March 26, 2010
STANFORD, Calif.-- No. 19-ranked Stanford (10-6, 0-1 Pac-10) dropped its conference opener to visiting USC (12-10, 1-0 Pac-10) 13-8 on Friday evening.
USC batted around in the sixth, scoring four times to retake the lead at 11-8, before the Trojans added two more runs in the eighth, to finish with 13 hits.
Reliever Shuhei Fujiya (3-1) got the win in relief, after surrendering the lead in the fifth following an early 6-2 lead by the Trojans.
Zach Jones and Tyler Gaffney each had three hits a piece for the Cardinal, who tallied 13 hits, including five on the infield.
The Cardinal scored three times in the fifth to take an 8-7 lead, taking it off of two straight infield singles.
After Colin Walsh was intentionally walked to load the bases, an RBI single to left by Jones followed by a dribbler up the third base line by Gaffney and a nubber to the right of the pitcher's mound by Stephen Piscotty gave Stanford the one-run advantage in the fifth.
USC starter Kevin Couture gave up the first seven runs, before Fujiya gave up the lead, after coming on to face Walsh with a then 7-5 lead.
Freshman Mark Appel, in his first career start, could not get out of the third inning, giving up USC's first six runs on four hits. Stanford has now given up 22 runs in the first inning this season after two on Friday.
The series continues on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. Righthander Jordan Pries (2-1, 3.33) will throw for Stanford against USC righthander Ben Mount (2-1, 3.21) on Saturday.