Box Score Follow the Diamond Dons: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM PORTLAND, Ore.—After a lengthy rain delay, the Dons battled back to tie the game but could not capitalize on chances to take the lead and it cost them as Portland rallied in the ninth for the walk-off 3-2 win on Friday afternoon.
"It breaks down when you walk the leadoff hitter in the ninth inning and then you don't catch a fly ball that you're supposed to catch late in the game, San Francisco head coach
Nino Giarratano said. "We made seven or eight mistakes today, and we got beat and we've been making mistakes.
"We can't beat anybody making those mistakes."
Dons starter
Abe Bobb danced in and out of danger much of the afternoon and allowed 10 hits and one earned run through 6.1 innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, the umpires called for a rain delay that lasted an hour. After returning, Portand had a runner at second with one out but
Logan West and
Ben Graff help the Dons get out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts.
Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, the Dons got consecutive doubles from
Nico Giarratano and
Derek Atkinson to tie the game at two. But the Dons could not get anymore.
Zack Turner popped up and
Brendan Hendriks struck out to end the inning, stranding Atkinson at second.
"Two big at bats. Nico hits a double to get us started then Derek hits a double in the gap, just not any good at bats after that," Giarratano said. "Two really poor at bats after that really killed the momentum. We didn't get much offense from anybody today."
In the ninth, Portland got a leadoff walk from Turner Gill and he advanced to second after a sacrifice bunt by Caleb Whalen. An intentional walk to Davis Tominaga and a single to left by Kevin Wade gave Portland bases loaded with one out for Cody Lenahan.
Lenahan hit a fly ball down the leftfield line that was just out of the reach of
Matt Sinatro and it gave the Pilots the victory.
The Dons (19-21, 7-12 WCC) will be back in action on Saturday when they play a double header against Portland beginning at 11 a.m.
The Dons seemed to be going in the right direction in the second inning.
Brendan Hendriks led off the inning by being hit on the first pitch and moved to third on the single by
Bob Cruikshank to set up runners at the corners with no outs. With
Justin McCullough at the plate, Portland starter Davis Tominaga threw a wild pitch that rolled into the Dons dugout and allowed Hendriks to score, giving them a 1-0 lead.
The Dons had a chance to add on but
Michael Eaton grounded back to Tominaga for the third out of the inning.
Portland fired back in its half of the inning. After a leadoff single by Ryan Barr, the Pilots attempted to move him to second on a bunt by Chet Thompson but the Bobb throw got away from Hendriks and allowed Barr to move to third. Bo Cornish was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. However, Portland was only able to get one across one on a sacrifice fly from Michael Lucarelli and tie the game 1-1.
Portland tacked on another in the third with a sacrifice fly from Kevin Wade to go up 2-1.
The Dons had another two-out chance to tie the game with two runners on and Eaton at the plate in the fourth but he struck out on a breaking ball to end the inning.
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