After beating Southern on Saturday USC dropped a heartbreaker to ucla at Dedeaux Field on Sunday 4-3. SC had the lead going into eighth inning but ucla scored two runs I the eight to pull out the win.
The top of the Bruins' order of Jermaine Curtis, Carrithers and Brandon Crawford combined for seven hits and three runs scored as UCLA improved to 5-1 on the season. USC fell to 5-3 overall.
Lafferty allowed only two singles and retired 12 batters in a row at one point. Sophomore starter Brad Boxberger lasted five innings for the Trojans, allowing one run on five hits with four walks and six strikeouts.
UCLA has won six straight against USC and we don't play them again until early April when they 3 at ucla.
Coming off that loss, SC played Pepperdine in Malibu where they lost 10-5. Pepperdine has won 5 straight against SC. SC continues to struggle with their pitching as they gave up 3 home-runs last night.
Matt Bywater improved to 2-0 on the season for Pepperdine (6-2) after allowing just two runs in seven innings. He scattered eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts. The top four batters in the Waves' lineup (Bryce Mendonca,, Aidem, Chase d'Arnaud and Eric Thames) collected two hits each.
Senior left fielder Roberto Lopez (La Mesa/Rancho Bernardo HS) went 3-for-5 with a double for the Trojans.
This is not the way that we expect this team to perform. Coach Kreuter needs to to get them focused, I realize it takes time but they need to start finding a way to get it together.
SC plays the second of the 2 game series tonight at Dedeaux Field. Lets hope they get it back on track.