USc took the overall series against San Diego this weekend, two games to one.
The first game was played on Friday at Dedeaux Field, with USC pulling a 6 - 2 win over San Diego. A key contribution was the double, 2 RBI's, and homerun from senior Johnny Bowden (in case you were wondering, Johnny is very distantly related to Florida State coach Bobby Bowden). The game was tied at the end of the 6th inning, but 2 runs from the Trojans in both the 7th and 8th innings were enough to nail down the game.
The Saturday game, also played at Dedeaux Field, was a bat-a-palooza. Both teams got off to a strong start, and at the end of the third inning USC had the lead at 4-3. Unfortunately, San Diego proceeded to light up the Trojans for 8(!) runs before the Trojans were able to respond with 2 in the 7th inning. However, that was it for Trojan batting and all that was left was for San Diego to score an exclamation run in the 8th. OVerall, San Diego made 20 hits in the game, not least because everyone in the starting line-up got at least one hit.
Finally, the Trojans took the drive south to play San Diego at home on Sunday. Apparently exhaustion from all the hitting on Saturday was a factor, as the score was much lower. USC jumped out to a 3 run lead in the third inning, and kept a lid on San Diego until the 8th inning, in which San Diego scored 2. A third run for San Diego in the 9th prompted - briefly - extra innings, until the Trojans' Matt Cusick hit an RBI single and freshman Robert Stock, having started the game as catcher, came in as relief pitcher for the save -- his second save of the season, in fact, but the first time that he has been both pitcher and catcher in the same game. So, the Trojans won the game 4 - 3, and took the overall series against San Diego 2 - 1.
The Trojans, with an overall record of 5-3, next take on Pepperdine in Malibu on Tuesday February 13. With snow in the forecast for DC on Tuesday, that sounds pretty good to me.