University of San Francisco Athletics

Box Score  
 
Follow the Diamond Dons: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM
 
SAN FRANCISCO—The Dons scored early and tacked on some critical insurance runs late as they held on to beat San Jose State 6-3 on Tuesday afternoon.
 
"I think we swung the bats well enough and we played defense well enough to win today," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "The bats kind of gave us that 4-0 cushion and we could walk six and still stay in the game. The defense was the difference today in keeping them from scoring very many runs at all."
 
Dons starter Grant Goodman loaded the bases in the first on three walks for San Jose State's home run leader, Matt Carroll, but got him to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
 
San Francisco (22-25, 9-15 WCC) then got their starter some runs.
 
With the Dons already leading 1-0 in the second inning, Bob Cruikshank came up and crushed a 0-1 pitch over the yellow line in leftfield for a two-run home run to give them a three-run lead. One batter later, Justin McCullough repeated the feat by hitting a solo homer to give USF a 4-0 lead.
 
San Jose State put the pressure on Goodman again in the sixth when it got the bases loaded again for Carroll. This time, Carroll came through with a two-run double to make it 4-2. The Spartans tacked on another with a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run game.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, it was Cruikshank and McCullough who got the offense rolling. After Cruikshank reached on an error, McCullough singled to left but the Spartan leftfielder Tyler Olivet misplayed the ball and it rolled to the wall, which allowed Cruikshank to score from first and give the Dons a 5-3 lead.
 
The Dons get back into the win column just before heading to Moraga for their final WCC series against Saint Mary's, which begins on Friday.
 
The defense took care of the rest, led by Nico Giarratano. The freshman shortstop had seven chances on balls on Tuesday and none were of the routine variety. With runners on first and third with two outs in the seventh, San Jose State's Sheldon Daquioag grounded a ball up the middle but Giarratano snared it, spun and threw him out to end the inning.
 
An inning later, Giarratano was at it again when a ball ricocheted off the glove of Ben Graff, he fielded it behind second base, spun and threw in one motion to throw out Matt Lopez at first.
 
"I thought he was sharp today," Nino Giarratano said. "There weren't all routine plays. They were balls moving him right, he had to throw on the run, moving him left. He had to spin twice. I'm really pleased with how he played. He saw it well, he's moving good side-to-side."
 
Houston Hibberd picked up his ninth save of the season, which ties the single season school record set by Adam Cimber last season.