Mitchell Lobetos
Staff Writer
After a three-game set with St. Mary’s (24-17, 12-6 WCC), the Dons dropped to 17-28 and 11-10 in West Coast Conference play. San Francisco lost two of three when they struggled to move runners across bases.In game three of the series, USF lost 2-4. San Francisco starting pitcher James Kannenberg gave up one run in the top of the first inning. After which he cruised all the way through the sixth inning, but ran into a speed bump in the seventh inning. Kannenberg couldn’t record an out as he gave up one run while he was on the mound and left the bases loaded when walking off. Relief pitcher Joey Carney struck out two while letting two other runs cross home, both of which were charged to Kannenberg. Frank Waliczek came in for relief in the eighth inning and only allowed one walk. In the ninth inning, USF mustered up two runs off St. Mary’s starter Cameron Neff before Anthony Gonsolin came in for a two-out save. Gael’s starting pitcher Neff was the star of the show. Neff struck out 14 batters while only allowing seven base runners in 8.1 innings on the mound and 108 pitches.
Game two went in favor of USF where they struck early and struck hard. In the first inning, the Dons pounced for two quick runs thanks to a double by Nico Giarratano and an infield error forced off the bat of Dan James. In the second inning, thanks to a few errors in USF’s favor, another four runs came across home plate. Those were the only two innings Gael’s starter Johnny York would see. San Francisco starter Thomas Ponticelli spun 7.2 innings and gave up four runs, but he had enough of a lead to leave with the win under his name. Mack Meyer came in for relief and only gave up one run, and locked up a four-out save. By the game’s end, USF looked up to a 6-5 win.
The first game of the series wasn’t the Dons’ cleanest work. Starter Anthony Shew pitched 6.0 innings of solid work, but an untimely error and hit-by-pitch led to two unearned runs. A passed ball in the fourth led to another unearned run. With five runs on the board, St. Mary’s was able to stifle San Francisco’s offense with Gael’s starter Corbin Burnes, putting in 7.1 innings of quality work. Though Burnes allowed nine baserunners, five from walks, the defense behind him kept USF’s offense in check. The Dons fell 1-5, with the lone run coming from a Dan James home run.
With 11 games left in the season and nine in WCC play, San Francisco will try to improve their conference record before going into the conference tournament. Next up is a three-game set against the University of Portland in Oregon. Be sure to follow live online.
The score against Stanford on Tuesday was unavailable at the time of print.
Photo courtesy of Dons Athletics
