STOCKTON, Calif. - The Pacific baseball team racked up 15 hits as the Tigers took game one against San Francisco, 9-5. James Free II drove in four, while Danny Mayer hit his 12th home run and finished with two RBI.

Free posted a 3-for-4 night at the plate with a pair of doubles, while Mayer, Ryan Schalch, and Blake Barry all finished 2-for-4. Matthew Tarantino went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a pair of runs scored, and Keaton Glover was 2-for-3 with a run scored.

The Tigers plated four in the first and that's all Justin Giovannoni would need for his first win, as he allowed one unearned run in five innings to improve to 1-3. Ryan Shreve tossed two innings and Vince Arobio pitched the final two innings for his seventh save.


In the first, Kevin Sandri reached on a pop-up that fell in the infield and Free and Schalch posted back-to-back doubles. Mayer followed with a two-run homer to right field for a 4-0 Pacific lead.

San Francisco got a run back in the third on a single from Matt Sinatro, who advanced to third on a failed pick-off attempt. After Nico Giarratano reached on an error, to set up first and third, he took off to second and got himself in a run-down allowing Sinatro to score.

Pacific stretched the lead in the fourth as Glover singled to center and Carter Hayes followed with a single through the left side. Tarantino plated a run with a single to left. Free followed with a two-run double for a 7-1 lead.

Giovannoni departed after five innings, and Shreve tossed a scoreless sixth. In the seventh, Allen Smoot hit a two-out double to center, and Dominic Miroglio followed with a double to left. Michael Perri added an RBI single to left before Shreve ended the inning by coaxing a groundout as the Tigers carried a 7-3 lead into the stretch.

In the bottom of the seventh, Tarantino singled into the hole at shortstop, and advanced to second when the late throw skipped into the USF dugout. Free singled up the middle to plate Tarantino before Grant Young replaced USF starter Thomas Ponticelli, and escaped further damage.

In the eighth, the Dons opened the inning with two singles and a fielder's choice in which the Tigers couldn't get an out while a run trotted home. Arobio replaced Shreve with no one out and after an RBI fielder's choice, Arobio posted a strikeout and coaxed a flyout to end the threat.

The Tigers added a run in the bottom of the inning, as Barry singled up the middle and after Glover sacrificed him over, Sandri delivered a single to center for a 9-5 lead.

Arobio retired the side in the ninth, and was credited with his seventh save (as he entered with the tying run in the on-deck circle).

Ponticelli, who entered with a 1.84 ERA, took the loss to fall to 4-2. He surrounded eight runs, six earned, while striking out five.

The series shifts to the Bay as USF will host games two and three of the series at Benedetti Diamond. First pitch Saturday is 2 p.m.