San Francisco, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers fell to the San Francisco Dons 3-1 in a pitcher's duel at AT&T Park in the Dante Benedetti Classic.  Will Lydon looked dominant on the mound for Pacific, going eight innings, but small ball by the Dons helped the opposition make the most of their opportunities and give Lydon his fifth loss this year.  Lydon has allowed more than three runs just once all season after his eight-inning, three-run, five-strikeout performance.

USF has won six of its last eight games and moves to 3-4 in neutral site games.  The Tigers dropped to 2-10 on the road and 1-3 in the WCC but return home tomorrow for two more games this weekend against USF.  Pacific is 5-3 in Stockton and 7-13 overall.

Lydon went for quality start number four on the season and wrapped it up with aplomb.  The junior retired ten in a row to start the game, striking out four in that time.  Lydon gave up just one hit while facing the minimum through the first four innings, all while throwing 29 of his first 36 pitches for strikes.  It was his third outing of at least seven innings this season and his longest since March 28, 2015, when he also went eight innings.

Anthony Shew matched Lydon's production every step of the way.  The Tigers could score just one run against the USF righty.  Shew went 7.2 innings in the game, striking out five while allowing only eight baserunners on six hits and one walk.  Shew's win makes him 1-3 this season. 

It was Lucas Halstead who gave Pacific the lead with a blast to center that surely would have been a homerun at Klein Family Field.  Instead, the ball bounced down near the wall as the outfielder sprinted back, ending up with an easy triple.  It was the third straight game with an RBI for Halstead and his fourth RBI in five games.

The triple drove in Louis Mejia, who had previous singled to make it 18 of 20 games in which the senior has reached base safely.  Mejia also has hits in 11 of the last 12 games. 

Pacific put men on in all but one inning, including the leadoff man in three of those four.  Kevin Sandri started the game with a single, while Jimmy Boras led off the third with a HBP.

In the fourth, J.J. Wagner extended his hitting streak to six games with a leadoff single on a jam shot that rolled to a stop just past the mound.  Wagner is hitting .417 with five runs during the streak. 

J.P. Yakel, who hit .455 against BYU to start his three-game hitting streak, gunned down San Francisco's only baserunner in the first four innings.  Yakel has caught eight men stealing this year, allowing just a 64% success rate on the basepaths.  The Tigers have only allowed 14 stolen bases all year while their runners have put up a success rate of 78%.

A leadoff single by USF in the fifth ended up tying the game thanks to some small ball serving as the only way the Dons could touch Lydon.  Two straight weak grounders moved the runner to third.  A single past a diving Sandri drove the man in to make it 1-1. 

It was the seventh inning that proved to be USF's best output, as the Dons scored two to take the lead.  Another infield single put the leadoff man on, followed post haste by a single just over Sandri's head.  Mejia got his glove on a ball up the middle as he dove to stop it but it skipped off the very edge of the webbing into the outfield, allowing both runners to score for USF's first lead of the game.

Lydon didn't let the game get away from even as he tired, however.  The righty struck out the next batter looking for the second out and forced an easy popup one pitch later to end the seventh.  Lydon continued to pound the strike zone, with 59 of his 78 pitches through seven going for strikes. 

Nate Verlin blasted a double off the rightfield wall in the eighth to chase Shew but that was the entirety of the threat for Pacific as USF's Mack Meyer came in and got a one-pitch popout to end the inning.

Two infield singles started the Tiger rally in the ninth.  Gio Brusa beat out a slow grounder down the first base line by inches, followed by Wagner making it to first before a long throw by the shortstop could. 

A textbook bunt put the tying run in scoring position for the Tigers.  Pacific got one run with a groundout by Halstead to give him two RBI on the day, but that was all.  Yakel blasted a ball that looked ready to turn into a double if not for the range of USF's Matt Sinatro, who ran it down in time to end the game.

The next two games in the Pacific-USF series will be held in Stockton at Klein Family Field.  The Friday matchup with begin at 7:00 pm.  Saturday's game will start at 2:00 pm.  Tickets for those games are available online. 

Make sure to follow Pacific baseball on Twitter with the username @PacificBaseball and on Instagram at pacificbaseball.