SAN FRANCISCO — Visiting Sacramento State won Friday's series opener against the University of San Francisco baseball team in one of about the only ways a team can win in a tight pitchers' duel – by taking advantage of even the smallest mistakes.
 
The Hornets scored two unearned runs Friday off of two USF errors and two timely hits, escaping with a 2-1 non-conference series-opening victory at Benedetti Diamond.
 
USF's Landen Bourassa (6-3) and Sacramento State's Scott Randall went toe-to-toe through the first five innings. Randall was nearly lights-out for the Hornets (29-18), striking out nine against one walk and only allowing one runner past first base in five shutout frames. Bourassa scattered five hits across eight innings, striking out six and allowing just the two unearned runs.
 
"I thought Landen pitched great today," said San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano. "I thought their guy pitched great, too, though. We had a hard time with him, so I thought it was a very well-pitched game."
 
But those two unearned runs made all the difference in the game. And they came with everything falling exactly as they needed to for Sacramento State. A bobbled ball up the middle in the second inning put Dawsen Bacho on first base. Bourassa followed with a strikeout that should have ended the inning, but instead, Bacho was in scoring position after a wild pitch and two outs on the board. That's when McPhillips poked a fastball out to the opposite field in right, getting his barrel on a ball that was set to paint the outside of the plate and sending it to the corner for an RBI double and a 1-0 lead for the Hornets.
 
Then, with the game tied 1-1 in the top of the eighth, a high throw to first just narrowly pulled USF first baseman Jacob Munoz's foot off the bag, allowing Keith Torres to reach safely. He'd move to second on a wild pitch, get sacrificed over to third, and he scored the eventual winning run on a seeing-eye single right back up the middle by Trevor Doyle.
 

B6 | #Dons 1 -- #Hornets 1

💥SEE YA!💥

Jack Winkler ties the game with one swing on the 1st pitch he sees!

It's his 6th HR of the season 🙌#USFDons pic.twitter.com/XpPiLuD0xD

— USF Dons Baseball (@SFDonsBaseball) May 14, 2021

 
"Two errors, two free bases, two hits and we lose 2-1," said Giarratano. "Very uncharacteristic of us offensively, we weren't very good today. We couldn't put it together. We didn't bear down like we normally do. Probably one of our softest days as far as mentality and toughness goes as a team."
 
Jack Winkler hit his sixth home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. He sent the first pitch he saw against newly entered Sacramento State reliever Brady Rodriguez (8-2) over the left field wall, lifting an elevated pitch into the wind to make it 1-1. He finished the day 2 for 4. Darius Foster (1 for 4), Thomas McCarthy (1 for 3) and Harris Williams (1 for 4) also had hits for USF (20-23).
 
Games two and three of the non-conference four-game series are set for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Saturday in Sacramento. Sunday's game four series finale will be played back in San Francisco at Benedetti Diamond, also at 1 p.m. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.