May 13, 2005

Box Score

(San Francisco, CA) - USF Baseball set a new single-season record for victories with a 9-1 victory over Portland in the first of a three game West Coast Conference series at Benedetti Diamond in San Francisco on Friday afternoon. With the victory, the Dons (35-15, 18-7) tied the school record for wins in the WCC. The Dons picked up a game in the West Division of the WCC with their victory and a Pepperdine loss to Santa Clara.

Senior right-hander Nick Pereira picked up the victory for the Dons. Pereira (10-2) did not allow a run, gave up six hits, and struck out 10 in his 7.0 innings of work over the Pilots (15-33, 5-20 WCC), lowering his ERA to 1.98 in 100.0 innings this season. Pereira, with his ten strikeouts in the game, now has 89 on the season, which moves into a tie for sixth most strikeouts in a season in USF history.

Freshman outfielder Luke Sommer led the way offensively for the Dons going 3-for-3 with a homerun, a triple, and a single. For Sommer, it was his third homerun of the season. Sommer also drove in two runs and scored three runs. Sophomore Daniel Morales connected on his sixth homerun of the season leading off the bottom of the fourth inning to give the Dons a 4-0 lead. Morales would finish the day 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.

Nine other Dons would pick up hits in the ballgame, including five pinch hit hits in the bottom of the eighth inning where the Dons would go on to score two more runs to extend their lead to 9-1.

For the Pilots, right-fielder Travis Vetters and center fielder Justin Ehlers led the way offensively. Vetters finished the day 3-for-4 with a double and Ehlers finished the day 2-for-4.

USF and Portland will do battle again tomorrow in the second game of the series at Benedetti Diamond, with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 PM. With a victory in tomorrow's game the Dons could have another record breaking day on the Hilltop.