SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Dons took an early five-run lead, but four USF errors on the night helped the host San Jose State Spartans rally back to hand the Dons a 7-6 loss on Monday night in the series finale from Municipal Stadium.
 
Dominic Miroglio and Tyler Villaroman each collected a pair of hits and drove in a run, while Michael Perri hit his fifth home run of the year.
 
"I thought we were great in the first inning," head coach Nino Giarratano said, "but in order to lose a five-run lead, you've got to walk a lot of guys, give up a lot of free bases and make a lot of errors, and we did that. There was no reason the game should have been that close."
 
USF (27-27) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first inning when the Dons' leadoff hitter, Matt Sinatro, reached on a fielding error by San Jose State third baseman Michael Breen. After stealing second, Sinatro came around to score on Nico Giarratano's RBI single. Miroglio then drove in Giarratano and Allen Smoot walked and scored on Perri's two-run blast, which chased Spartans starter Zach Wallace from the game after just 2/3 of an inning.
 
Manny Ramirez, Jr. welcomed San Jose State reliever Jaiden France with a base hit before scoring two batters later on Villaroman's RBI single through the left side.
 
San Jose State answered with runs in the bottom of the first and second against Sam Granoff, who lasted just 1 1/3 in the start, allowing two runs on two hits while walking four and striking out two.
 
Joseph Stefanki plated the first Spartan run with a sacrifice fly in the first, followed by a Chris Williams bases-loaded walk in the second that signaled the end of Granoff's night.
 
Right-hander Joey Steele kept San Jose State off the board until the bottom of the fifth when the Spartans took advantage of two USF errors to tie the game at 5-5. Stefanki got aboard with one out when Aaron Ping misplayed a fly ball in right field. Stefanki came around to score two batters later when Kyle Morrison laid down a bunt that was thrown into right field by Steele, allowing a pair of runs to come across.
 
The Dons answered right away when Villaroman doubled to start the inning and scored on Giarratano's sacrifice fly that put the Dons ahead 6-5.
 
But in the bottom of the seventh, Joey Carney plunked Morrison to start the inning before a two-out fielding error by Giarratano with runners at first and third helped San Jose State tie the game. A wild pitch from Brenden Jenkins allowed the go-ahead run to score in the form of Kellen Strahm, who had walked two batters prior.
 
Carney (3-2) was on the hook for the loss, allowing two unearned runs on three hits with one walk in his 2 1/3 innings of work.
 
"You have a three-game lead in the series and you're up five nothing and all you're thinking about is winning and you stop executing," added Giarratano. "Just really disappointed in how we lost the game tonight; I thought we should have been sharper. It was a big letdown for us, but hopefully we can battle back and be ready for Pacific."
 
USF will wrap up the season with a three-game West Coast Conference series against Pacific this weekend. Game one will feature a 6 p.m. first pitch at Pacific's Klein Family Field, with games two and three returning to Benedetti Diamond for 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. starts, respectively.