BASE | 8th-Inning Rally Cut Short as Gaels Fall to USF

Saturday, April 13

San Francisco

1 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

20-14, 6-5

San Francisco

20-14, 9-5

Saint Mary's (CA)

San Francisco

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

BASE | 8th-Inning Rally Cut Short as Gaels Fall to USF

4/13/2019 3:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO – Junior right-hander Kevin Milam put together an impressive, 6-inning relief appearance on Saturday, but Saint Mary's was unable to overcome a 3-run, first-inning rally from San Francisco.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Dons threatened early in the bottom of the first: Winkler reached after getting hit by the first pitch of the game. Then, a stolen base and a passed ball put him on third with no outs. The following batter walked to put runners at the corners, then a bloop-single to center field gave USF a 1-0 lead. The Dons pushed two more runs across which forced freshman right-hander Tyler Thornton to exit the game without recording an out. Milam entered in relief with the bases loaded and shut USF down, striking out the side on 13 pitches to limit the damage to just three runs.
The Gaels responded in the top of the third, starting a two-out rally when junior Ryan Novis was hit by a pitch. Then, on the fifth pitch of his at-bat, senior Eddie Haus roped a double to right field which allowed Novis to score from first. As a result, SMC cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Dons scored their fourth run of the game in the sixth inning after loading the bases and hitting a sacrifice fly to take a 4-1 lead.
Saint Mary's was in business in the top of the eighth, starting with a 1-out double from junior Joe Vranesh off of the right field wall. Milam followed with a single to left field which drove in Vranesh from second. Sophomore Gio Diaz was the third straight Gael to reach base and his single to right field put runners at the corners with one out. Senior Austin Chauvin struck out swinging in the next at-bat, but a good appearance from freshman Daniel Mendez led to a walk which loaded the bases for freshman Bryce Willits. After watching the first two pitches go by, Willits fouled the next four pitches, then worked it to a 2-2 count. However, on the ninth-pitch of the at-bat, a line drive found the glove of USF's first baseman to end the inning.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

5.1: No. of innings pitched for Milam before surrendering a run
7: No. of strikeouts for Milam through his first 5 innings of work (struck out the side in the first)
4: Milam allowed just four hits in his six innings of work
5: Gael pitchers combined for just five hits and one run after the three runs in the first inning
0: No. of extra base hits allowed by SMC pitchers

COMING UP

The series finale will take place on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

#GaelsRise – Tickets for all upcoming home game are available for purchase here on SMCGaels.com or by calling the SMC Ticket Office at (925) 631-GoTx. Fans can find all live coverage links on SMCGaels.com.