April 19, 2009

Final Stats

(San Francisco, CA) - The University of San Francisco baseball squad earned the West Coast Conference series victory, taking a 7-3 win over Bay Area rival Santa Clara at Benedetti Diamond on Sunday afternoon. The Dons (19-21, 6-6 WCC) have now won two WCC series on the season and drop the Broncos (15-20, 4-8 WCC) to 1-3 in conference series meetings.

Sophomore first baseman Stephen Yarrow had a huge day, smashing two homeruns to lead the Dons to victory. With the Dons up 2-0 in the fifth, Yarrow put a ball over the right-center field fence to give the Dons a 3-0 lead. In the following inning, after junior shortstop Derek Poppert sacrificed to center to score senior third baseman Dane Braunecker from third, Yarrow smacked a huge two-run shot to right, plating senior left fielder Zach Kim.

Up 6-0, the Dons added a final run in the eighth. Kim singled to short, and then stole his second bag of the game. After a walk to junior center fielder Bobby Ethel, Poppert singled through the right-side to plate Kim.

Poppert was also responsible for the run in the first, singling through the left side to score Kim. In the second, Braunecker singled through the left side to score senior right fielder Drew Johnson.

Santa Clara scored one in the fourth off senior third baseman Brady Fuerst's single down the left field line. They rallied again in the ninth with two outs when sophomore Curtis Wagner doubled to center to plate two and make it 7-3. But that would be all the Broncos could get as Don's sophomore right-hander Jonathan Abramson retired the final batter on a strikeout.

Sophomore righty Matt Hiserman (2-4) earned the victory over his former team, allowing just one earned run off six hits in 5.2 innings. The transfer struck out four Broncos and did not walk a batter. Sophomore left-hander Garrett Luippold and junior right-hander Alex Kalogrides combined for a scoreless inning and Abramson tossed the final 2.1 innings. Abramson allowed two earned runs off three hits, walked one and struck out two.

Poppert had a fantastic day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBI and a stolen base. Yarrow had two homers, three RBI, and two runs scored. Kim also had three hits on the day, stole two bags, including his team and conference leading 24th, and scored three times. Johnson singled, scored a run, and stole his 10th and 11th bags of the year. Braunecker had a single, an RBI, and scored a run. Freshman Nik Balog rounded out the Dons 11 hits with a single, and stole his first career base in the fifth.

SCU's junior right-hander Alex Rivers (3-2) took the loss, giving up three earned runs off seven hits, with four walks and three strikeouts in 4.2 innings. Junior shortstop Jon Karcich and senior right fielder Kevin Madden led the Broncos with two hits each.

USF returns to action on Tuesday, hosting San Jose State at Benedetti Diamond. First pitch is set for 3:00 PM. The Dons look for a series sweep as they took a 4-2 victory at Municipal Stadium on March 10.