SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. --- With the tying run 90 feet away from home plate, San Francisco second baseman Michael Eaton made a diving play on a hard grounder off the bat of Portland's Kevin Wade to preserve a 7-6 win for the Dons over the Pilots in a West Coast Conference baseball game played on Friday afternoon at Benedetti Diamond. The game was the first of a three-game weekend series between the Pilots and Dons.
 
The Pilots (7-29, 2-11 WCC) scored the game's first run in the top of the first inning before the Dons (16-18, 9-4 WCC) surged ahead with six straight runs. A four-run seventh inning allowed Portland to climb back into the game, but the Dons would escape with the win.
 
Portland's run in the first inning came on a single by Wade. USF then scored two runs in the bottom of the first, one run in the third, two more in the fifth and another in the sixth to claim a 6-1 lead.
 
But the Pilot bats came alive in the seventh to allow the Pilots to make it a one-run game. Brady Kerr began the inning with a lead-off double, and Michael Lucarelli gave the Pilots runners on the corners with a single. Eric Sapp then drove in Kerr with a base hit to right-center field.
 
Grant Taylor followed with the big hit of the inning when he drilled a triple into right-center field that scored both Lucarelli and Sapp to pull the Pilots within two. The next batter, Cooper Hummel, made it a 6-5 game with a sacrifice fly.
 
The Dons answered with a run in the bottom of the frame, but the Pilots immediately responded with a run in the top of the eighth. This time it was Lucarelli who registered an RBI with his third hit of the game, which again pulled Portland within a single run.


After USF went scoreless in the eighth, Hummel kept the Pilots alive with a one-out double in the top of the ninth inning. Hummel moved over to third base when Turner Gill grounded out for the second out of the inning, bringing Wade to the plate with a chance to possibly tie the game. Portland's clean-up hitter then appeared to do just that when he sent a bouncer towards the hole in the right side of the infield, but Eaton came through with the diving stop before tossing it to first for the game's final out.
 
Portland used two pitchers on the day, with starter Billy Sahlinger (2-3) picking up the loss. He was charged with five runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out five in 4.1 innings. Reliever Brandon Snyder worked the final 3.2 innings, yielding two runs on five hits and a walk.
 
USF starter Anthony Shew (5-3) earns the win after going 7.0 innings. He surrendered nine hits and a walk, which led to five Portland runs. He struck out nine before giving way to three San Francisco relievers. Travis Ulvestad notches his first save after pitching to just one batter, Wade, in the ninth.
 
The Pilots out-hit the Dons 12-11 and neither team committed an error. Lucarelli was 3-for-3 and both Hummel and Kerr were 2-for-4.
 
The second game of this conference series is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday.