Box Score Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO – For the second day in a row the USF baseball team battled Cal Poly at Benedetti Diamond, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Mustangs. The Dons again played solid defensively, with center fielder
Justin Maffei making a pair of nice catches and throwing a runner out at third base.
USF starting pitcher
Alex Balog and Cal Poly starter Matt Imhof kept hitters off-balance late into the game, with Balog throwing seven shutout innings and Imhof eight. Balog allowed just three hits and struck out four in his first action of the season.
Junior
Abe Bobb relieved Balog in the top of the eighth with the score 0-0. Bobb, the Dons regular Friday starter, sat out yesterday and after a scoreless eighth, issued an uncharacteristic walk with one out in the ninth. A bloop single down the right field line gave the Mustangs runners at first and third, and Cal Poly's Jordan Brower scored the lone run of the game when the Dons were unable to turn a double play on a slow grounder to second off the bat of Brian Mundell.
“Alex was great today,” said USF Head Coach
Nino Giarratano. “We were just a little unlucky, a jam shot over the first baseman's head and three infield singles. I'm pleased with how the team played, but I'm not pleased with the offense. We did a better job putting the ball in play, but we're having a hard time threatening to score runs.”
The Dons managed only five singles for the game. USF's best scoring opportunities came in the third when
Bradley Zimmer struck out with runners on second and third to end the inning, and in the seventh when
Bob Cruikshank was thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double, stranding
Brendan Hendriks at third.
The Dons start sophomore
Sheldon Lee Sunday. Lee went 0-1 with a 2.00 ERA in 2012. Cal Poly will send Bryan Granger who went 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA last season.
“It's disappointing to start at home, have great weather, great fans and be 0-2 to start the season,” Giarratano said. “We're going to have to figure out how to salvage tomorrow."
Inside the Numbers
Bob Cruikshank,
Jason Mahood and Zachary Turner have collected hits in each of the Dons first two games.
Line of the Game
Alex Balog – 7.0 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 4 strikeouts
