USC Clinches Series Against Cal Poly With 9-2 Victory

Sunday, March 22

1 pm

7-13

USC

19-5

Southern California

Cal Poly

USC Clinches Series Against Cal Poly With 9-2 Victory

3/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — No. 8 Southern California scored seven times in the first two innings and never looked back, clinching its non-conference baseball series against Cal Poly with a 9-2 victory Sunday afternoon before 1,257 in Baggett Stadium.

Catcher Garrett Stubbs doubled twice, singled once, knocked in a run and scored twice while Mitch Hart allowed a run and four hits in seven innings for his fifth win for the Trojans, 19-5 overall.

Cal Poly fell to 7-13, including a 4-8 mark at home.

Hart (5-0) walked one and struck out five for the victory. Mason Perryman and Kyle Davis each pitched an inning in relief.

Cal Poly scored single runs in the third and ninth innings to avoid being shut out for the second time in the series, the fifth time at home and the sixth time this season.

Sophomore catcher Brett Barbier homered to left-center field leading off the third inning, his second of the season. Junior left fielder Ryan Drobny doubled to right-center field in the ninth to knock in the final run of the game.

Cal Poly collected six hits, half of them by junior shortstop Peter Van Gansen, raising his average for the season to .400.

In addition to Grubbs, USC's 12-hit offensive attack was paced by left fielder Bobby Stahel, third baseman Blake Lacey and shortstop Reggie Southall, each with a pair of hits. The Trojan batters produced six doubles in the game.

Mustang starter Justin Calomeni (1-3) surrendered seven runs (five earned) and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings.

The Cal Poly bullpen pitched well, highlighted by freshman Michael Gomez's 4 1/3 innings (one earned run and four hits) and redshirt freshman right-hander Cameron Cotton (pictured above), who missed the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and, in his first inning as a Mustang, retired the Trojans in order in the eighth inning.

Run-scoring doubles by Stubbs and designated hitter David Oppenheim plus RBI singles by center fielder Timmy Robinson and Lacey accounted for USC's four runs in the first inning. A sacrifice fly by Stahel and a muffed throw by the Mustangs enabled the Trojans to add three more runs in the second.

USC completed its scoring in the fifth with two runs on a groundout and an RBI single by Stahel.

Stahel was ejected in the fifth inning after colliding with Barbier (photo at left) while trying to score from first base on a hit to the outfield.

Cal Poly committed a season-high four errors, giving the Mustangs 36 errors in 20 games. Cal Poly has committed three or more errors seven times this season.

The Mustangs, who won the series opener 5-4 Friday night before falling 13-0 Saturday, hit just .210 in the series, were outscored 26-7, compiled a 7.00 staff ERA and produced a .925 fielding percentage with nine errors in three games. Van Gansen was 5-for-13 in the series.

The Mustangs conclude their eight-game home stand Monday night by hosting Dartmouth (1-14) at 6 p.m. The Big Green fell 10-1 at UC Santa Barbara on Sunday. Freshman right-hander Andrew Bernstein (3-1, 1.77 ERA) will be on the mound for Cal Poly.

Photos by Ray Ambler | RA Photos