SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State baseball team dropped its 2018 season opener on Thursday, 7-3, to No. 25 Azusa Pacific.

SF State (0-1) starter Matthew Hernandez (0-1) limited the potent Azusa Pacific (1-0) offense to three hits over the first four scoreless innings before he ran into trouble in the fifth. The righty got back-to-back outs to start the inning, then issued a full-count walk to Justin Gomez. Hernandez got Pablo O'Connor swinging but the ball was in the dirt and skipped to the backstop, which allowed O'Connor to reach first. Austin Russ worked another full-count walk and Nick Estrella gave the Cougars (1-0) the lead with a grand slam to left field. Hernandez finished his day with a perfect sixth inning.

SF State answered with a three-hit, two-run bottom of the fifth. Antone Self singled and moved into scoring position on Connor Fidone's bunt single. Both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch, then Self scored on another wild pitch. Fidone scored on sophomore shortstop Jackson Kritsch's chop single to third.

"We answered with two runs and put ourselves right back in the game," said Head Coach Tony Schifano. "I thought we executed all day with our bunts and gave ourselves an opportunity. We put some good swings on the fastballs and we showed what we're capable of."

The Gators added another run in the sixth to cut the margin to 4-3 on Harley Lopez's hard-hit single through the right side that scored Jack Harris.

The Cougars regained the momentum with three runs off of the Gators bullpen on two hits and an error in the seventh that grew the lead to 7-3.

"We had some guys throwing for the first time and it's baseball. You have to throw strike one," added Schifano. "You let a team like that hit in advantage counts with free guys on base and they're going to score some runs."

The Gators outhit the Cougars 13-7 and were led by Kritsch, who went 5-for-5 with an RBI. Harris, Lopez, and Self all added two hits apiece. Isaiah Carranza (1-0) struck out six and allowed eight hits in five innings of work en route to the win for the Cougars.

Up Next
The two teams continue the four-game series on Friday, Feb. 2 with a doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m. followed by a seven-inning game. The series concludes on Saturday, Feb. 3 at noon. Live stats will be provided and in-game updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstatebaseball.