May 27, 2005
Los Angeles, Calif. - No. 24 USC (36-18, 14-8 Pac-10) won the opener of a three-game Pac-10 series over Stanford (31-22, 11-11 Pac-10) on Friday at Dedeaux Field by a score of 5-2 as Ian Kennedy and Paul Koss combined on a five-hitter. Kennedy (11-2) earned the victory by holding the Cardinal to two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts over the first 8.0 innings. Koss pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save, allowing just one walk. Billy Hart (3-3, 2 2B) led the Trojans offensively, while Blake Sharpe (2-4, HR, RBI), Cyle Hankerd (2-4, 2 RBI) and Baron Frost (2-3, RBI) also had a pair of hits each.
Chris Minaker extended his career-best hit streak to 11 games with an eighth inning double that was his team-high 20th two-bagger of season for the Cardinal. Jed Lowrie, John Mayberry, Jr., Ben Summerhays and Michael Taylor had Stanford's other four hits.
Stanford starter Mark Romanczuk (5-6) suffered the loss, allowing four runs on nine hits and a walk with six strikeouts over 6.0 innings. The Cardinal led 2-0 after four innings as Romanczuk held the Trojans scoreless before allowing one run in the fifth and three more in the sixth.
Stanford scored its only two runs of the game off Kennedy in a hurry in the top of the fourth. Mayberry drilled a one-out line drive single to center to start the rally and Lowrie immediately brought him home with a double down the right field line. Lowrie, who moved to third after his double on an error by USC rightfielder Roberto Lopez, scored two batters later on an RBI groundout by Taylor.
USC got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth when Frost led off with a single, moved to second on a Romanczuk balk and scored on a clutch two-out RBI single by Lopez.
The Trojans took the lead with their three-run sixth that Sharpe led off with a solo homer over the right field fence. Jeff Clement restarted the rally with a single and moved to second on a passed ball by John Hester before Hart beat out a bunt for a single that left Trojans on first and third. Romanczuk struck out Estrella for the first out of the inning but back-to-back RBI singles by Hankerd and Frost put USC ahead, 4-2.
While USC was scoring, Kennedy was rolling along as he retired 12 straight batters between a one-out walk to Hester in the fourth and a one-out single by Summerhays in the eighth. Minaker followed Summerhays single with his double two batters later to put runners on second and third base but Kennedy got Mayberry to fly out to Lopez in right field to end the threat.
USC added an insurance run in the eighth when Hart doubled to lead off the inning, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Estrella and scored on an RBI single from Hankerd.
Taylor drew a two-out walk in the ninth but the Cardinal could never get the tying run to the plate when Koss retired Jim Rapoport on a comebacker to end the contest.
Stanford and USC continue the final series of the regular season for both clubs on Saturday (2 pm, PT) and Sunday (1 pm, PT). Stanford is scheduled to start RHP Jeff Gilmore (9-2, 3.61) on Saturday versus USC LHP Jack Spradlin (5-3, 4.39). On Sunday, USC has named RHP Brett Bannister as its starting pitcher, while Stanford has not announced a probable starter.
Stanford's loss on Friday dropped the Cardinal into sixth-place in the Pac-10 standings. Oregon State (19-5 Pac-10) is idle this weekend after clinching at least a share of the conference title last Saturday and needs just one loss by Arizona (16-5 Pac-10) in its current series versus California to win the outright league crown. Arizona and California's series-opener on Friday was suspended due to rain with the Golden Bears leading by a score of 1-0 in the top of the second inning. The contest will be resumed as part of a Saturday doubleheader. USC (14-8 Pac-10) is in third-place, followed by Arizona State (13-9 Pac-10), California (11-10 Pac-10), Stanford (11-11 Pac-10), Washington (10-12 Pac-10), UCLA (4-18 Pac-10) and Washington State (1-21 Pac-10). Washington was a 6-0 winner over UCLA and Arizona State beat Washington State by a score of 8-2 in Friday's other conference games.
The brackets for the 2005 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship will be announced live on ESPN2 during the tournament's selection show on Monday, May 30 (8:30 am, PT). The 16 NCAA Regional host sites will be revealed on Sunday, May 29 (12 pm, PT).
STANFORD NOTES
Chris Minaker extended his career-best hit streak to 11 games with his team-leading 20th double of the season in the eighth inning
Mark Romanczuk has moved into eighth-place on Stanford's all-time list for innings pitched with 325.0 in his career
Stanford maintained a .978 fielding percentage that ranks fourth in the nation and is one percentage point better than the school record of .977 set by the 2001 club
Stanford's pitching staff has an updated 3.85 season ERA as the Cardinal is looking to record an ERA under 4.00 for the fourth time in the last six campaigns
Stanford has now lost two straight games to USC (February 27 - May 27) for the first time since the Trojans won two in a row over the Cardinal (April 20-21)
Stanford needs to sweep the final two games of its current series versus USC to continue strings of eight straight season series and seven consecutive regular season three-game series victories against the Trojans
Stanford dropped its third straight road game to equal its longest road losing streak of the season