April 28, 2003

A LOOK AT USF: USF desperately needed victories to stay in the West Coast Conference West Divisional race and broke through for their second consecutive road sweep downing WCC and Bay Area rival Saint Mary's College over the weekend at Louis Guisto Field in Moraga. With the sweep, the Diamond Dons continue their recent mastery against the Gaels and have now won 10 consecutive contests. San Francsico's offense erupted for 36 base hits in the three games and outscored Saint Mary's 24-10. The Dons have now won six straight league games on the road after turning in a league series sweep at Gonzaga April 11-13. The sweep, coupled with Santa Clara sweeping Loyola Marymount and Gonzaga taking two of three against divisional leader San Diego, places USF in a tie with the Toreros for the divisional lead with six conference games left to play. San Diego and LMU play each other this weekend at Cunningham Stadium in San Diego. USF travels to Reno Tuesday for a non-conference game against the Wolf Pack on Tuesday at Peccole Park. Then USF hosts Portland in the final WCC series of the year at home Friday-Saturday, May 2-3.

WHO'S HOT FOR THE DONS: USF has won six of their last 10 contests, despite suffering a home West Coast Conference sweep against #26 Pepperdine April 17-19. In their last 10 contests, the Dons have batted at a .305 clip, while the pitching staff has posted a 4.18 ERA. Sophomore infielder Cy Donald has led the way at the plate, hitting at a .367 (11-30) pace with a double and a pair of RBI, while junior infielder Joe Jacobitz also has swung the bat very well lately, connecting at a .361 (13-36) clip with a double, homerun and nine RBI in his last 10. Senior outfielder Nick Tarbat has also improved, batting .316 (12-38) with three doubles, a homerun and six RBI. Senior right-hander Bryan Williams posted a 2-1 record in his last three starts with a 3.00 ERA, pitching24.0 innings, striking out 14. Williams collected a complete game victory against Saint Mary's in his last outing. Junior left-handed reliever Derek Tate also has thrown well, posting a 1-1 record with a 2.89 ERA and five strikeouts.

SCOUTING NEVADA: USF travels to Reno to take on Nevada Tuesday at Peccole Park in non-conference action. The Wolf Pack is off to a 23-19 overall record with a 12-5 WAC mark after taking two of three against Fresno State in Fresno last weekend. Nevada has won six out of their last 10, including a victory against then #1 Rice in Houston. As a team, the Wolf Pack bats at a .303 clip with 54 homeruns, led by freshman catcher Brett Hayes who hits .385 with a team best 46 RBI, while senior infielder Kevin Kouzmanoff leads the long ball list with 11 homers and 41 RBI. Nevada pitching owns a 5.06 ERA with 277 combined strikeouts countering 176 walks. Last season, the Wolf Pack pounded USF 21-5 in Reno. Nevada leads the all-time series 74-27 and the last time the Diamond Dons won was a 4-3 victory April 6, 1991. USF will send sophomore right-hander Steve Spurgeon (2-0, 4.60 ERA) to the mound. Nevada will counter with either right-handers Brandon Gottier (2-3, 6.56 ERA) or Chris Scott (0-1, 11.74 ERA).

GIARRATANO SURPASSES CENTURY MARK: USF head coach Nino Giarratano collected his 100th career victory on the Hilltop with a 3-2 victory against San Diego (3/15/03). Giarratano became the fifth coach in program history to surpass the century mark, joining USF Hall-of-Famer Dante Benedetti (427), Ken Bowman (209), Dutch Anderson (158) and Rich Hill (139) on the leader board.

INTERNET BROADCAST SCHEDULE: USF's West Coast Conference divisional series versus Portland and USF's non-conference contest at Nevada will be carried live on the internet via YahooBroadcast.com. Ryan McCrary will call all the action live from Peccole Park in Reno. Fans can access the broadcast at www.USFDons.com. In addition to the live internet broadcasts, USF is proud to offer Gametracker, a state-of-the-art system for following games in progress batter-by-batter. Gametracker is available for all USF home games and several WCC road contests, including Saint Mary's.

USF vs. SAINT MARY'S SERIES RECAP: USF bounced back after suffering a home West Coast Conference sweep against #26 Pepperdine by taking to the road for a crucial interdivisional sweep against Bay Area rival Saint Mary's. The Dons outscored the Gaels 24-10, erupting for 36 base hits. USF bats hit at a .393 clip for the series, while the pitching staff posted a 2.36 ERA during the three-game set. Only one regular hit below .300 for the series against the Gaels. Senior right-hander Bryan Williams went the distance for USF in game two Saturday, collecting his team-leading fifth win of the season, allowing just one earned run off five hits. In addition, Williams equalled a career-high with seven strikeouts.

JACOBITZ WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: USF junior infielder Joe Jacobitz captured West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors after leading USF to a road league sweep of Saint Mary's College, propelling the Dons into a share of first place in the West Division. Jacobitz went .500 (6-12) with a homerun and seven RBI against the Gaels. In addition, Jacobitz seized the team RBI lead with the monster series, driving in 33 on the season with nine in his last 10 contests. Jacobitz is the fourth Diamond Don honored this season, following junior catcher Ryan Hanson (4/11) and junior infielders Nick Cirbo (3/24) and Armand Gaerlan.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: USF will not spend much time playing at Benedetti Diamond the remainder of the 2003 campaign as the Diamond Dons play just four of their final 11 games at the friendly confines of Benedetti Diamond. USF hosts Portland in a crucial West Coast Conference series and then host Sacramento State in the regular season finale Saturday, May 17.

ROAD WARRIORS: USF has shown great improvement on the road this season, posting a 12-12 mark away from Benedetti Diamond this season, including an impressive 8-4 record during the West Coast Conference schedule. Last season, the Diamond Dons were a dismal 5-24 on the road, winning just three WCC contests.

USF AMONG WCC LEADERS: Several USF players rank among the top-10 in several league categories (as of 4/28/03). Junior Armand Gaerlan ranks sixth in on-base percentage (.441) and is seventh in slugging percentage (.602). Senior outfielder Nick Tarbat leads the WCC in triples (4), rates second in walks (33), ranks eighth in the league in on-base percentage (.434) and is tied for sixth in runs (35). Senior outfielder Jason Howard shares seventh place in doubles (13), while junior outfielder Joe Jacobitz ranks seventh in walks (23) and is 10th in RBI (33). Senior right-hander Bryan Williams ranks ninth in opposing batting average (.272) and innings pitched (79.0) and shares seventh place in victories (5). Senior right-hander Kevin Annis ranks eighth in ERA (3.70) and is fourth in opposing batting average (.244).

WILLIAMS COMING UP BIG: Senior right-handed starter Bryan Williams is making the most of his final season of college baseball. Williams (5-3) tossed his second complete game win of the season at Saint Mary's, allowing just one unearned run off five hits to go along with a career-high seven strikeouts. Williams also tossed a complete game 3-2 win against San Diego improving to 2-0 against the Toreros this season. Williams earned his third win at Portland. Williams owns a 4.67 ERA this season - second among the USF rotation. In addition, Williams posted back-to-back saves against Texas Tech (2/16) and against San Jose State (2/18). During West Coast Conference play this year, Williams boasts a 5-2 record with a 3.84 ERA in 58.2 innings, allowing 29 runs (25 earned) off 60 hits. Williams is scheduled to pitch game two Saturday against Portland.

JESSE FOPPERT NOW WITH GIANTS: Former USF pitcher Jesse Foppert made his major league debut pitching two hitless and scoreless innings as San Francisco beat Houston 4-2. Foppert, who played first base and pitched for USF during the 2001 season, entered the game in the top of the seventh, with the Giants leading 4-1. He retired the side in order with Craig Biggio becoming his first major league strikeout. In the eighth, he retired the first two batters, including Brian Hunter via strikeout before walking Jeff Kent. Foppert was replaced by Giants' closer Tim Worrell in the ninth, but was named "Player of the Game" by the Giants' TV crew. In addition, Foppert received a game ball and the lineup card in recognition of his debut. Foppert earned All-West Coast Conference Second Team honors in 2001 as a utility player and was selected in the second round of the 2001 MLB draft.

Foppert has since entered the Giants' pitching rotation, with two starts on the road vs. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. In the Phillies' game, he allowed just three hits in six innings while the Giants were no-hit by Kevin Millwood.