University Southern California Trojans
Baseball Falls to Cal State Fullerton, 7-5
June 21, 1999 | Baseball
February 24, 1999
FULLERTON, Calif. - The No. 19 USC baseball's team misfortunes continued on Wednesday night, as the Trojans fell at No. 10 Cal State Fullerton, 7-5.
The Trojans dropped to 4-9 on the season, while the Titans improved to 9-3 and won their eighth straight.
USC fell behind quickly, as Cal State Fullerton scored three runs in the bottom of the first off of Trojan starter Steve Smyth (2-3). Smyth would settle down, though, and hold the Titans in check until the sixth inning.
In the meantime, the Trojan bats weren't having much luck against CSUF starter Jon Smith (2-0) for the second straight week. The only early run that USC scored was a solo homer by senior CF Jason Lane in the top of the fourth that made it 3-1.
But Cal State Fullerton responded with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a commanding 7-1 lead. In that inning, both USC Coach Mike Gillespie and pitching coach John Savage were ejected.
As has been USC's custom in 1999, the Trojans rallied in the late innings, only to fall short. Lane had an RBI single in the top of the eighth and USC scored three runs in the ninth on a two-run single by freshman 3B Beau Craig and an RBI groundout by sophomore SS Seth Davidson, but the Trojans still fell two runs short.
USC will look to turn things around this weekend (Feb. 26-28), as the Trojans host No. 4 Stanford at Dedeaux Field for three non-conference games.
USC 000-100-013 --- 5-12-2
CSUF 300-004-00x --- 7-10-1
Smyth, Immel (6), Lepe (8) and Munson.
Smith, Jurado (7), Saarloos (8) and Patterson.
WP - Smith (2-0); LP - Smyth (2-3)
HR - USC: Lane (2).
