University of San Francisco Athletics

SAN FRANCISCO — A monster long ball in the first inning Sunday got the University of San Francisco baseball team started, but it was a small suicide squeeze bunt that traveled just mere feet which brought across the game-winning run and finished the job in the bottom of the 13th, sending the Dons to their fifth straight win and third consecutive of the comeback variety in a 4-3 non-conference victory over UC Riverside at Benedetti Diamond.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After leaving the winning run stranded on second base in the 11th and stranding 12 total runners in the game, the Dons were ready to cash in in the bottom of the 13th with the bases loaded and no outs in a 3-3 game. Jason Kreske, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the 10th, showed bunt on the very first pitch he saw, laying down a suicide squeeze up the first base line.
   
• UC Riverside first baseman Yeager Taylor – who had only entered the game in the top of the 13th as a pinch-hitter and was seeing his first action in the field – charged in and flipped the ball to catcher Jacob Shanks. Jacob Westerman was running home the whole way and slid head first, his left hand swiping across the plate. And in as close of a play that could be, the home plate umpire ruled him safe, sending the Dons running out of the dugout and up the first base line in celebration.
   
• Some clutch hitting and a couple of late-game miscues by the Highlanders (6-10) helped decide the game in the bottom of the 13th. Westerman smacked his second single of the game on the first pitch of the inning to give the Dons the potential winning run at first. He would move to second on a passed ball charged to Shanks and went to third when the UCR shortstop mishandled a throw to first, allowing Tyler Villaroman to reach safely and putting runners on the corners with no outs. That led to Brandon Greim getting intentionally walked to put a force out at all bases – and brought up Kreske for his heroic RBI sacrifice bunt.
   
• Kreske entered the game after nine innings had already been played and performed excellent on both sides of the ball. As the old moniker goes, "Come into a game and the ball will find you," the very first out of the top of the 10th went to Kreske, who dove for a ground ball and knocked it down, then recovered to run to the bag himself and make the out. Kreske then tried to start a game-winning rally in the 11th with a one-out single. He moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, but would be stranded there.
   
• The Dons (10-5) would not have even been playing extra innings had it not been for some heroics from Jonathan Allen in the bottom of the ninth. San Francisco trailed, 3-2, for five turns at bat until the bottom of the ninth, when they would finally push across the tying run. Allen fell behind 0-2 with two outs and pinch-runner Greim on second base; the end of the game appearing imminent. But he worked the count back to full, then drove a 3-2 pitch to the opposite field for an RBI single and tying the game at 3-3. It was RJ Cordeiro's pinch-hit single to lead off the bottom of the ninth that got the tying rally started.
   
• UC Riverside reliever Abbott Haffar (0-1) battled with San Francisco reliever Alex Pham (1-1) for six innings, all the way to the 13th. They both entered in the eighth and they both struck out the side in their first innings of work, announcing their presence emphatically. Haffar was a strike away from closing out the game in the ninth, but even after allowing the tying run he would throw a perfect 10th and 12th while striking out three more.
   
• Meanwhile, the sophomore Pham had a career outing. He threw a career-long six innings and struck out a career-high 11. He only allowed one base hit – a one-out single in the 12th – while not allowing a walk and facing the minimum through his six innings of work. He struck out the side in the eighth and the 11th and had multiple strikeouts in four of his six innings.
   
• It was a battle of long balls in the early goings. Allen hit a towering two-run home run in the bottom of the first over the tall 30-foot mark on the short right field wall to give USF a 2-0 lead. But UC Riverside answered with two long balls of their own in the top of the fourth. Matt Hardy homered on the first pitch he saw after Dean Miller had led off the inning with a single to tie the game at 2-2. Then Nathan Webb followed with another homer – both to left field – to give UC Riverside a 3-2 lead.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 9: Greim stole second base in the bottom of the 13th, giving the Dons nine stolen bases over their four games this weekend. USF stole at least one base in all four games this weekend to put the team total at 18 swipes this year.
• 18 2/3: A trio of USF relievers threw 8 1/3 scoreless innings of relief Sunday, extending the USF bullpen's scoreless innings streak to 18 2/3. Josh Mollerus (1/3 IP), Joey Steele (2 IP) and Pham (6 IP) all contributed to extending the streak Sunday.
• 21: The Dons recorded 21 strikeouts as a staff Sunday. Pham set down 11, Steele struck out three and freshman starter Ryan Hecker struck out a season and career-best seven. It was the most strikeouts USF had in a game since it struck out 21 at Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 21, 2014.
• 29 of 30: After Hardy and Webb's homers, and a single by Alec Arnone in the fourth inning, the Dons' pitching staff set down 29 of the next 30 UC Riverside batters. And thanks to a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play in the 12th, the Dons faced the minimum from the fifth through the 13th.

COMING UP

• San Francisco travels to Fresno State of the Mountain West Conference for a Tuesday night non-conference matchup before returning home next weekend to open West Coast Conference play versus Portland. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.