SAN FRANCISCO—The Dons put it all together on Friday afternoon as they got runs early and late and got another amazing performance from right hander Anthony Shew to beat UC Riverside 4-0 in the team's home opener.
 
"It's the first time we've won the first third of the game, won the middle third, and won the last third of the game," San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano said. "That's how we wanted to draw it up but we just couldn't do it until today."
 
Shew, who has gone eight innings in each of his last three starts, was dominant again against UC Riverside and went eight shutout innings while striking out 10.
 
"He was sharp," Giarratano said of Shew. "Even early in the game, he kind of got squeezed. He throws a complete game shutout if he gets a few pitches either way. We've been getting great performances from him. If we can find the other guys around him and we can do this on a Friday, we put ourselves in a position to win the series."
 
The Dons will go for the series win on Saturday with Christian Cecilio on the mound. Game time is at 1 p.m.
 
UC Riverside made Shew work in the top of the first and he threw 23 pitches, including two at bats that made up 18 of those, but was able to get out of the inning unscathed.
 
His teammates rewarded Shew for his work in the first. In the bottom half of the inning, Nico Giarratano and Brendan Hendriks singled to put runners at first and second for Dominic Miroglio and he ripped a sharp single to center to bring home one and put USF up 1-0.
 
Shew found his groove after that and set down 12 straight batters between the second and sixth inning and, after allowing two hits in the first two innings, did not allow another hit until the seventh.
 
Over his last three starts, Shew has thrown 24 innings and allowed three earned runs (1.12 ERA).
 
The Dons added onto their lead in the fifth when Connor Hofmann crushed a double over the rightfielder's head, advanced to third on an error, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Derek Atkinson to go up two.
 
"We manufactured runs," Giarratano said. "In the first, we got a hit to spark us a little bit. I thought we put the ball in play with runners in scoring position today, which is the difference. If you can do that, you have a chance to score."
 
UC Riverside had their best chance to get back into the game in the eighth when the Highlanders got two on with one out but Shew battled and struck out the next two batters to end the frame and the threat.
 
The Dons patted their lead when, with the bases loaded, Michael Eaton laced a single into left to bring home two and give them a 4-0 lead.
 
"Bases loaded right there. He's a smart kid and he figured out that they were going to come in and he was on time," Giarratano said.
 
Eaton is 4-for-11 with four RBI over his last three games.
 
UC Riverside had one final gasp in the ninth against Matt Narahara when the Highlanders got runners at the corners with one out but the senior lefty got a strikeout and a diving catch from Atkinson in centerfield to end the ball game.
 
"Good teams score early and score late," said Giarratano. "Today was one of those deals where we scored in the first and scored in the eighth and if you do that, you've got a real good opportunity to win if you pitch the way we did."