EUGENE, Ore.—The Dons may have turned the corner. Only days after claiming its first series of the season, USF continued the winning ways and got a combination of outstanding pitching, defense, and key base hits on Tuesday night as it knocked off No. 8 Oregon 4-1.
 
The Dons have won three of their last four games.
 
"I thought we played pretty well the last four games," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "We played pretty well early in the season in stretches but we weren't able to put nine innings together. The last few games we've been able to put nine complete innings together."
 
USF will aim to complete the two-game sweep of Oregon on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
 
San Francisco went on the attack in the first. After an infield hit and stolen base from Connor Hofmann, Brendan Hendriks ripped a single into left to bring home the run and give the Dons a 1-0 lead.
 
Dons starter Sheldon Lee had struggled in the early part of the season but had previous success against Oregon. He went five innings against the Ducks last season and allowed no earned runs en route to the 8-4 win.
 
"I was hoping he'd have some confidence from last year," Giarratano said. "I only wanted to throw him three or four innings but he was going so well."
 
That success continued early on as he got into a jam in the second inning when Oregon got two runners on with one out but Lee found a way out with a strikeout and a force out at third to end the threat.
 
Lee got some help from his defense in the third. After a leadoff single, Matt Eureste sent a bloop down the rightfield line and Daniel Patzlaff tried to take third but a strong throw from right by the former Duck Hofmann got the runner.
 
The throw wiped away a potential run scoring opportunity for Oregon with no outs and kept it a one-run USF lead.

Lee did not surrender another hit and went 5.1 shutout innings with three hits and seven strikeouts. It was his longest outing of the season.
 
"I'm really happy for Sheldon," Giarratano said. "He pitched well. It was a step in the right direction for him. It was something we know he's capable of." 

The defense chipped in again in the sixth. With two down and the bases loaded, Oregon hit a ball up the middle but Michael Eaton made a diving stop and flipped to second for the force out to end the inning.
 
Dominic Miroglio added some cushion in the fourth as he led off the inning with a home run to left to put USF up by two.
 
The Dons padded their lead in the eighth. Nico Giarratano and Miroglio singled and set it up for Manny Ramirez, Jr. with two down and he roped a double into left center, scoring both runs, to give the Dons a 4-0 lead.
 
It was Ramirez's first multi-RBI game.
 
Oregon fired back in the bottom half of the inning and got a man on with one out and the Dons went to Brock Larson. After striking the first batter out, he gave up a triple to score the run and make it 4-1. The sophomore right hander found his way out of the inning by getting a groundball to shortstop to end the inning.
 
Travis Ulvestad and Larson combined to throw the last 3.2 innings and struck out seven.