THE RUNDOWN
Sacramento, Calif. – The University of San Francisco's baseball team earned a win in a pitching duel that went into extra innings, with the Dons scoring two in the eleventh to win the game, 2-0.
 
In his second start of the season, Thomas Ponticelli threw a gem of a game. The junior went seven innings, striking out nine and surrendering no walks. After throwing three scoreless innings, though, Ponticelli worked himself into trouble, allowing back-to-back base his to put runners into scoring position with no outs. Ponticelli then struck out the next two batters before getting the third and final out of the inning with a pop up to right field, leaving the game scoreless through four.
 
Brendan Jenkins came in relief for Ponticelli in the eighth inning, striking out the first batter he faced. The senior then gave up two hits, before getting an inning ending double play to keep the score at 0-0. Jenkins went on to strikeout five of the final ten hitters he faced, including a strikeout on the final at-bat of the game.
 
In the eleventh inning, Aaron Ping got the Dons started with a single up the middle. Freshman Jack Winkler stepped up next and laid down a sacrifice but that allowed Ping to move to second. The sacrifice bunt became the spark of the USF offense, with Jonathan Allen putting the ball in play, reaching first on a throwing error, which allowed Ping to score to give the Dons a 1-0 lead.
 
Tyler Villaroman capped off the run scoring, driving in Allen with a single up the middle. Villaroman now has four RBIs on the season, making him the leader on the team.
 
COACHES QUOTES
Head coach Nino Giarratano
On tonight's pitching performance
"It was another great performance by both Ponticelli and Jenkins. Ponticelli was in control the whole game, really commanded his stuff. Getting nine punch outs and no walks that's really impressive stuff.  He worked himself into trouble in the fourth inning but did a good job to strikeout two before getting the third out. Then Jenkins came in and did a great job. He worked himself into a little trouble in his first inning, allowing runners on the corners. But he got a double play to get himself out of the inning. I'm really excited about how those guys pitched tonight."
 
On the team's defense
"Defensively we played well, we turned some double plays and got a solid performance from our outfield. With 15 strikeouts, there's not a lot of balls in play, but with the chances we got we made those plays."
 
On the final inning
"It was a great at-bat by Ping, getting a base hit up the middle that allowed Winkler to move him over with a sac bunt. Then Allen put together a solid at-bat that put pressure on the Sac State defense, which led to the error that scored Ping. Then Villaroman got a hit to extend our lead, adding on to his great defensive work too."
 
GAME STATS

• Ponticelli added to his impressive start to the 2018 campaign, throwing seven scoreless innings and adding nine strikeouts to his season total (16). His 16 strikeouts leads the team.
• Jenkins earned his first win of the season, coming on in relief for Ponticelli and throwing four scoreless innings.
• Both Ponticell and Jenkins went the 11 innings without surrendering a walk.
• Villaroman's RBI in the 11th was his fourth of the season, making him the team leader. He also added two hits to give him five on the season, another team leading stat.

 
NEXT UP
The Dons play a home opening doubleheader, with the first game coming against San Jose State at 10:30 a.m. USF will then play the second game against Sac State at 2 p.m.