University of San Francisco Athletics

Box Score

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STANFORD, Calif.—The Dons gave up three runs in the first and three more in the fifth and were unable to catch up as they dropped their third straight contest to Stanford 6-4 on Tuesday night.
 
"Any time you fall behind 3-0 at the start of the game, we just made it too easy for them in the beginning," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "We walked the first guy on four pitches and we gave up a base hit and we just couldn't execute. Any time you give up three in the first, it's tough on your team."
 
The Dons (3-5) have now split its last six meetings with Stanford.
 
San Francisco starter Grant Goodman got himself into some trouble in the first. After a walk and a single to lead off the inning, Alex Blandino ripped a double down the third base line, scoring two, and Stanford went up 2-0. The Cardinal added another on an infield single to take a three-run lead after one inning.
 
Goodman settled down after the first and shutout Stanford the next three innings. Stanford finally chased Goodman from the game in the fifth after an RBI double by Brett Michael Doran.
 
Thomas Cox came in but Stanford continued to add to their lead The first batter to face Cox, Wayne Taylor, hit a double to score Doran and he was promptly brought home on an Alex Dunlap single to go up 6-0.
 
Goodman went 4.2 innings allowing five runs on six hits while striking out four.
 
Stanford starter Cal Quantrill, who is the normal Friday starter for the Cardinal, went three innings allowing only two base runners. Through the first five innings, the Dons managed only four base runners.
 
The Dons held the Cardinal down after that. Mack Meyer, Jordan Haseltine and Ben Graff came out of the bullpen and threw three innings and allowed only two base runners to give USF a chance to come back.
 
"I thought we pitched really good out of the bullpen after that point and gave ourselves a chance to get back in the game," Giarratano said. "Offensively, I knew we were going to start swinging the bats."
 
In the sixth, the Dons finally broke through. Nico Giarratano led off the inning with a double and was moved over to third on a groundout by Bradley Zimmer. After a walk to Zack Turner, Derek Atkinson hit a soft liner into left for an RBI single to put the Dons on the board.
 
Two batters later, Brendan Hendriks came up with runners on first and second with two outs and he lined it into the rightfield corner for a double, scoring both runners, to cut the Stanford lead to 6-3.
 
The Dons started a two-out rally in the ninth. Cody Snider got his first career hit on a two-strike pitch and moved up to second after a walk to Harrison Bruce. Matt Sinatro drove him in on a single to left but that would be a close as USF would get.
 
San Francisco will return to action on Friday as it begins a three-game set against Sacramento State with the first being in Sacramento and the final two at Benedetti Diamond.