STANFORD, Calif. – Having already locked up at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season title on Friday night, No. 4 Stanford (37-14, 21-9 Pac-12) claimed the trophy outright on Saturday afternoon by way of a 12-5 victory to complete a sweep over USC (25-28, 8-22 Pac-12) from Sunken Diamond.
The Pac-12 title is the second under Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer after the Cardinal earned the title in 2018 – Esquer's first season at the helm.
Stanford is the No. 1 seed in next week's Pac-12 Baseball Tournament and will open play against eight-seed Arizona State. The Cardinal carries a 12-game win streak into the tournament – the longest such streak since April 24 – May 14, 1999.
USC claimed its first lead of the series in the first inning, scoring three runs on a home run from Trevor Halsema – his seventh of the year.
The Cardinal responded right away, scoring four times on two hits – highlighted by a Kody Huff two-RBI double – in the bottom of the first to take a 4-3 lead.
A six-run fourth blew the game open at 10-3 as Carter Graham delivered the big swing – a grand slam for his Pac-12-best 19th home run of the season. The home run was his second in as many games, while the grand slam was Stanford's sixth of the year and second of the series after Brett Barrera connected for one on Friday.
The Cardinal would tack on single runs in the sixth and seventh, including one on Brock Jones' solo home run with one out in the sixth. The round-tripper was Jones' 16th of the season and his seventh in his last seven games. The native of Fresno, Calif. owns 11 homers in his last 15 games overall, including homering in five straight and six of his last seven.
Jones finished the game 2 for 3 with three runs scored and three RBIs while hitting out of the leadoff spot in the order. With the two-hit day on Saturday, Jones finished the four-game week batting .625 (10 for 16) with 11 runs scored, four homers and 10 RBIs. He reached at a .700 clip and slugged 1.375. Included in the week was a .667 average (8 for 12) with eight runs scored, three homers and eight RBIs against USC.
After freshman Ty Uber worked the first inning, sophomore Drew Dowd entered and tossed the next 3 1/3 scoreless frames, allowing just three hits with two strikeouts to collect the victory and move to 6-0 on the season.
Junior Quinn Mathews locked up his fifth save of the season, pitching the final 4 2/3 innings and allowing two runs while striking out seven.
USC starter Charlie Hurley was saddled with the loss after allowing eight runs on three hits and four walks – dropping to 6-2 on the season.
Stanford will now prepare to play in the inaugural Pac-12 Baseball Tournament beginning on Tuesday.
2022 Pac-12 Baseball Seeds
No. 1: Stanford
No. 2: Oregon State
No. 3: UCLA
No. 4: Oregon
No. 5: Arizona
No. 6: California
No. 7: Washington
No. 8: Arizona State
