USC Baseball Drops Series at Home to #21 Stanford

Despite success early in the weekend, the USC Trojans (16-14) dropped two out of three against #21 Stanford Cardinals (17-10) falling to 5-7 in conference play.

Game 1:

Chris Clarke delivered another solid performance for the Men of Troy, throwing seven innings giving up five total runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks while recording one strikeout. With the win, the 6’7 freshman improves to 3-1 on the season. Cardinals sophomore starter Kris Bubic falls to 2-5 on the year, after surrendering six runs (four earned) on six hits over just three innings of work. After being down 3-2 to start the fourth, USC responded with a three run bottom frame to take a 5-3 lead. All this courtesy of Cris Perez’ solo shot and a pair of RBI singles from David Edson and Brandon Perez. Later in the eighth, Lars Nootbaar blasted a solo shot to build off a slim one-run lead making it 7-5. The Trojans would go on to win by that margin taking game one of the series.

Best Hitter(BH): Lars Nootbaar 2 for 5, 2 RBI, HR, R

Best Pitcher(BP): Bryce Dyrda 2 IP, 4 K, 0 H/W, 4th save of season

Game 2:

After a long, hard fought game, the Trojans collapsed in extras losing 8-3 in 10 innings. Stanford’s Colton Hock delivered a stellar relief appearance, pitching five scoreless innings on only four hits while tallying five strikeouts. With the win, he improves to 4-0 on the year. As a result of a Trojans error (Frankie Rios) in the third, two runs scored giving the Cards a 3-1 advantage. Rios responded well with a 3-5 day including starting the two run rally in the sixth, tying the game at three. USC’s Quentin Longrie falls to 2-1, surrendering two runs over 2.2 innings pitched. Bryce Dyrda, known for his reliability in his appearances, imploded in the tenth allowing three more runs to score after Longrie gave up two.

BH: Rios Frankie 3 for 5, RBI, R

BP: CJ Stubbs 6 IP, ER, 2 K

Game 3:

After building a slight 2-1 lead through six innings, USC was pounded for five runs straight in the 7th and 8th, eventually falling 6-3 in the rubber match game of the series. With Trojans Dillon Paulsen’s early HR shot, Corey Dempster's RBI sacrifice bunt, and Marrick Crouse dominant pitching thru six innings it seemed USC had a great chance to win a tight series against top-tier competition. However Cardinals Dan Bakst two out bases clearing double provided Stanford its first lead of the game at 4-2, which only grew next inning on Nico Hoerner’s 2 run single in the eighth. Chris Castellanos improved to 5-1 on the year while Crouse fell to 2-4. The Trojans failed to rally more than one run in the bottom half of the ninth, losing 6-3 in the game and 2-1 in the series.

BH: Brandon Perez 2 for 5, 2B, R

BP: Marrick Crouse 6.2 IP, 3 R, 2 K

You can watch the highlights from the Trojans win here: Game 1

Next week: April 13-15 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) @ Cal State Fullerton game times 7:00, 1:00, 6:30 PT