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Jack Winkler vs UC Riverside 3-10-2019
Christina Leung
Jack Winkler walked it off for the Dons Sunday with a game-winning double in the bottom of the 12th inning.
9
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 20-15, 6-6 WCC
10
Winner San Francisco USF 21-14, 10-5 WCC
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC
20-15, 6-6 WCC
9
Final
10
San Francisco USF
21-14, 10-5 WCC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E
Saint Mary's (CA) SMC 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 1 3 0 0 0 9 16 1
San Francisco USF 0 0 2 1 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 1 10 17 0

W: Pham, Alex (3-1) L: PONCE, Dalton (2-3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

BASE | Dons Sweep Gaels with Extra-Inning Walk-Off

SAN FRANCISCO — Nothing came easy for the University of San Francisco baseball team Sunday, but through 12 innings, 19 total runs, 33 hits, 12 bench players used and 10 different pitchers, the Dons were able to finally complete a series sweep over visiting Saint Mary's – their first over the Gaels in 12 years – thanks to a walk-off double in the bottom of the 12th from Jack Winkler that clinched a 10-9 West Coast Conference victory at Benedetti Diamond.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • His 12th-inning walk-off blast that caromed off the right-center field netting was the second time that Winkler had given the Dons (21-14, 10-5 WCC) a lead late in the game Sunday. He hit a one-out double in the bottom of the eighth that scored Brandon Greim made it 7-6. Winkler made another impressive offensive play that same inning when he scored all the way from second on a sacrifice fly from Riley Helland, giving the Dons an extra insurance run and making it 9-6 – a run that would prove decidedly important in the ninth.
     
  • Saint Mary's (20-15, 6-6 WCC) – having already rallied to take the lead in both the seventh and eighth – put together another rally in the ninth against USF closer Joey Steele. Each of the Gaels' first five batters in the ninth reached safely, including four consecutive leadoff hits. Eddie Haus singled through the left side to score Andrew Shebloski and make it 9-7, and Kyle Velasquez – who had entered the game as a replacement catcher in the fifth – doubled home the tying runs on a 2-2 count to knot it up at 9-9.
     
  • San Francisco got the winning run on with two outs in the ninth but could not score. It loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th with two outs but did not score again. Both teams went 1-2-3 in the 11th, sending it to the 12th. Tyler Villaroman worked a five-pitch walk after Greim had battled with SMC relief pitcher Dalton Ponce, fouling off five consecutive pitches. Winkler battled, too, coming back from being down 0-1 and fouling off back-to-back pitches before driving his game-winning hit into the evening sky.
     
  • Alex Pham (3-1) provided the heroic relief pitching that San Francisco needed, but that it perhaps didn't deserve after already losing two three-run leads in the game. He retired 11 of the 12 batters he faced in four shutout innings of work. With no outs in the ninth and the go-ahead runs on second and third – and having already thrown 3 2/3 innings and more than 60 pitches on Saturday – Pham got Gio Diaz, who had been 4 for 5 up to that point, to fly out, then induced an inning-ending, SMC rally killing double play.
     
  • Saint Mary's scored eight runs in the final three innings and San Francisco scored five as the two teams saw two lead changes and three ties in those last six half-innings of regulation. USF tied it back up at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh with another two-out run – an infield single from catcher Robert Emery that deflected off the glove of SMC relief pitcher Michael Hobbs. SMC went back up, 6-5, in the top of the eighth with three consecutive one-out singles.
     
  • Things were sailing smoothly for San Francisco through six innings with a 4-1 lead. Back-to-back two-out doubles by Riley Helland and Jonathan Allen in the third had put the Dons up 2-0, and RJ Cordeiro's two-out solo home run in the fourth made it 3-0. Even when Saint Mary's got a sacrifice fly in the fifth for its first run of the game, the Dons got it right back in the bottom half on another RBI base hit from Helland, making it 4-1.
     
  • But for all the cruising that Julian Washburn had done in his first two innings of work, Saint Mary's bats finally awoke in the top of the seventh. Washburn retired Diaz to begin the inning for the first time on the day after he had started 3 for 3 (and finished 4 for 7), but an infield single and hit-by-pitch brought the tying run to the plate. Washburn struck out SMC cleanup batter and former WCC Freshman of the Year Kevin Milam to put two outs on the board, and then the Gaels got an RBI single from Shebloski and a three-run, go-ahead home run over the left-center field wall by Gabe Giosso – who had entered the game only two innings before – to put SMC ahead for the first time in the series at 5-4.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
  • 12: Three items of note for the No. 12 on Sunday: 1. The Dons swept Saint Mary's for the first time in 12 years, since they did the same on May 11-13, 2007, at old Benedetti Diamond, 2. USF and SMC combined to use 12 bench players in Sunday's 12-inning game, and 3. Saint Mary's stranded 12 base runners for the second time in the series, including seven in scoring position.
  • 17: San Francisco had a season-high 17 hits. It was the team's most hits in a game since having 18 versus Santa Clara last season on April 29, 2018.
  • 57: Pham's five strikeouts Sunday gave him 57 for the season and the team lead. Friday ace Riley Ornido has 56 strikeouts this year in 11 2/3 more innings pitched (57) than Pham (45 1/3).
COMING UP
  • The Dons wrap up their nine-game home stand at 2 p.m. Tuesday versus Nevada. The Dons then travel to the Central Valley for a three-game WCC series at Pacific starting Thursday. Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.
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