Mitchell Lobetos
Staff Writer

Last week the Dons (9-21, 4-5 WCC), played four games away from home; one game against the University of California, Berkeley (18-6) and a three-game set against the Pepperdine Waves (13-13, 4-5 WCC). It was another rough week as San Francisco was only able to come away with one win, against the Waves, throughout the week. If it wasn’t for junior right-hander James Kannenberg.

In USF’s final game against the Waves the team was able to salvage a win for the week. Sophomore third baseman Ross Puskarich hit a 2-RBI double in the fourth inning to give San Francisco a 2-0 lead. In the eighth inning junior shortstop Nico Giarratano padded the Dons lead another run after an RBI single. In Kannenberg’s 8.0 innings of work he only gave up four hits and struck out three. Junior right handed pitcher Mack Meyer came in for relief in the ninth but was unable to preserve the shutout as he gave up a solo homerun to the Waves. Senior reliever Frank Waliczek came in and recorded two outs but not before adding some stress and giving up two hits. With two runners on base, junior right-hander Joey Carney was tasked with recording the final out and closed the game with a four-pitch strikeout. San Francisco escaped game three of the series with a 3-1 win.

The second game was a frustrating one for USF. Freshman right-handed starter Thomas Ponticelli had a quality start throwing 6.2 innings and giving up three earned runs. It wasn’t enough as Pepperdine also scored one unearned run off of Ponticelli and three more runs from USF’s relief corps. San Francisco just couldn’t find their rhythm and were only able to muster up three hits and one walk. The Dons trudged through an offensively quiet day to a 7-0 defeat.

In game one against Pepperdine the offense for San Francisco was also subdued. The Wave’s starter went 8.2 innings strong only giving up five hits, walking two batters and striking out 10. The Dons looked out in distress as they just couldn’t get anything going. On the other side, senior starter Anthony Shew pitched quite the game himself. Shew spun 7.0 innings of quality work giving up six hits and only one run. But the run Shew gave up and the run Meyer gave up in 1.0 innings of relief were enough for the Waves to claim victory.

The Dons first game of the week last week was against Cal in Berkeley. San Francisco jumped on the Cal starter in the top of the first inning by using speed on the base paths and setting up Puskarich and junior Allen Smoot for RBI singles, thanks to steals from juniors Harrison Bruce and Matt Sinatro. Smoot earned his second RBI of the game in the third inning thanks to an error by the Golden Bears third baseman. Giarratano smacked a solo homerun in the fourth innings to put the Dons up 4-0. The lead seemed comfortable until Cal went on a barrage in the fourth and fifth innings hitting a 2-RBI double, a bases-loaded triple and two solo homeruns giving Berkeley a 7-4 lead. Sinatro had an RBI single in the eighth inning but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback as USF fell 5-7.

With last week behind them San Francisco hits the road again for more WCC play against Loyola Marymount University.

The score for the game against UC Davis was unavailable at time of print.

Photo courtesy of Dons Athletics