SAN DIEGO — Jonathan Allen continued his early-season power surge Friday with his fourth home run in five games, but host San Diego jumped on some early pitching woes and defensive mistakes by the San Francisco baseball team to stake itself to an early lead and ride off to a 10-3 win in the opening game of a three-game West Coast Conference series at Fowler Park.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Trailing 8-0 already, the Dons (12-9, 2-2 WCC) put together a two-out rally in the top of the sixth. Riley Helland drew a two-out, five-pitch walk and Jack Winkler doubled him home for USF's first run of the game. Then Allen followed with his eighth home run of the season – a two-run shot to right field that made it 8-3. The round-tripper gave Allen a home run in four of the last five games and topped his season total from a year ago, when he hit seven in 57 games.
   
• San Francisco starter Riley Ornido (4-2) worked out of trouble in the first two innings, leaving the bases loaded in the first and stranding two runners in scoring position in the second, but the Toreros (16-6, 2-2 WCC) finally got to him in the third. The inning started with a four-pitch walk – Ornido's third such walk in the game. Back-to-back USD hits and an error by the Dons scored their first two runs, two more walks from Ornido scored another, and a two-out, bases-clearing double by Ripken Reyes made it 6-0 Toreros. Shane McGuire tacked on another with a two-out RBI single and USD led 7-0. Five of the Toreros' runs in the inning went unearned to Ornido.
   
• San Francisco left two on in the second, but other than that were held down by San Diego starter Chris Murphy, who threw six innings and struck out nine. He retired 11 of 12 batters faced from the second to the sixth before USF put together its two-out rally. Travis Kuhn and Cade Brown combined to throw three innings of scoreless, no-hit relief to close out the game.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 5: Riley Ornido's five walks Friday marked a career high for the ace. His previous high was four, and he entered Friday's game having only allowed 14 walks in 34 innings.
• 12: San Diego stranded 12 runners on base in the game, a season high for a USF opponent. The previous high was 11 when Kansas State left 11 on versus the Dons on March 1.
• 19: Winkler's double gave him a hit in 19 of the Dons' 21 games this season. He has reached safely in 20 of 21 games, scored runs in 13 of 21 and has had RBIs in 11 of 21.

COACH GIARRATANO QUOTES

• "Ornido struggled with his command tonight and gave up a big inning. Very uncharacteristic of Riley. The team struggled to put together solid ABs and did not play tough enough on the defensive end."
   
• "We will bounce back tomorrow and play them tougher."

COMING UP

• Saturday's game two of the series is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. start. The Dons will pit lefty Scott Parker versus San Diego righty Jake Miller. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.