MORAGA, Calif. — In their final non-conference game before WCC play begins on Friday afternoon, Saint Mary's Baseball hosted the San Francisco Dons on Tuesday afternoon, the first of five meetings between the two teams this year. Saint Mary's needed a rebound after blowing a late lead on Sunday afternoon, and rebound they did. This time around, Saint Mary's held onto their early lead and were on the right end of a 7-5 decision, hanging on to beat the Dons. Saint Mary's heads into conference play with a 10-7 record while USF falls to 4-12 before their conference opener.
 
STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM
Saint Mary's got loads of production on Tuesday afternoon from their ninth-place hitter Kyle Velazquez, who delivered his best game of the 2021 season. Overall, Velazquez was 2-2 with a run scored a season-best three runs batted in, sparking the offense in several ways. In the second inning, Saint Mary's got on the board after they loaded the bases up thanks to a hit, a hit batter, and an error. Velazquez came up with two outs and singled home Nick Mistone and Marc Goulart, making it 2-0 Saint Mary's. In the sixth inning, it was Velazquez again coming through for the Gaels with a solid single up the middle, scoring Mistone for the second time in the game. Between Velazquez and the ninth-place hitters for USF, they combined to go 4-4 and reach base seven times.
 
NOW WE HERE
Thanks to all the runs put up from the bottom of the order, the Gaels were in good position to hang on for the win, but the bullpen made things dicey at times. Four relivers followed behind Dalton Ponce to secure the Gaels tenth win of the season, starting with Jack Snook. He got into trouble in the fourth and gave way to Liam Steigerwald, who got out of the fifth inning with the go-ahead run on base. After a clean sixth, Ryan Sanders came on to pitch the seventh and eighth innings, but allowed a pair of runs (one earned) to score in the eighth. This brought on Jackson Hulett with the tying run at second base and two down, but he got out of the jam after Luke Keaschall of USF was caught trying to score on a wild pitch. Hulett pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his second save of the year.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
While getting strong contributions from the bottom of the order (Velazquez, Mistone), the Gaels got a great start at the leadoff position from Ryan Ellis, who went 2-3 with a run, a walk, and an RBI…Jacob Talamante brought home a big insurance run for the Gaels in the eighth with an RBI-triple to right center, and was scored on a sacrifice fly from Ryan Novis…Ponce made his first start since February and went four innings in a no-decision, allowing three hits, just one run, while walking three and striking out three.
 
UP NEXT
WCC play officially begins on Friday afternoon as Saint Mary's welcomes in San Diego for the first of a three-game series, with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 pm on Friday afternoon. The Gaels will send Carlos Lomeli to the mound in game one, looking to build off a win in his last start on Friday against Pacific. San Diego presents a difficult challenge, as they are the best-hitting team in the WCC thus far.