April 13, 2005

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Matt Wilkerson and Bill Rowe homered as the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos defeated the No. 25/23 USC Trojans, 9-8, in a nonconference game from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Gauchos jumped out to an early 4-0 lead to snap the Trojans' five-game winning streak.

Wilkerson hit his eighth home run of the season with a two-run shot to right in the first. A two-run single by David Figoni added two more runs in the second. Loren Fraser (3-2) earned the win for UC Santa Barbara (17-17), after going four innings while Alex McRobbie earned his seventh save of the season.

Rowe capped a three-run sixth with his second homer of the season as the Gauchos took an 8-3 lead.

USC (22-10) rallied with three runs in the eighth after loading the bases, but McRobbie entered the game and got Baron Frost to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, followed by a Darin Vieira groundout to end the inning.

Jeff Clement drew the Trojans within one run on his eighth home run of the season with two outs in the ninth, but Billy Hart flied out to right to end the game. Clement now has 39 career homers and needs just one to tie Morgan Ensberg for fourth place on USC's all-time list.

The Trojans will have the weekend off and face the Gauchos again on Tuesday (April 19) in a 5 p.m. game at Dedeaux Field.

USC	000-000-101---2-7-0
UCSB	000-010-03x---4-4-0
WP-Fraser (3-2)  LP-Encinas (2-2)  S-McRobbie (7)
T: 3:02  ATT: 129
Records: USC (22-10), UCSB (17-17)
Encinas, Smith (3), Guy (5), Aguilar (7), Martlaro (7), Friedman (8) and Clement.
Fraser, Segal (4), Holguin (8), McRobbie (8) and Kalafatis.