University of San Francisco

Dons are scrappy, lack depth

Arkansas opens up this weekend's "round robin" tournament in Berkely, California against the University of San Francisco Dons of the West Coast Conference.  The Dons are picked to finish 3rd in the WCC after a 35-24 2013 and their 3rd NCAA Regional bid in program history.  They return 6 regulars from last year's lineup but lost a lot of their pitching staff that posted a 3.36 ERA, good enough for 2nd in the conference.  USF is 5-6 on the young season with impressive wins over No. 4 Cal State Fullerton and Kansas State.

The Dons are hitting .269 on the year and are mostly a base hitting team with only 31 of their 112 hits going for extra bases.  They are led by junior Preseason All American outfielder Bradley Zimmer who is hitting .420 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 11 RBI and 10 runs scored.  He sports a .640 slugging percentage and .453 on base percentage and has stolen 4 bases on 6 attempts.  Junior outfielder Derek Atkinson is second on the team with a .380 average.  He has 3 doubles and is also second in RBI with 9.  Nico Giarratano, son of head coach Nino Giarratano, is a freshman infielder who is hitting .271 with 2 doubles, 6 RBI, and is second on the team with 8 runs scored.

Offensively the Dons are average at best, but their offense is the strength of this team.  Their pitching staff will bring an ERA of 5.28 into the weekend with 119 hits surrendered in 104 innings.  Senior righty Abe Bobb looks to get the start against the Hogs.  He is 1-1 in 3 starts with a 4.95 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 20 innings of work.  Bobb was an All WCC selection last year, but has struggled to open the season against good competition.  Out of the bullpen senior RHP Houston Hibberd has been their most effective pitcher.  He has pitched 12.1 innings, giving up only 1 earned run on 3 hits and 11 strikeouts.  He pitched over 7 shutout innings in a 19 inning marathon win against Fullerton.  Freshman RHP Brock Larson has debuted well with 1 earned run allowed and 1 save in 7.2 innings of relief.

USF looks to be a one dimensional team; if you shut down Zimmer, you shut down the Dons.  Arkansas could run into some trouble if Bobb gets in a groove early, as we have seen them struggle with good starting pitchers already this season.  The Dons are a scrappy, veteran team that has proven it can go the distance with top caliber teams and come out on top any given night.  And in these style tournaments anything has been known to happen.  Arkansas remembers all too well when they went 0-2 against WCC opponents Gonzaga and Pacific last year in Surprise, AZ.  They will be looking to avenge that upset Friday at 4:30 at Evans Diamond. .