diego starting on Friday, March 30 at 3:00 p.m. at Benedetti Diamond.
GIARRATANO MILESTONE: With the March 2nd win against Northridge, Head Coach Nino Giarrtano surpassed Legend of The Hilltop and former USF baseball coach, Dante Benedetti with 374 career WCC coaching victories. Giarratano is now the winningest baseball coach in San Francisco Dons history.
2012 DANTE BENEDETTI CLASSIC: USF will meet league rival University of San Diego in the Seventh Annual Dante Benedetti Baseball Classic on Saturday, March 31st, 2012 at 10:30 AM at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Tickets for the DBC are $10 each and can be purchased online until March 24 at http://dantebenedetticlassic.eventbrite.com. After March 24, you can only purchase tickest to the DBC on the day of the game at AT&T Park at the ticket window.
SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara enters the weekend series coming off a series sweep over Rhode Island - 10-7, 13-3, 13-7. The Gauchos scored double-digit run totals in all three games against Rhode Island to improve to 10-9 on the 2012 season. The Gauchos are led offensively by Brett Vertigan, who is hitting .425 with four triples and 14 RBIs.
LAST TIME VS. UC SANTA BARBARA: The Dons beat the Gauchos at AT&T Park on March 11, 2011 by a score of 3-2. Starter Matt Lujan went eight strong innings for the victory, striking out six. Matt Hiserman earned the save, his first of the season, with a perfect ninth inning. Jason Mahood and Travis Higgs both hit doubles in the game, while Stephen Yarrow and Nik Balog delivered run-scoring hits.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: Junior pitcher Kyle Zimmer was named a second team All-American in Baseball America's college preseason poll. The right-hander became the first San Francisco Don to be named a preseason All-American since Tagg Bozied in 2000. The La Jolla, CA native burst onto the national scene last season when he outdueled then No. 12 UCLA and phenom Gerrit Cole, shutting out the Bruins, 3-0, while striking out 11 in the first game of the NCAA Los Angeles Regional. Zimmer four-hit the Bruins and walked none to propel the Dons to their first Regional win since 2006.
In his last outing, Zimmer tossed a complete game shutout, striking out eleven Hawaii hitters en route to a 3-0 victory. Zimmer's ERA now stands at 2.10 and he has an incredible 36-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio as well as a gaudy .183 BAA.
