April 26, 2002
Final Stats
San Francisco, CA - The Dons took an 11-6 victory from the Gaels of Saint Mary's Friday in West Coast Conference action at Benedetti Diamond. USF took the early lead with a run in the third. Saint Mary's tied the score at 1-1 in the fourth and took a 3-1 lead in the fifth. The Dons answered back with a seven run outburst in the sixth to take the lead and secure the victory.
USF (11-35, 3-18) posted the first run of the contest in the third to take the 1-0 lead. Freshman third baseman Khamis Zananiri started the Dons off with his first career hit in his first official at-bat for USF. Zananiri was followed with singles from freshman second baseman Cy Donald and sophomore shortstop Armand Gaerlan, who received credit for the RBI to take the lead. The Gaels (17-19, 9-7) answered back in the fourth with a run to tie the score at 1-1 off an RBI triple from junior third baseman Mark Teahan.
The Gaels posted another two runs in the fifth to take the 3-1 lead over the Dons. The lead did not last long as USF posted three runs in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead in the contest. Senior first baseman Nick Cirbo led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a bunt from Zananiri. Donald then singled to left center to score Cirbo to cut the Gaels lead to 3-2. Zananiri then scored on a sacrifice fly from Gaerlan to tie the score at 3-3. Sophomore outfielder Joe Jacobitz followed with a walk and scored on an RBI double from senior catcher Steve Booth to take the lead.
Saint Mary's tied the score in the sixth 4-4 but the Dons answered back with seven runs to take the 11-4 lead. Freshman outfielder Jimmy Milkovich led off the inning with a double to right center and was followed by a single to left from Cirbo. Zananiri then knocked his second hit of the day to score Milkovich. Cirbo then scored on a sacrifice bunt with a throwing error to leave Zananiri and Donald on the bases. Gaerlan had his second sacrifice fly of the contest scoring Zananiri. Jacobitz then walked and Booth was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Junior designated hitter Alfonso Valdez singled scoring Donald and Jacobitz. Freshman center fielder Royce Fukuroku then knocked a two RBI single to score Valdez and Booth.
The Gaels tried to rally back with one run in both the eighth and ninth innings but were unable to come back and take the victory. The win is credited to senior southpaw Jeremy Kinney (2-4) who saw 8.0 innings of work giving up five runs off 14 hits while sitting down nine batters and walking only one. Junior right-hander Zach Brooks threw the final inning of the contest giving up one run off two hits with striking out three batters.
The loss went to Gaels' left-hander Mike Byer (6-5) who saw five innings of action giving up six runs off nine hits while retiring two.
Each Don player had at least one hit throughout the lineup. Leading the Dons was Gaerlan who finished the day 2-for-3 with three RBI. Zananiri also finished 2-for-3 with one RBI and three runs scored. Valdez saw a 2-for-3 day as well with two RBI and one run scored.
Conte and senior first baseman Brian Houle finished the day 3-for 4 for the Gaels. Conte also had two RBI and one run scored with a triple. Houle finished with two runs and one double.
The two teams return to action Saturday at Benedetti Diamond at 1:00 PM for the second game of the three-game WCC series.
