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Diamond Dons Blank UC Riverside, 7-0
Feb. 26, 2009
(Riverside, CA) - San Francisco baseball earned its first shutout victory of the 2009 season, a 7-0 drubbing of UC Riverside at the Riverside Sports Complex on Thursday afternoon. USF returns to .500 at 3-3 and smash a season high 16 hits in the contest. UCR drops to 3-2 on the year and Dons pitchers held the Highlanders to just four hits.
Junior shortstop Derek Poppert had a career day at the plate, smashing four hits, including a double, and scoring twice. Junior catcher Ryan Lipkin also had a big day, going 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Senior left fielder Zach Kim added two hits, as did sophomore designated hitter Connor Bernatz, who included a double. Senior right fielder Drew Johnson doubled and drove in a run, and junior second baseman Robert Abel doubled and drove in two. Senior third baseman Dane Braunecker tripled and drove in a run. Junior center fielder Bobby Ethel singled, and freshman Matt Chavez earned his first collegiate hit in his Dons debut.
USF scored all they would need in the second, making it 3-0 early. Poppert led off the inning with a double to left center and scored on Johnson's double to right center. An out later, Abel doubled down the right field line, plating Johnson. Abel advanced to third on Ethel's fly out and later scored on a balk.
In the fifth, the Dons added their fourth run on a Bernatz single and a Lipkin double down the right field line. USF went up 6-0 in the eighth. Poppert again led off the inning, singling to left. An out later, Braunecker tripled to right center, bringing Poppert home. Braunecker then scored on Abel's sacrifice to right. The Dons' final run came an inning later. Kim singled through the left side and advanced to second on Chavez's single to center. A wild pitch moved both runners up, and Kim scored on Lipkin's sacrifice to left.
Riverside had a runner as far as second base five times throughout the contest, but couldn't convert, leaving six runners on base and never once getting a runner to third.
Sophomore left-hander Matt Lujan (1-1) earned the win for USF, throwing 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. Lujan struck out four and walked three. Junior right-hander Alex Kalogrides and junior lefty Bob Mott each threw scoreless innings in relief.
Junior left-hander Paul Bargas (0-1) took the loss for the Highlanders, allowing four earned runs off 10 hits, and struck out two in 6.2 innings. Freshman right-hander Zac Bishop allowed two earned runs off three hits in 1.1 innings of relief, while freshman left-hander Tommy Mackoul allowed the Dons final earned run off three hits in 1.0 inning of work.
USF meets Riverside for game two of the four game series tomorrow at 6:00 PM. Audio is available, check USFDons.com for more information.
