LOS ANGELES – The USC baseball team was again hitting on all cylinders as it powered past No. 7 Arizona State for a 7-3 victory and series win on Saturday afternoon. USC will go for the sweep tomorrow.
The Trojans posted 12 hits and held one of the nation's most potent offenses to three runs, moving to 12-17 on the year and 5-6 in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils, who came into the series with just two losses on the year, are now 25-4 overall and 8-3 in conference action.
Arizona State struck first in the third inning with a solo-homer from Spencer Torkelson, but USC would answer back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning, two of which came off the bat of
CJ Stubbs on his third homer of the year.
Blake Sabol opened the scoring for USC with an RBI triple, driving in
Brandon Perez, who led the inning off with a double.
The Sun Devils would score lone runs in the fourth and sixth innings to tie things up, but
Matthew Acosta hit his first of two homers to lead off the bottom of the sixth and break the 3-3 tie. USC would tack on two more runs thanks to a
Clay Owens single and ASU error.
Carson Lambert helped keep the game tied in the top of the sixth, entering the game with two outs and the bases loaded and getting an inning-ending flyout to right. Lambert also tossed a scoreless seventh before handing it off to
Chris Clarke. Clarke proceeded to set down the next five batters in order before giving up a two-out double in the ninth. He settled back in and got a groundout to end the game.
Isaac Esqueda tossed 5.2 innings in the start and took a no-decision after giving up three runs on seven hits. He struck out three and walked three on the day.
Acosta hit a solo-homer in the bottom of the seventh to cap the scoring for USC. After driving in five runs yesterday, Acosta now has seven RBI in the series and has gone 6-for-9 at the plate.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Matthew Acosta went 2-for-4 at the plate, hitting two solo-homers on the day.
- Ben Ramirez was 3-for-3 on the day, walking once and scoring once.
- CJ Stubbs went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, double, two RBI and one run scored.
- Chris Clarke tossed 2.0 scoreless innings to finish off the win, giving up just one hit and striking out one.
- Carson Lambert tossed 1.1 scoreless innings, getting USC out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to keep the game tied.
- Isaac Esqueda held ASU to three runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings of work.
COMING UP
The Trojans go for the sweep against ASU on Sunday at 1 p.m. USC then welcomes Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup.
