BERKELEY, Calif. — Friday's game two between the University of San Francisco baseball team and California boiled down to one wild ninth inning, as the Dons tied it with two last at-bat runs in the top of the inning, only to be walked off with a leadoff home run on the fifth pitch of the bottom half, as the Bears won, 4-2, at Evans Diamond.
 
The Dons (2-3) were held scoreless from the third through eighth innings Friday. Like Thursday's game one, they had runners in scoring position multiple times during that span, but there was a lot less traffic on the base paths as well, with three 1-2-3 innings as well (compared to having runners in scoring position in every inning on Thursday). Unlike Thursday, however, when they put the tying runs on in the ninth inning, the Dons came through.
 
San Francisco tied the game in the ninth with a two-out rally that started completely from scratch. Its first two batters went down quietly, then Jacob Munoz legged out an infield single. Thanks to a fielding error by Cal's third baseman, Nick Yovetich reached safely as well. That set the plate for Ryan Davis to drive in both runners with a clutch RBI double to left-center field, making it 3-3. A strikeout ended the rally, though, stranding the go-ahead run in scoring position.
 
California (3-3) wasted no time putting the result in the books. Leadoff batter Cole Elvis sent the fifth pitch he saw on a 3-1 count over the left field wall to walk it off. It was his second homer of the season and the first this year allowed by Alex Pham (0-1). The last home run Pham allowed was also against California, on March 6, 2020, of last season, also at Evans Diamond.
 
Dylan Beavers did more damage for Cal from the cleanup spot Friday. His RBI single in the bottom of the first made it 1-0 early, and his sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third gave Cal the lead at 2-1. A run-scoring double play in the bottom of the fourth added to the Bears' lead, making it 3-1. The Bears got their leadoff batter on base in three of the first four innings and five innings on the night, scoring in four of those.
 
Christian Stapleton recorded his first career multi-hit game with the Dons, going 2 for 4. Ryan Davis was 1 for 3 with his two-RBI double in the ninth. Yovetich also had a double – his fourth of the year – and scored a run.
 
Landen Bourassa posted a quality start with three runs allowed in six innings pitched, recording seven strikeouts and no walks. Bo Jelinek made his first appearance of the year, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings with a strikeout.
 
Games three and four of the series shift to San Francisco and Benedetti Diamond. USF right-hander Eric Reyzelman is scheduled to throw against Cal righty Sean Sullivan on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.