SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – A five run inning at the top of the ninth to the tie the game came up just short, as the University of the Pacific baseball team fell short in the final West Coast Conference series opener game to the University of San Francisco, 7-6.

Pacific falls to 7-13 on the season and 0-3 in conference action, while USF improves to 12-7 and 3-0 in the WCC.

After two scoreless innings, the bats came alive, as the Dons took a 5-0 lead at the bottom of the third. Tyler Villaroman started the hitting binge with a single to right center that pushed Johnathan Allen to third and scored Jack Winkler for the first run. From there, the Dons' hit two doubles, a single and a sacrifice fly to score the next four runs.

USF grabbed one more run in the fourth to increase the lead to 6-0.

However, the Tigers came alive at the top of the sixth inning with Tyler Ryan connecting for a double to score Nate Verlin and end the Dons' shut out and trail, 6-1.

In the ninth, the Orange and Black scored five runs to tie the game but came up short for the victory. Bryce Kirk and Alex LeForestier hit back-to-back singles to start the inning off for the Tigers. Bradley Jekich walked to load the bases. Kevin Sandri stepped up to the plate and struck one out to center field to score Kirk and LeForestier and bring Pacific within three at 6-3.

With no outs, James Free followed suit and hit a single to center field to score Jekich and push Sandri to second.

The Dons' made a pitching change after four hits and three runs but it did not slow down the Tigers bats. Verlin hit a sacrifice ground out to advance the runners to second and third. Sandri scored on a wild pitch to cut in even more on the Dons' lead and trail, 6-5.

USF made another pitching change following a walk on Tarantino. Ryan stepped up to the plate and singled up the middle to score Free for the 6-6 tie. However, it was not enough as Villaroman hit a single to left field to score Aaron Ping for the game winning run, 7-6.

"If we are going to be competitive in conference, we are going to have to get more out of our starting pitching than we got this weekend," said head coach Ryan Garko. "I liked the way we fought back at the end and hope we can carry that into next weekend's series."

Ryan and Sandri each tallied two RBI, while Free had one. The Tigers edged out the Dons' on hits, 11-10, with Ryan connecting for three hits in four at-bats. Jekich and Free were right behind with two hits, while Sandri, Verlin, LeForestier, and Kirk each had one.

Ryan Shreve was charged with the loss after pitching 1.1 innings with two strikeouts. Daniel Slominski picked up his first win after pitching 0.1 innings, allowing one hit and striking out one batter.

The Tigers return home to host the University of San Diego for a three-game series starting on Friday, March 23 with first pitch set for 6:00 p.m.