PALO ALTO, Calif.  – A five-run eighth inning got the Dons back in the game, but a bang-bang play at first base wound up making the difference in a 7-6 loss at Stanford's Sunken Diamond on Tuesday evening.
 
With two outs, a runner at third and the game tied at 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth, Stanford's Duke Kinamon tapped a slow roller between first and second. USF first baseman Ross Puskarich moved over to field the ball, but his flip to pitcher Mack Meyer covering first arrived just as Kinamon touched the base, allowing the go-ahead run to score for the Cardinal on the infield single. 
 
"I thought he was out at first base," said head coach Nino Giarratano. "That's why I go out there and argue for my guys. But that didn't lose us the game; we lost the game by not executing."
 
Allen Smoot reached base in each of his at-bats, picking up two hits and drawing three walks. Puskarich tallied two hits, including a double, drove in a pair and scored a run. Dan James had a hit, scored a run and drove in two.
 
After recording just three hits over the first seven innings, USF (17-29) erupted for five runs in the eighth, kickstarted by Nico Giarratano's RBI single. Puskarich followed two batters later with a two-run double into the left field corner before James looped a run-scoring single to left.
 
The tying run came across during the next at-bat as James scored on a wild pitch by Stanford reliever Colton Hock that kicked down the third base line.
 
"It was nice to see us battle back," said Giarratano, "but lack of execution in one-run games is what's cost us. We're not doing a great job of executing offensively; we've left a lot of runners in scoring position in key situations. I tip my hat to the guys for putting up a five spot in the eighth inning, but there was a baserunning mistake that could have put us over the edge."
 
With one out in the eighth and runners on second and third with the Dons trailing by one, Ryan Matranga bounced a high chopper to Stanford third baseman Mikey Diekroger. USF's runner at third, Blake Valley, broke for home and was thrown out handily at the plate.  
 
USF starter Grant Goodman looked good through the first two frames, retiring the Cardinal in order, but ran into trouble in the third by allowing hits to the first four hitters of the inning.
 
Jack Klein drove in the first Stanford run with an RBI single before Matt Winaker plated two on a triple into the right field corner. Tommy Edman picked up another Cardinal run with a sacrifice fly. 
 
Goodman allowed four runs on four hits over two-plus innings of work before being relieved by Matt Warkentin, who would throw a scoreless two innings.
 
USF answered in the top of the fourth by getting the first two hitters on. With runners on second and third, James just missed a three-run home run to right and had to settle with a sacrifice fly at the warning track that cut the Stanford lead to 4-1.
 
The Dons had another golden opportunity slip away in the sixth when Smoot and Giarratano led off the inning with back-to-back walks and Puskarich singled up the middle. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Valley struck out swinging and James grounded into a 4-6-3 double play that ended the inning.
 
Stanford (21-18) added insurance off of USF reliever Frank Waliczek with Kinamon's solo home run with one out in the seventh inning. Klein followed with a bloop RBI single that dropped into shallow right field to put the Cardinal up 6-1.
 
Brock Larson came on in relief of Waliczek with runners on first and third in the seventh and threw one pitch to get a fly out to get the Dons out of the inning.
 
Freshman right-hander Joey Steele also turned in a solid performance out of the bullpen with two scoreless innings of work where he struck out two.  
 
"I was really excited about the performance of Joey Steele," added Giarratano. "I was excited with Brock going out there and getting his out. Grant was good, he showed improvement. And I thought Mack was good; he should have been a little more successful in getting out of that [eighth] inning."
 
Meyer (2-2) took the hard-luck loss with one inning in relief, allowing a run on two hits.
 
Matt Sinatro turned in a nice defensive play with two outs in the bottom of the second to rob Quinn Brodey of an extra-base hit, sprinting backwards to make a diving catch over his shoulder near the warning track.
 
Hock (4-4) picked up the win, allowing one run on two hits with a walk over two innings.
 
Kinamon led the Cardinal at the plate, collecting three hits, including a home run, while scoring twice and driving in a pair. Winaker had two hits and drove in two runs of his own.
 

UP NEXT: The Dons travel to Portland for their second-to-last West Coast Conference series this weekend. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. for the series opener on Friday as senior righty Anthony Shew (3-6, 4.35) takes the mound for the Dons. All of this weekend's action can be followed via live stats on PortlandPilots.com and a live video stream on TheW.tv.