USF baseball fought back from a two-run deficit to take a 5-2 victory against the visiting Highlanders of UC Riverside Feb. 23 in non-conference baseball action at Benedetti Diamond. USF (7-4) got seven complete innings from junior right-hander Jesse Foppert (2-0), who allowed just two runs on five hits to go along with nine strikeouts on the afternoon.

Freshman right-hander Jason Seccombe collected the save (2) for the Dons after pitching a one-hit ninth inning. Senior left-hander George Carralejo ((1-3) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on 10 hits through 7 1/3 innings of work for the Highlanders.

Riverside got on the board first with a two-run homerun by Brandon Smith in the first inning, but that was all of the offense the Highlanders would muster the rest of the day. USF finally got on the board with one run in the fourth inning and added two additional tallies in the sixth and eighth.

Junior outfielder Jeramy Janz led the way for USF offensively on a 2-for-3, two double, RBI performance, while freshman first baseman Nick Cirbo also went 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of RBI. Senior outfielder Chad Soares and junior catcher Steve Booth also collected a double for the Dons.

USF completes the three-game set against UC Riverside in a double-header on Saturday at Benedetti Diamond. First pitch in game one is scheduled for 11:00 AM.