It took 11 innings and some dramatic twists and turns but in the end, the Dons walked away victorious in the opening game of a four-game set against Hawaii on the road. The win brings the Dons record up to 4-1 on the young season.
 
"This is such a great place to play," head coach Nino Giarratano said after the game. "It's a great road facility and the team is really enjoying their time here and they played like it."
 
The tone was set early by starting pitcher Grant Goodman who continued his fantastic start to the 2017 season with seven shutout innings in which he only allowed four hits while striking out five. On the season, he is now 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA while only allowing eight hits and striking out nine in thirteen innings.
 
"It was really a great effort by Grant tonight," Giarratano said. "I thought he commanded the breaking ball well, he was fabulous. Back to back starts he's reached the seventh inning, just fabulous. He really did some good things to keep hitters off balance with his command tonight."
 
Benji Post started the eighth inning retiring two and allowing one hit before making way for Scott Parker. Parker finished the eighth and ran through the ninth without allowing a hit and striking out three of the four batters he faced.
 
The Dons were able to get on the board first, but it didn't happen until the 10th inning. Nico Giarratano sparked a two-out rally in the tenth by singling through the right side. Then it was Allen Smoot who stepped up and doubled down the right field line scoring Giarratano and giving the Dons the lead.
 
Joey Carney was called on to close out the game in the bottom of the 10^th, but was unable to get the job done; at first anyway. Hawaii (1-3, 0-0 Big West) was able to scratch one run across on the closer to force another inning.
 
"Good teams pick up their players," Giarratano said. "Our offense came out in the 11^th and did that."
 
In the top of the 11^th it was Michael Perri who played the role of lynch pin for the Dons as he singled to right field. Ross Puskarich (who extended his hitting streak to 22 games) reached on an error and USF (4-1, 0-0 WCC) was in prime position to take the lead. Freshman Tyler Villaroman then laid down a sacrifice bunt which got the job done and advanced the runners to second and third. Aaron Ping then delivered the decisive swing of the bat when he singled to right field scoring Perri. Puskarich would end up scoring on a wild pitch putting the Dons up 3-1.
 
Carney would get the immediate chance for redemption as the ball was his for the bottom of the 11^th. This time Carney (2-1) would get the job done and deliver a win for the Dons.
 
"He's tough," Giarratano said. "He's tough enough to go out there and keep making pitches. It's great for him that he got to go back out there."
 
The Dons are back at it on Friday when they play game two of the series at 8:30 p.m. PST. The Dons will be playing four in Hawaii before returning home on Feb. 28^th to host Utah Valley State. You can buy tickets to that game by clicking here.