April 28, 2002
Final Stats
San Francisco, CA - The USF Dons swept a three-game series from Saint Mary's in WCC action with a 16-8 victory on Sunday. It is the first series sweep for the Dons this season as the team combined for 18 hits including three homeruns from senior catcher Steve Booth.
USF (13-35, 5-18) took the early lead in the first with a three RBI homerun shot from Booth to score freshman second baseman Cy Donald and sophomore outfielder Joe Jacobitz. The Dons extended that lead to 4-0 in the second. Junior designated hitter Ryan Sittauer led off the inning with a triple for the Dons. Freshman third baseman Khamis Zananiri followed with a single to center to score Sittauer. Again, in the third, Booth launched a solo homerun to increase the Dons' lead to 5-0.
Saint Mary's posted two runs in the fourth to cut USF's lead to 5-2 with RBIs from junior designated hitter Tim Spooner and junior outfielder Jeff Cunningham. The Gaels tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth inning with three more runs. Junior outfielder Jason Waugh led off the inning by taking a pitch for the team. Senior first baseman Brian Houle advanced Waugh to third with a single down the right field line. Junior third baseman Mark Teahan knocked both runners in with a three RBI homerun to tie the game.
The Dons answered back in the bottom of the fifth with four runs. Booth started the inning off for USF with another solo homerun shot to take the 6-5 lead. Freshman outfielder Royce Fukuroku triples to right and was followed with an RBI single from senior first baseman Nick Cirbo to give the Dons a 7-5 lead. Sittauer then singled to right to move Cirbo to second and both scored on a stand-up two RBI double to left center from Zananiri to increase the lead to 9-5. Donald knocked in Zananiri with a single to left to give the Dons the 10-5 lead.
USF posted another three runs in the sixth and four more insurance runs in the eighth. The Gaels tried to rally back scoring two runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth but were unable to find the string of hits to take the victory from the Dons.
The victory was credited to senior right-hander Peter Dunkle (2-7) who threw eight complete innings giving up seven runs off ten hits with striking out seven and walking only three. Dunkle was relieved in the ninth by senior right-hander Steve Moses who gave up one run off one hit and retired two batters. The loss went to Gaels junior right-hander Eric Bowden (4-5). Bowden threw 4.1 innings giving up eight runs off ten hits while retiring two batters and walking only one.
USF was led at the plate today by Donald who finished the contest 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Booth finished the day 4-for-6 with seven RBI and three runs scored. Booth's three homeruns bring his season total to 17 and his team-high RBI to 67 on the year placing him in second for single season RBI record behind Taggert Bozied who recorded 82 in 1999.
The Gaels will return to action on Tuesday, April 30, when they travel to play the Santa Clara Broncos in West Coast Conference action. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
