SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jonathan Allen slugged two home runs while
Riley Ornido and
Grant Young combined for the staff's third shutout of the year, as the University of San Francisco baseball team kicked off its West Coast Conference series at South Bay rival Santa Clara with a bang, beating the Broncos, 10-0, at Stephen Schott Stadium.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- Allen's first home run of the game – a solo shot to lead off the second inning – was really all Ornido (5-2) would need, as he struck out seven and only allowed two hits in six innings of shutout work. Friday's game didn't become a blowout until late, and so the Dons (14-11, 4-3 WCC) rode the arm of Ornido for four innings with just a 1-0 lead.
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- San Francisco added two more in the fifth inning as the Broncos' (4-19, 0-4 WCC) pitching struggled. Jack Winkler earned an RBI with a bases-loaded walk, and Allen tallied his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly that made it 3-0. But the Dons were also leaving runners in scoring position through the first part of the game. USF left the bases loaded in the second and another in scoring position in both the fifth and sixth innings.
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- Allen cleaned up the bases on his own in the seventh, hitting his second home run of the game – a three-run shot – to give him his third five-RBI game of the year and double the Dons' lead at 6-0. Not finished, USF added four more insurance runs in the top of the ninth thanks to four RBI singles from Robert Emery, Jacob Westerman, Riki Urata and Chase Hodkinson. That gave the Dons their second 10-run game in their last four contests.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- 1: No Santa Clara hitter had more than one hit Friday. The Broncos had two singles in the first inning, then did not get another hit until the sixth inning. One more hit in the ninth meant SCU only had one hit from the second through the eighth innings.
- 2: Allen's multi-home run performance was the first by a Don since he also performed the same feat on April 13, 2018, hitting two home runs against Loyola Marymount.
- 3: Riki Urata had a career-high three hits Friday in a 3-for-5 performance at the plate. He has had two other multi-hit performances this season.
COMING UP
- Game two of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday. San Francisco lefty Scott Parker is scheduled to throw against Santa Clara left-hander Russell Grant II. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.
