Box Score
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The University of San Francisco baseball team picked a good day to turn things around Saturday as they won both games of a doubleheader against UC Santa Barbara to move to 3-4 on the season. The wins gave Head Coach
Nino Giarratano his 399th and 400th at the helm of the Dons, the most by a coach in school history.
The first game saw starting pitchers
Alex Balog and Justin Jacome locked in a pitchers duel through six innings, when the score stood 1-1. The Dons had struggled to find big hits with runners on, something center fielder
Justin Maffei changed when he hit an opposite field, three-run home run to give the Dons a 4-1 lead. Maffei's home run concluded the game's scoring, as
Adam Cimber relieved Balog after seven innings for his first save of the season, retiring all six batters he faced.
After a 30-minute break, the Dons opened the second game by scoring first for the first time all season, putting runs on the board in each of the first six innings and never relinquishing the lead in an 11-5 victory. Dons starting pitcher
Christian Cecilio battled through four innings, giving up five runs but keeping the Dons out front, exiting the game with a 7-5 lead.
Haden Hinkle relieved Cecilio and made quick work of the Gauchos, yielding just three hits in four innings of work.
The offensive outburst included runs driven in by Maffei,
Jason Mahood,
Derek Atkinson, Zachary Turner and
Bob Cruikshank. Maffei, Mahood and shortstop
Jourdan Weiks each scored twice in the win.
“It was a great day for the Dons to play two,” said Giarratano. “
Justin Maffei was spectacular all day, driving in six runs and playing great defense in center field. We played well in all phases of the game today.
Alex Balog,
Adam Cimber and
Haden Hinkle pitched very well, we had some timely hits and some great defense from Maffei and
Jason Mahood. Hopefully we can build off this and get to where we want to be.”
The Dons and Gauchos wrap up the series tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
Inside the Numbers
Justin Maffei (6), Zachary Turner (3) and
Bob Cruikshank (2) each drove in more than one run for the Dons.
Alex Balog has allowed one run in 14 innings this season for a 0.64 ERA.
Lines of the Day
Justin Maffei – 4-7, 3 runs, 6 RBI, home run, 3 doubles (reached base seven times)
Alex Balog – 7 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 4 strikeouts, win
