SAN FRANCISCO — Riley Ornido turned in a third straight dazzling performance Friday and the Dons' bats continued their recent wake-up, as the San Francisco baseball team shut out visiting Rider University, 5-0, on the first day of a busy weekend at Benedetti Diamond.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The junior right-handed USF ace Ornido (3-1) threw seven innings of shutout, one-hit ball with 10 strikeouts against the Broncs (4-7). It was his third consecutive outing throwing seven innings, and in all three he's only allowed one total run while not allowing more than three hits in any of those appearances. Ornido did not allow a base hit until the fifth inning, facing just one over the minimum through the first four frames.
   
• While Ornido crafted on the mound, the Dons' bats finally awoke in the fifth inning. A five-run fifth was more than Ornido would need on the day and put USF (7-5) comfortably ahead, 5-0. Riley Helland came through with the first big hit of the rally – one of his three hits on the day – driving in the Dons' first two runs with a double down the right field line on a 2-0 count. An RBI groundout by Jonathan Allen two batters later made it 3-0, and Robert Emery capped the rally with a two-out, two-RBI double of his own to make it 5-0.
   
• Rider didn't go down too quietly though. Ornido was relieved in the eighth by Jordan Barchus, who walked all three of the first batters he faced, loading the bases for the Broncs with no outs. That brought on Joey Steele for the Dons, who struck out back-to-back batters and induced a ground ball to end the inning with the tying run on deck.
   
• Steele finished off the ninth as well for his third save of the season. He added another strikeout to his total. Rider mustered its second hit of the game, but it was a single with two outs in the ninth and brought no threat to the Dons' lead.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 0: The Dons' defense was errorless for the third straight game Friday. After committing six errors in their first five games, the Dons have only committed two in their last seven.
• 10: Ornido's 10 strikeouts marked his second double-digit strikeouts performance this season and second in his last three outings. He is carring a 2.5-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio with 27 Ks against only 11 walks.
• 12: Jack Winkler's season-opening hitting streak was extended to 12 games Friday when he singled through the right side in the bottom of the seventh. It was the second consecutive game that he extended his hitting streak in his last at-bat during the seventh inning or later.

COMING UP

• San Francisco will play two games on Saturday against two different opponents as part of a four-game double round-robin weekend with Rider and UC Riverside. USF faces UC Riverside at 11 a.m. Saturday, then rematches with Rider at 2 p.m. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.

 
RIDER vs. UC RIVERSIDE
 
The Broncs took the opener, 5-1, against the Highlanders before falling to the host Dons, 5-0, in the nightcap.
 
In game one, junior Pete Soporowski tossed a gem for Rider to pick up his first win of the season. Soporowski pitched seven innings and scattered just two hits, while striking out seven and surrendering one earned run.
 
Rider opened the scoring in game one with a pair of runs in the fifth. Freshman David Bermudez hit an RBI double to right center to put the Broncs on the board and later junior Joe Simone chipped in a run-scoring single to right.
 
Leading 3-1 in the ninth inning, the Broncs added a pair of insurance courtesy of two-out, two-run single to left by Simone.