Diamond Dons Lose 3-2 in an Extra Innings Heart Breaker

The three seeded San Francisco Diamond Don’s lost a close contest to the Rice Owls in there opening round game in Eugene this afternoon. This game went to extra innings, and unfortunately for the Dons, they were on the losing end of it.

San Francisco got on the board first when Mitchell Rowan doubled down the right field line to bring in USF Catcher Zach Turner. Rice catcher Geoff Perrott homered to left field in the fifth inning and brought in two RBI’s. The Diamond Don’s equalized the score in the eighth inning when outfielder Harrison Bruce scored on a fielders choice from third. After a scoreless ninth inning, the game went into extra innings to decide the outcome of the game.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, Shane Hoelscher singled to centerfield to get Rice on the base path’s, and then Outfielder Michael Aquino laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance him to second.  Leon Byrd was then intentionally walked. Hoelscher then was thrown out of third after he tried to steal the base. USF pitcher Abe Bobb struck out Perrot for the final out of the inning, but Turner was not able to catch it, so Perrot reached on a wild pitch. Blake Fox then hit a fly ball to left field, where the Diamond Don left fielder Derek Atkinson lost the ball in the sun, and let in the winning run for Rice.

The starting pitching in this match-up was stellar for both teams. Haden Hinkle and Austin Kubitza had great outings today, reinforcing the notion that they are some of the best pitchers in the country. Kubitza pitched 7 innings, while only letting up 6 hits and 2 earned runs. Hinkle pitched 6.2 innings, while giving up 4 hits and 2 earned runs.

In the end, the pitching combination of Kubitza and Lemond was too much for the Diamond Dons. San Francisco simply did not generate enough offense to beat the Owls, mostly due to the stellar pitching of the aforementioned Owls pitchers.

The Diamond Dons will take on the loser of the Oregon-South Dakota State game. The game will take place tomorrow at 2 PM PT at PK Park in Eugene, Oregon. In there opening round game, used six total pitchers. There pitching staff will be extremely exhausted in their elimination game, which could hinder them moving forward.