USC 7 - - Arizona 5 - Conquest Chronicles

After losing to Arizona in the opener 5-2 on Saturday USC even up their series against Arizona on Sunday with a 7-5 win in Tucson.

Here is the official box score.

TUCSON, Ariz. - Senior closer Paul Koss (Orange/Orange Lutheran HS) threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief to pick up his 15th save of the season as the USC Trojans defeated the No. 15 Arizona Wildcats, 7-5, in a Pac-10 Conference game at Jerry Kindall Field at Sancet Stadium. Koss held off a late charge by the Wildcats after USC held a 6-0 lead after its half of the seventh inning.

With the save, Koss is now tied with Sam Houston State's Luke Prihoda for most saves in the nation. He is now tied with Jason Garner (1995) for fourth on USC's single-season list for most saves and has 35 for his career.

That a pretty big accomplishment for Koss but the pitching still has a lot of issues as SC almost gave this game away in the eighth inning.

[...] but the real trouble came in the eighth. After recording the first out, Cook walked two straight batters and loaded the bases after a single by C.J. Ziegler. Rhinehart then unloaded his ninth homer of the season with a grand slam to right, making it a 6-5 USC lead.

SC is still struggling to close these games out when they have the lead and that has to change if they are going to get back on the winning track.

The series finale will be Monday at 12:00PDT.