DAVIS, Calif. – The USF baseball team suffered a 15-3 loss at UC Davis on Tuesday afternoon at Dobbins Stadium. The Aggies put together big innings with four runs in the second and six in the seventh to put the game away.
 
USF starter Grant Goodman (0-3) took the loss, giving up two runs on one hit while walking two in his lone inning of work.
 
Allen Smoot (2-for-4) led the Dons at the plate, while Blake Valley (1-for-3, 2B) scored a pair of runs and Matt Sinatro (1-for-2) and Ross Puskarich (0-for-3) each drove in runs.  
 
"We've got to improve," said head coach Nino Giarratano, "and we've known that all year, but we've been close at times and we kind of forget the message that we've still got to get better. You can't walk nine guys and make that many mistakes on the pitching mound. You multiply that by not making some plays in the outfield and you multiply that by some baserunning mistakes and our inefficiencies offensively and we didn't do what we needed to do to win a ballgame today."
 
The Dons got on the board right away when Blake Valley led off the game with a double in the right-center gap. He scored three batters later on a wild pitch that skipped to the backstop.
 
UC Davis (8-15) wasted no time in answering as the Aggies took advantage of a leadoff walk to Tanner Bily, who came around to score on an RBI groundout by Mark Cardinalli two batters later. UCD then took a 2-1 lead when Goodman threw a two-out wild pitch in the dirt that skipped away from catcher Riley Helland, allowing Cameron Olson to score from third. 
 
The Aggies pulled away with a four-run second inning behind a two-out base-clearing triple from Cardinalli that tipped off diving left fielder Valley's glove, followed by an RBI double down the right field line by the next hitter, Olson, that put UC Davis up 6-1.
 
Puskarich drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth that scored Valley, cutting the UC Davis lead to 7-2.
 
But the Aggies cracked it open with a 6-run seventh capped off by Olson's two-run home run that gave him the cycle for the day.
 
USF (9-22) added a run in the top of the ninth with Sinatro's sacrifice fly that plated Riley Helland.
 
Matt Blais (2-2) earned the win for UC Davis with his three innings of work where he allowed two runs on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
 
Olson (4-for-4, 4 RBI, 2 R, 2B, 3B, HR) provided the offensive firepower for the Aggies, with Mason Novak (2-for-4, 2 R, 2B) and Brad Pluschkell (2-for-3, R, RBI) chipping in.
 
 
WEB GEMS: SS Nico Giarratano made a diving stop up the middle and quickly slid to his feet to rob Mason Novak of a base hit to lead off the second inning… with runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the sixth, 3B Dan James slid on a knee to scoop up a ground ball down the line and threw across to get the out and take away a run-scoring hit. 
 
NOTES: RHP Connor Brewster enjoyed his longest outing of the year with three innings pitched where he allowed just one run on two hits with a walk and a pair of strikeouts… Allen Smoot has registered hits in nine of his last 10 games… the Dons split the season series with UC Davis after winning in Davis back on Mar. 1.  
 
UP NEXT: The Dons travel to Los Angeles for a three-game West Coast Conference series at Loyola Marymount this weekend. Friday and Saturday's games will feature a 6 p.m. first pitch, while the series finale on Sunday will get started at 1 p.m. RHP Anthony Shew (1-4, 4.26) will toe the rubber to open the series on Friday evening.