Gonzaga University
San Francisco
Zags Drop Series Opener, 11-4, At San Francisco
3/24/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 24, 2000
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco (16-10, 3-4 WCC) put two runs a piece on the scoreboard in the opening three innings Friday afternoon as the Dons opened their three-game series against Gonzaga (11-11, 4-4 WCC) with an 11-4 victory over the Bulldogs at Benedetti Diamond.
The Dons scored all of their early runs off Zags starter Sean Lichter (2-2) combining a series of base hits to push across the six runs. After falling behind 2-0 in the opening inning, Gonzaga scratched back a to within one run as Kevin Hara collected the first of his two RBI's, driving home Brent Church who reached on a double.
Gonzaga was on the verge of climbing back into the ball game in the top of the fourth inning as the Bulldogs scored two more runs off San Francisco starter Ian Perio (5-1). After scoring two runs on consecutive RBI singles by Hara and Danny Evans, the Zags loaded the bases against Perio, but the Dons ace struck out Jason Bay to silence the Gonzaga threat. Perio would go on to scatter three hits over the final five innings to pitch the first complete game of the season for USF.
After having Gonzaga close to within three runs, the Dons responded with five runs in the fifth inning to put the game out of reach. Chad Soares two-run home run was the big shot in the USF fifth as the Dons closed to within a half-game of Gonzaga for second place in the WCC Coast Division.
Jason Bay led the Zags at the plate going 3-for-5, while Kevin Hara continued to swing a hot bat in conference action going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.
The Zags and Dons will pick up the second game of this WCC weekend series with a 1:00 p.m. single game on Saturday afternoon. This will also be the radio debut for Zags baseball during the 2000 season with all the action on Spokane Radio Station KTRW AM 970. Veteran broadcaster Bob Robertson will call all the action starting with the pre-game show at 12:50 p.m.
