MORAGA, Calif.  – The Dons scored a pair of runs in the ninth but it was too little, too late as the USF offense was stifled by Cameron Neff's 14-strikeout day in a 4-2 loss to Saint Mary's on Sunday afternoon from Louis Guisto field.
 
Blake Valley hit a triple and drove in a run, while Harrison Bruce plated the other USF run on the day.
 
James Kannenberg (5-4) finished his day with six-plus innings pitched where he allowed four runs on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts, ending his bid to be the first Don to win three starts in a row.   
 
Gaels' starter Neff kept USF guessing from the first pitch, only allowing three baserunners over the first five innings. USF (17-28, 11-10 WCC) managed to get runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but came away with nothing to show of it.
 
Meanwhile, Saint Mary's (24-17, 12-6 WCC) put up an early run against Kannenberg with Jackson Thoreson's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first that was aided by a wild pitch and a walk.
 
"Hard fought game," said head coach Nino Giarratano. "The run we gave up in the first was the same thing that's bitten us all year – bouncing a ball in there and giving up a 90 foot chunk. If we just execute a little bit better pitching-wise I'm not sure that they had a chance to score today.  
 
"Offensively we didn't really execute, so there's two parts of the game we just didn't execute very well today. Take your hat off to them, they earned it."
 
USF put together its first real threat when Ross Puskarich doubled down the left field line in the sixth, giving the Dons runners at second and third with one out following Allen Smoot's walk, but Neff got Brady Bate swinging to get out of the inning.
 
Gael center fielder Joey Fiske robbed Aaron Ping of an extra-base hit with two outs in the top of the seventh with an over-the-shoulder diving catch sprinting back toward the warning track.
 
The Gaels eventually got to Kannenberg in the bottom of the seventh, getting the first three hitters on before Nolan bounced an RBI single past a drawn-in Nico Giarratano at shortstop. That prompted a pitching change as right-hander Joey Carney came on in relief of Kannenberg and allowed consecutive runs on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch, giving the Gaels a 4-0 advantage.
 
The Dons finally got on the board in the top of the ninth when Puskarich led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. He was driven in two batters later by Valley's pinch-hit triple into the left-center gap.
 
Anthony Gonsolin came in from right field to pitch for SMC and allowed Bruce's RBI groundout that scored Valley. Gonsolin surrendered a pinch-hit single to Riley Helland before getting Beau Bozett to ground out to end the game and secure the save.
 
Despite having his team-best on-base streak snapped at 18 games, Giarratano pitched in on defense with a nice spinning play on a chopper up the middle to take away a hit in the bottom of the fourth.
 
Thoreson tallied a pair of hits and an RBI on the day for Saint Mary's. Outside of Thoreson, the Gaels' two through seven hitters went a combined 0 for 13 in the contest.
 
Neff (3-2) logged 8.1 innings in the win, allowing two runs on five hits with a pair of walks and 14 strikeouts.
 

NOTES: OF/IF Matt Sinatro had his on-base streak snapped at 14 games… at the conclusion of the weekend, USF now sits in sixth place in the WCC standings, sandwiched between San Diego (10-11) and Loyola Marymount (12-9).
 
UP NEXT: The Dons move on to face Stanford on Tuesday evening at Sunken Diamond. First pitch is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday's action can be followed via live stats on GoStanford.com.