SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Despite the gloomy and chilly conditions that populated the Bay Area on Halloween weekend, the USF Dons' baseball program took the field for two special fall exhibition games between the 2022 Dons' team and recent and past alumni at Dante Benedetti Diamond.

"It was a great weekend to see some old faces who care so much about our program," head coach Nino Giarratano said. "While not everyone was clearly in playing shape it was a great opportunity for guys to get their competitive juices out and get to know the young men on our 2022 team who get to write the next chapter in our program's history." 

The first game on Saturday included participants who played for the Dons anytime prior to the spring 2021 season against the current roster heading into 2022. Unsurprisingly, the current Dons had their way with the former occupants of Benedetti as they shut out the alumni across eight innings of play. 

Among the alums with strong performances included Jason Kreske who hit a home run in the fourth inning that ended up being the only run from the "Blast from the Past" team against the current Dons.

Tyler Martinez led off for the 2022 Dons and roped a double and ended up scoring the first run after an RBI-single courtesy of Kyle Knell.

The second game of the day was a one-sided affair as the 2022 Dons controlled the game against the 2021 counterparts, with a four-run fourth inning where Luke Keaschall, Nick Yovetich, Harris Williams and Mario Demera all came around to score.

USF baseball will begin their 2022 season at home on Feb. 18 as they host UC Davis for a three game weekend series. Other highlights on the schedule include a mid-March road trip to Phoenix for a weekend matchup against Arizona State and the Dons will open WCC play the following weekend at home against Santa Clara.

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