USF junior right-hander Jesse Foppert tied his career-high with nine strikeouts and also launched a solo homerun in the fourth inning to power the Dons to a 5-3 West Coast Conference baseball victory against Gonzaga March 17 at Benedetti Diamond. With the win, USF (11-10, 1-3 WCC) snapped a four-game losing streak and extended the Bulldogs' (7-10, 2-2 WCC) slide to three games.

San Francisco's offense came through for 12 hits on the afternoon, but could not convert the hits into runs until the eighth inning when the Dons sent four runners across home plate against the Gonzaga bullpen once senior left-hander Barry Matthews was knocked out of the game after 7.0 innings of work. Matthews allowed just one run off the homerun from Foppert, scattered eight hits and struck out eight Dons. Junior left-hander Kyle Nearhood (0-1) suffered the loss for Gonzaga after allowing two runs off a leadoff triple from Foppert and an RBI single from senior pinch-hitter Chad Soares.

Senior third baseman Taggert Bozied, who went 4-for-4 with a double, two stolen bases and an RBI paced USF offensively while Foppert went 2-for-4 at the plate with a homerun and a triple. Foppert (4-1) also collected his team-leading fourth victory of the season. Junior outfielder Jason Howard and senior infielder Jared Carvalho also added an RBI for the USF cause.

Junior catcher Brian Munhall went 2-for-4 for Gonzaga with a double, while junior infielder Kevin Richardson launched a solo homerun in the fifth inning.

Freshman Dave Seccombe recorded the final two outs for the Dons to collect his fourth save of the season.

USF hosts Gonzaga Sunday in the second game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 PM at Benedetti Diamond.