SAN FRANCISCO — The University of San Francisco baseball team came from behind in the opener and almost did so again in the nightcap Saturday, as it earned a West Coast Conference series victory over Portland with a doubleheader split, winning game one, 6-4, while the Pilots held on to take game two, 5-4.
 
"You're always happy to get two out of three and I think we're fortunate to do that," said San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano, "but without a conference tournament, only one team moving on to the NCAA Tournament, we're playing for our lives every time out. So every time you lose and you don't sweep when you have the opportunity to do it, I think you're frustrated."
 
GAME ONE
 
San Francisco (16-19, 11-7 WCC) earned its ninth come-from-behind win of the season in the opener to clinch the series victory. It was the 24th time this year the Dons had erased a deficit by tying or taking the lead.
 
San Francisco rallied in the sixth inning, loading the bases with no outs while still trailing, 3-2. Jacob Munoz's clutch two-run single slipped right underneath Portland starter Bradley McVay's glove through the middle of the infield and put USF ahead for good. The Dons kept the pressure on, later forcing a Portland error when Jack Winkler stole third base, allowing him to come home to score and make it 5-3.
 
That extra run proved important in the next half-inning when the Pilots (19-20, 11-7 WCC) got back a run to make it 5-4. Jordan Vujovich hit his seventh home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the eighth and make it 6-4, and Alex Pham left the bases loaded in the top of the ninth to seal the win with his third save of the season.
 
San Francisco scored twice in the bottom of the first of the opener thanks to a Portland error and a groundout. But the Pilots answered right back with a two-out, two-run double in the top of the second to make it 2-2. Jake Holcroft homered on the first pitch of the third inning to make it 3-2.
 
Grant Nechak turned in a solid performance in a no-decision. He struck out six – his second-most of the season – and allowed three runs on five hits in five innings pitched. Max Jones (3-1) earned the win with 1 1/3 innings of no-hit relief, only allowing an unearned run with two strikeouts and a walk.
 
GAME TWO
 
The Dons scored twice again in the bottom of the first of the nightcap, making it a 7-0 first-inning advantage during the series. But like the opener, Portland answered back, and this time with fervor. Portland would score five unanswered runs after the Dons took a 2-0 first-inning lead.
 
Just like game one, it was a big two-out, extra-base hit that pulled the Pilots even in the early innings. Briley Knight hit his first of two homers in the game, a two-out, two-run shot in the third over the netting in right field to make it 2-2. Sam Brown's RBI double in the fourth on the first pitch delivered by USF reliever Josh Mollerus made it 3-2. It stayed that way for the next 2 1/2 innings, until Knight's second homer – a solo shot in the seventh on the first pitch he saw that made it 4-2.
 
The game's biggest hit would end up coming from an unlikely source, when Portland's No. 9 hitter, Gabe Skoro, got a two-out RBI single in the top of the eighth to give the Pilots the insurance they needed to win. Skoro entered the at-bat hitting .143 on the year, had fallen behind in the count 1-2, and still managed to poke a single to left-center field, scoring Hunter Montgomery and making it 5-2.
 
Jacob Westerman, who entered the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth, hit his own two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth, but thanks to Skoro's RBI knock, the Pilots were still ahead. San Francisco brought the winning run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after a two-out infield single by Luke Keaschall, but a strikeout ended the game and saved the Pilots from a sweep.
 
Keaschall went 4 for 4 and reached base five times in the leadoff spot. It was his fifth multi-hit performance in his last eight games, and second in the series. Westerman went 2 for 2 with his home run and two RBIs off the bench. Winkler also had a multi-hit game in the nightcap, going 2 for 4 with an RBI and run scored.
 
San Francisco next travels to Pacific for a three-game WCC series starting Friday. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.