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No. 22/20 Long Beach State Earns Series Sweep With 8-6 Victory
Feb. 5, 2006 LONG BEACH --- Danny Espinosa's two-run double in the eighth helped the No. 22/20 Long Beach State 49ers complete a three-game series sweep with an 8-6 victory over the No. 17/18 USC Trojans at Blair Field. The Dirtbags rallied from a 5-0 deficit with seven runs in their final three at-bats. Andrew Liebel (1-0) earned the win for the 49ers with 1 1/3 no-hit innings in relief while Brett Andrade earned his second save in as many days. For the second straight day, Paul Koss (0-2) took the loss in relief as he gave up two runs on three hits in 1 1/3 innings. Espinosa and catcher Kip Masuda had three-hit days for the 49ers. Four Trojans had two hits each, including designated hitter Shawn Olsen, who added two RBI. Matt Cusick opened the game for USC (0-3) with a ground ball to first and reached safely when Worley could not handle the throw from first baseman Scott Bradley. Blake Sharpe slashed a single up the middle on a hit-and-run and both runners advanced on a fly ball to right by left fielder Cyle Hankerd. Sophomore first baseman Lucas Duda scored Cusick on a ground ball to second, giving USC the early 1-0 lead. The Trojans took a 3-0 lead in the third when Olsen delivered a two-out, two-run double to left. Catcher Johnny Bowden added another run with an RBI double in the fourth, followed by a single from Cusick to knock out Worley. Hankerd made it a 5-0 advantage with an RBI single to right, plating Bowden. Long Beach State (3-0) scored its first run in the fifth when Scott Bradley and Masuda led off with back-to-back doubles down the right field line. Chuck Sindlinger sacrificed Masuda to third, but Cook retired pinch hitter Allen Woods and Robert Perry to keep it a 5-1 lead.
Cook ran out of gas in the sixth after the 49ers scored twice. Redshirt freshman John Dunn entered the game and threw a wild pitch to advance Bradley to second. Masuda then hit a single into left, but Bradley was gunned down at the plate on a throw from Hankerd. USC loaded the bases in the seventh as head coach Mike Gillespie called for a squeeze bunt that was executed to perfection when Hector Estrella brought home Sharpe. Liebel then got Roberto Lopez to fly out to left as the Trojans held onto a three-run lead. In the bottom of the seventh, the Dirtbags loaded the bases against Dunn. USC brought in Koss to face Boatright, who had hit a go-ahead, two-run homer against Koss on Saturday, drew a full-count walk. Pinch hitter Brandon Godfrey then hit a two-run bloop single to center, tying the game at six apiece. USC travels to UC Riverside for a nonconference game on Tuesday (Feb. 7) at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on usctrojans.com. USC 102-200-100---6-10-0 LBS 000-012-32x---8-12-2 |
