SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The University of the Pacific baseball team dropped its West Coast Conference opener to the University of San Francisco on Friday afternoon, 9-2.

The Tigers fall to 7-11 on the season and 0-1 in WCC action, while the Dons improve to 10-7 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

At the bottom of the second, the University of San Francisco took the early 2-0 lead. With two outs, Brady Bate connected for the first hit of the game, hitting a single through the left side. Aaron Ping followed suit with a single through the left side as well to push Bate to second.

It was a double to left center by Nick Yovetich that set the momentum for the game and scored Bate and Ping for the 2-0 lead.

From there, the Dons scored two runs in the third, three in the fourth and one in the fifth before the Tigers ended the shut out at the top of the eighth by a two-out, two-run home run by James Free to get Pacific on the board. Free connected with the ball and smashed it over the right center fence to score Bradley Jekich and trail 8-2.

It was not enough though, as the Dons claimed the first conference victory, 9-2, grabbing one more run at the bottom of the ninth.

The Orange and Black tallied nine hits on the day against the Dons' 14.

Jekich, Nate Verlin, and Matthew Tarantino all connected for two hits each to combine for six of the nine Tigers' hits. Free, Kevin Sandri, and Bryce Kirk combined for the other three hits, with Free registering two RBI.

Alex LeForestier made his first collegiate debut, making two plate appearances and one assist on defense. Hunter Konecny-Peña made his first collegiate start with two at-bats.

Shelby Lackey was charged with the loss (2-1), after pitching five innings with four strikeouts. Thomas Ponticelli (3-0) picked up the win for the Dons, after pitching 7.2 innings with seven strikeouts and giving up just two runs.

Pacific returns to action tomorrow against USF for game two of the series, with first pitch set for 1 p.m.