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MORAGA, Calif.—After being limited to five hits in the series opener, the Dons punched out a season-high 19 hits, got another strong performance from Christian Cecilio and saw Houston Hibberd set the team saves record as they beat Saint Mary's 12-3 on Saturday.
 
"Christian pitched great today. 19 hits. Eight guys in our lineup with multiple hits. Bradley [Zimmer]'s the only guy without multiple hits, he walks four times. It's a pretty good day for us offensively," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "We score seven late in the game after giving up three. It was a good effort from our guys."
 
With the Dons leading 5-0 in the eighth inning, Saint Mary's got some momentum in the eighth. With runners on first and second, DonAndre Clark grounded to Matt Sinatro at second and he tagged the bag for one but an errant throw got by Zack Turner at first, which allowed one to score and make it a 5-1 game. The Gaels tacked on two more on a Ramage double and a ground ball that went through the legs of Turner.
 
Houston Hibberd came in to calm the game down and on two pitches got Anthony Villa to pop up to end the inning.
 
"Christian [Cecilio] was pitching a great game and I was already down there getting loose, not exactly anticipating going in but just being ready," Hibberd said. "Body was hot, I was ready to go in when my name was called, went out there and two quick pitches got the pop up. Happy to get us out of that."
 
"I'm glad Houston got a chance to go in there with the tying run at second base and he did his job like he has all year," Giarratano said. "It's exactly why he breaks the saves record at USF."
 
The Dons came back in the top of the ninth and put the game out of reach. With the bases loaded and one out, Ryan Matranga singled to right to bring home Bob Cruikshank and Michael Kathan to make it an 8-3 game. Bradley Zimmer and Derek Atkinson followed with RBI hits as the Dons scored seven in the frame to make it a 12-3 game.
 
This gave Hibberd the easiest ninth inning of his career. He retired the Gaels in order and picked up his team-record breaking 10th save of the season. The record was previously held by Adam Cimber, who set the record last season.
 
"I actually I didn't know it was a save situation until right before I went out there. That whole inning I was thinking, 'Well save opportunity must be gone, now.' I just tried to treat like any other save situation," Hibberd said.
 
"It's unbelievable being able to go from a guy that had 2.2 inning over the last two years to being able to contribute. Nobody's record I'd rather break than Adam's."
 
San Francisco will play the rubber match of the series on Sunday at 1p.m., which will wrap up the WCC schedule for USF.
 
The Dons broke out in the third inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, Atkinson singled to right center to bring home Matranga and Zimmer and took a 2-0 lead. Zack Turner added to the lead on a sacrifice fly to bring home another to put the Dons up by three.
 
Brendan Hendriks capped off the inning with a single off the glove of a diving Darian Ramage, which allowed Atkinson to score and put USF up 4-0.
 
The next inning, Saint Mary's threatened to get on the board. Michael Valentin doubled to lead off the inning and after a ball hit by DonAndre Clark went under the glove of Bob Cruikshank to give the Gaels runners at second and third with no outs.
 
But Cecilio battled back as he struck out the next two and got a fly ball out to right to get out of the inning unscathed. It was the last time Saint Mary's threatened in the game. The Dons' starter did not allow another base runner until the eighth inning and retired 15 straight batters from the third to seventh innings. He went 7.2 innings and allowed three unearned runs on four hits while striking out a career-high nine.
 
Cody Snider picked up three hits on Saturday, which is the first multi-hit game of his career.