Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Dons continue to play well, defeating Pepperdine for the second day in a row, 6-1, at Benedetti Diamond Saturday as the race for the West Coast Conference post-season heats up. The Dons (28-19, 13-7 WCC) have won five of their last six conference series and continue to hold on to second place in the conference behind Gonzaga.
Alex Balog was the story for USF, pitching into the eighth inning and allowing just one run on three hits. Balog evened his record at 3-3 on the season and pitched seven innings for the eighth time this season.
USF got on the board in the first on a
Derek Atkinson single that scored
Bradley Zimmer. Zimmer was 1-for-4 on the day but scored three times and stole three bases, giving him a team-high 17 on the year.
The Dons scored single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings before putting a pair on the board on a
Bob Cruikshank two-RBI double in the eighth.
Pepperdine threatened in the eighth, but
Ben Graff and
Andrew Pulido each retired a batter to end the scoring chance.
Cruikshank was 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs manning the hot corner.
Zachary Turner increased his average to .348 with a 3-for-3 day. Turner scored a pair and drove in two runs.
“Alex was great all day,” said USF head coach
Nino Giarratano. “He was aggressive with the fastball, he threw the breaking ball like he needed to and he got deep into the game.
Ben Graff was phenomenal and Pulido was great. We just wore them down offensively with our walks and some big hits. I'll take a 6-1 win to take the series and hopefully tomorrow we come back and play solid baseball.”
The series concludes tomorrow at Benedetti Diamond. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Inside the Numbers
Zachary Turner drove in two runs, giving him 28 in his last 16 games.
Line of the Game
Alex Balog – 7.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
