San Francisco, Calif. - A day after the two teams met in a slugfest, the Tigers and Dons found themselves in a pitching duel on Saturday, April 12 as San Francisco outlasted Pacific, 3-2, in 11 innings to even the series. The extra-inning contest was the second extra-inning game for Pacific of the week after playing 14 against Sacramento State on Tuesday in Stockton. The loss dropped the Tigers to 16-20 overall and 6-8 in WCC play while the Dons improved to 16-17 on the year and 6-8 in conference play.

In a game full of chances for both the Tigers and the Dons, it was USF that ultimately capitalized with the game on the line in the 11th inning with a single run to come away with the win. The Dons found themselves with a chance to win after the two teams had traded runs in the 10th inning after scoring just one run a piece through the first nine innings of play.

After notching 18 runs and 29 combined hits on Friday afternoon, the Tigers and Dons were held in check throughout much of the day on Saturday by the likes of sophomore Jake Jenkins and Christian Cecilio. Locked in a duel of one-upmanship, the two starting pitchers dominated the day for eight solid innings. For Jenkins, the sophomore went a full eight innings while giving up just one run on eight hits while Cecilio lasted 7.2 innings with one run and six hits against. The duo combined for 14 strikeouts in the contest and walked just one as the two pitched their way through the opposition with limited trouble.

For Jenkins, the lone blemish of his outing came in the bottom of the sixth inning when the middle of the Dons' order strung together three hits to post a single run against the sophomore. Even with a little trouble brewing in the inning, Jenkins was able to pitch his way out of the jam, stranding the bases loaded to preserve a 1-1 tie at the time. The escape act was not the first for Jenkins in the game as he also pitched out of bases loaded trouble in the second. 

On the other side of the bump, Cecilio gave up just one run to the Tigers in the top of the fourth when sophomore J.P. Yakel doubled home sophomore Gio Brusa with two outs in the inning. Brusa had reached after being hit by a pitch. Just as Jenkins was able to do in his time on the mound, Cecilio was able to pitch out of trouble throughout his day as he stranded runners in scoring position in five of his eight innings of work. Cecilio would give way to the Dons' closer, Houston Hibberd (4-1) in the eighth who would continue the trend by getting out of a bases loaded jam in the inning as Pacific tried to steal the go ahead run on a wild pitch only to be cut down at the plate.

From the eighth inning on, the Tigers had their chances to come away with the win against the Dons as Pacific picked up extra base hits in each of the final three innings of play, but came up with just one run. Pacific was able to score a single run in the 10th when junior Taylor Murphy singled up the middle against Hibberd to plate junior Tyler Sullivan who had tripled to leadoff the inning. Pacific would get leadoff doubles senior Erik Lockwood and Yakel in the 9th and 11th innings, respectively, but Hibberd was able to keep the Tigers off the board to setup the Dons offensively.

In the 10th, the Dons scored a run against freshman Vince Arobio as the first-year pitcher issued a one-out walk that came around to score on a single and a wild pitch. He would get himself into a bases loaded jam in the inning before pitching out of trouble to end the threat and keep the game alive for Pacific. However, the long inning for the Tigers in the field in the 10th allowed the Dons to roll their lineup over in the 11th as USF was able to get to senior Jasaon Taasaas (0-4) for the game winning run in the bottom of the 11th.

The two teams will meet for a third and final time on Sunday, April 13, as they play the rubber game of their WCC series from Benedetti Diamond. The game is scheduled for 1:00 pm.