SAN DIEGO — The 2019 season started with a bang Friday night for the San Francisco baseball team, as the Dons sent two balls out of the park, but host San Diego State had it going on the mound and a big four-run third made the difference for the Aztecs in an 8-4 season-opening victory at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Back-to-back two-out, two-run singles by San Diego State (1-0) in the third inning broke a 0-0 pitching battle through the first few innings and stuck the Aztecs to a 4-0 lead. All four runs would go unearned for San Francisco opening day starter Riley Ornido (0-1), who would have already been out of the inning unscathed except for an infield error by the Dons that loaded the bases.
   
• After SDSU took that lead, any scoring the Dons (1-0 would do was later answered by the Aztecs to keep them ahead. In the fifth, the Dons responded with their own two-out scoring. Jack Winkler and Jonathan Allen hit back-to-back two-out solo home runs in the top of the fifth to cut San Diego State's lead to 4-2. But Aztecs cleanup batter Julian Escobedo did the same thing in the bottom half, hitting a two-out solo shot to put San Diego State back up by three at 5-2.
   
• San Francisco again pulled to within two runs in the sixth with Jacob Muñoz's first career RBI in his first career plate appearance. His RBI groundout scored Jake Westerman, who had led off the inning with a double, to make it 5-3. But once again, San Diego State answered, this time with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. And like the rest of its runs on the night, all three were scored with two outs with an RBI single and a two-run double by Escobedo, who finshed the night 3 for 5 with a home run, double, five RBIs and two runs scored.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 1: Winkler's first home run of the season matched his season total from his freshman year of 2018. Allen was second on the team last year with seven long balls.
• 10: The Dons left 10 runners on base. They had runners on in every inning but the second, including the leadoff batter four times. They had six hits in the game, but were just 1 for 18 (.056) with runners on base.
• 17: San Francisco struck out 17 times Friday. Five Dons had multiple strikeouts, all among the top six spots of the lineup. Five strikeouts came with runners in scoring position.

COMING UP

• Games two and three of the series have been moved to a day-night doubleheader on Saturday in anticipation of rain on Sunday. Game one will start at t 2 p.m., with game three taking place at the originally-scheduled 6 p.m. start. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.