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Trojans Earn Series Win Against No. 16 Stanford, 7-2
March 12, 2006 LOS ANGELES --- Baron Frost's squeeze bunt with two strikes scored the go-ahead run in the sixth Sunday as the USC Trojans earned the nonconference series win with a 7-2 victory against the No. 16 Stanford Cardinal. With last year's series win (May 27-29 at Dedeaux Field), the Trojans have won two straight series against the Cardinal for the first time since 1996 when USC was a perfect 6-0. After allowing a run in the third and fourth innings, freshman Tommy Milone (Saugus/Saugus HS), kept the Cardinal off the scoreboard with seven strong innings. Milone scattered six hits, allowed a walk and struck out three to improve to 5-0 on the season. USC is now 12-10 overall while Stanford falls to 11-7 on the season. Jim Rapoport walked to lead off the Stanford third. Ryan Seawell used a bunt single to advance Rapaport and Chris Minaker brought home a run with a single to left. Seawell led the Cardinal with a 3-for-4 day at the plate. Designated hitter Brent Milleville made it a 2-0 Stanford lead, drilling his first home run of the season to center. David Stringer (2-2) held the Trojans to just one hit through the first four innings before USC scratched home a run in the fifth. Trojan center fielder Darin Vieira singled to left, moved to second on a Stringer balk and to third on a wild pitch. Designated hitter Josh Fogel hit a sacrifice fly to center, bringing home the Trojans' first run of the game. Third baseman Matt Cusick, who went 3-for-4, singled to lead off the USC sixth. Blake Sharpe singled to left and Cyle Hankerd reached on a fielder's choice to put runners at first and third. Lucas Duda singled home Cusick to tie the game before Frost delivered the go-ahead run.
Vieira broke the game open with a bases-clearing, three-run double in the eight on an 0-2 pitch by Jeremy Bleich. Paul Koss struck out the side to secure the win for the Trojans. USC will not play again until next weekend when the Pac-10 Conference schedule starts. The Trojans will host Oregon State (March 17-19) in a rematch of last year's NCAA Super Regional, where the Beavers won the series to advance to the College World Series. Friday's game starts at 6 p.m. with a 1 p.m. start on Saturday. Sunday's series finale starts at noon with fans asked to use the Vermont Ave. offramp on the 10 Freeway and enter Gate 6 off Vermont, due to the L.A. Marathon closing down most of the streets around the USC campus. All three games will be broadcast live on usctrojans.com, along with live video streaming courtesy of College Sports' All-Access. SERIES NOTES: USC batted .389 (42-for-108) in the series against Stanford...Darin Vieira, Daniel Perales and Lucas Duda all hit .500 in the series while Baron Frost batted .625 (5-for-8)...USC's 16 runs on Saturday were the most against Stanford since April 13, 2002, when the Trojans defeated the Cardinal, 16-11, at Sunken Diamond. STAN 001-100-000---2-6-1 USC 000-012-13x---7-9-1 |
