LONG BEACH, Calif. – The USC baseball team got a clutch three-run triple in the 10th from
CJ Stubbs and swept the season series against Long Beach State with an 8-5 win on Tuesday night.
The Trojans took the lead in both the ninth and 10th innings in a back-and-forth contest, moving to 9-14 on the season. Long Beach State falls to 3-20.
After the Dirtbags had tied the game up in the fourth inning, both pitching staffs tossed four scoreless to make it 4-4 heading to the ninth.
USC would load the bases and take the lead in the top of the ninth courtesy of a sacrifice fly from
Ben Ramirez. The Trojans were unable to pad the lead, however, and Long Beach State came back to tie things up on an RBI single by Tyler Porter.
The Trojans again loaded the bases again in the 10th, and this time Stubbs came up with a bases-clearing triple with two outs to put the Trojans up for good.
Chris Clarke would toss a scoreless 10th to pick up the win.
John Beller gave up the lead in the fourth, but settled in and threw 4.0 scoreless innings after that. He went five full in relief. Clarke tossed the final 2.0 frames.
The Trojans got on the board first with a four-run second inning, loading the bases and getting a walk from
John Thomas, followed by a two-run single from
Brady Shockey and then a sacrifice fly from
Chase Bushor.
The Dirtbags came back with a run in the third on a double by Calvin Estrada and then would tie the game up with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Brooks Stotler tripled home two runs and Estrada came back up and tied the game with a single through the right side.
TOP PERFORMERS
- CJ Stubbs went 2-for-5 at the plate, hitting the game-winning triple in the 10th to drive in three runs on the day.
- Brady Shockey had two hits, two RBI and a run scored hitting in the leadoff spot. He hit a two-out single in the 10th to start the rally.
- Chase Bushor had an RBI and two runs scored on two hits, including a bunt single in the 10th to extend the inning.
- John Beller scattered six hits over 5.0 innings pitched, striking out four and walking one.
COMING UP
USC hosts No. 1 UCLA for a three-game series starting on Friday. All three games will be shown on the Pac-12 Network.