USC
Long Beach St
Long Beach State Hands Baseball First Loss Of 2001
February 11, 2001 | Baseball
Feb. 11, 2001
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Chris Wright's three-run triple in the bottom of the seventh headlined a six-run, two-out rally Sunday as the No. 17 Long Beach State 49ers beat the No. 2 USC Trojans, 9-5, to avoid the series sweep. The loss is the first of the season for the Trojans (6-1), which started with six wins, the most since the 1988 season (15-0).
Josh Alliston (1-0) went 4 1/3 innings in relief to pick up the win for the 49ers (4-2). He allowed only one run on three hits after the Trojans built a 4-1 lead going into the fifth inning.
The 49ers started their rally in the seventh with one out. First baseman Mike Hofius lofted a double down the left field line and would score on a ground ball by pinch hitter Cole Craig to USC's Seth Davidson, who threw the ball away. Jeremy Reed advanced Craig to third on a ground out before Fraser Dizard walked Edgar Varela to put runners at first and third. Brian Bannister (0-1) then came into the game for the Trojans, but ran into trouble right away.
On a 3-1 count to Kaulana Kuhaulua, Bannister threw a wild pitch, allowing Craig to score. Bannister then walked Jeff Jones to load the bases before Wright hit a triple down the right field line. He scored on an error by USC catcher Alberto Concepcion on a pickoff attempt to complete the scoring.
The Trojans committed a season-high four errors.
Anthony Reyes had his best game so far, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.
USC will travel to Pepperdine on Tuesday (Feb. 13) for a 2:30 p.m. contest before a non-conference weekend series at UCLA, beginning on Friday (Feb. 16) at 5 p.m. Friday's game might feature a possible Mark Prior-Josh Karp pitching matchup as both players have been projected as probable Top 10 picks in the upcoming amateur baseball draft.
USC 110-111-000 --- 5-10-4 Long Beach State 010-020-60x --- 9-7-2WP - Alliston (1-0) LP - Bannister (0-1) Reyes, Dizard (7), Bannister (7), Olson (8) and Concepcion. Beucler, Alliston (5) and Kennedy. T - 3:19 ATT - 1,325
###
