Box Score
SPOKANE, Wash. – The University of San Francisco Diamond Dons showed their competitive spirit Friday night, battling repeatedly to prolong a game that Gonzaga won in 14 innings, 3-2.
Dons starter
Abe Bobb and Gonzaga ace Marco Gonzales were locked in a duel all night, as the pre-season All-West Coast Conference selections opened the conference schedule. Bobb scattered eight hits and three walks over eight innings, overcoming five errors from his defense to keep the Dons even with the Bulldogs through eight. The redshirt junior pitched out of jams in all but one of his frames, allowing Gonzaga to move runners into scoring position in every inning but the fourth.
For the Dons, missed opportunities were all too common. Centerfielder
Justin Maffei doubled to lead of the first and advanced to third with one out on a sacrifice but was stranded after a pair of strikeouts ended the inning. Gonzales retired 14 straight Dons after Maffei's double, and USF scored its only runs of the night in the sixth inning on a
Mitchell Rowan sacrifice fly and a
Bradley Zimmer RBI single. Zimmer's single up the middle extended his hit streak to nine games, a season-high for USF.
The score remained tied at two through 13, as Dons relievers
Bob Mott,
Haden Hinkle,
Sheldon Lee,
Ben Graff and
Andrew Pulido held the Zags scoreless for five innings. Gonzaga appeared to have won the game in the 14
th inning when Alex Bonczyk singled to center with a runner on second and one out, but Maffei fired a strike to catcher
Kyle Anderson to cut down the runner and preserve the tie. The Dons luck would run out on the next batter though, as Cabe Reiten drove a ball into left-center to score the winning run.
Ben Graff (1-1) took the loss for the Dons, and Arturo Reyes (2-0) earned the win after throwing six innings of shutout baseball.
“It was a really tough-played game by both teams,” said USF Head Coach
Nino Giarratano. “We were not sharp offensively tonight, but we pitched great. It was a great effort by the team to overcome a ton of adversity. We made five errors and had seven hits and played a 14-inning game, but we will need to get better.”
The teams play the second game of the series tomorrow at 3 p.m. USFs
Alex Balog (1-1, 1.93 ERA) will face Gonzaga's Tyler Olson (2-1, 1.84 ERA).
Inside the Numbers
Bradley Zimmer extended his hit streak to nine, a season-best on the team. Zachary Turner's hit streak was snapped at eight games.
Line of the Game
Haden Hinkle – 4.0 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts
