University of Washington
USC
USC Breaks Tie In Eighth To Win, 8-6
May 12, 2002 | Baseball
May 12, 2002
LOS ANGELES - The Washington baseball team fought back to a 6-6 tie after trailing No. 20 USC, 6-2, Sunday at Dedeaux Field, but the Trojans scored two in the eighth to win the game, 8-6, and the series, two games to one.
UW closer Tyler Shepple (Arvada, Colo.) came into the game in the eighth with the bases loaded and only one out and gave up an RBI single to Joey Metropoulos and a sacrifice fly to Michael Morales as USC broke the 6-6 tie.
The win kept the Trojans (13-5 Pac-10, 30-19 overall) in first place while the Huskies (11- 7, 25-22-1) slipped into a second-place tie with Stanford, which beat Arizona State Sunday. The UW and Stanford are both two games behind USC and one game ahead of fourth-place ASU.
USC reliever Cory Campos (4-1) earned the victory with four innings of work, despite surrendering a 6-3 lead that he inherited in the sixth inning. UW freshman Will Fenton (Kingston/North Kitsap) suffered the loss to fall to 2-3 after allowing a single and a walk in the bottom of the eighth.
In the top of the first, the Huskies rallied for a run with two outs and no one on base. Tyler Davidson (Edmonds/Meadowdale) short-hopped the wall in right-center for a double and scored when Jay Garthwaite (Kent/Kent-Meridian) dumped a single into short center field.
The Trojans, however, went in front with two runs in the bottom of the first inning as a single from Bill Peavey and a groundout by Metropoulos plated a run each. In the second, UW third baseman Michael Done (Littleton, Colo.) smashed a long solo home run over the scoreboard in right field to tie the game at 2-2.
USC took the lead back right away. With UW freshman David Dowling (Kirkland/Juanita) on in relief of sore-armed starter Clay Johnson (Elma) to start the second inning, USC loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of errors by Done. Barre singled to drive home one run and Michael Moon drove in two more with a base hit. Dowling, however, got the next three outs without allowing another run to hold the USC lead to 5-2.
The Trojans scored another in the third to increase their lead to 6-2 when David Gordon doubled, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly from Anthony Lunetta. The Huskies finally got back on the board in the six when a leadoff homer from John Otness (Tacoma/Wilson) chased USC freshman starter Brett Bannister from the game.
After Campos got an out in the sixth, Bryan Johnson (Ephrata) tripled off the wall in right field and cut the USC lead to 6-4 when he scored on a single from Tila Reynolds (Renton/Liberty).
The Huskies took advantage of a USC error in the eighth to tie the game at 6-6. With Otness at first, Done lined out to Lunetta at second base. Lunetta should have doubled Otness at first, but his throw sailed into the dugout, allowing Otness to advance to third. Bryan Johnson doubled to drive in Otness and tied the game when Reynolds singled up the middle.
The Huskies take on Gonzaga in a pair of non-conference games Tuesday and Wednesday evening at Husky Ballpark before travelling to Oregon State next Friday through Sunday for an important three-game, Pac-10 series. Friday's game time at Oregon State has been changed to 5:00 p.m. while Saturday and Sunday's contests are still set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
LINESCORE Pac-10 Conference Baseball #20 USC 8, Washington 6 Washington 110 002 020 -- 6 11 2 USC 231 000 02x -- 8 10 2 Clay Johnson, David Dowling (2), Will Fenton (7), Brian Carter (8), Tyler Shepple (8) and Aaron Hathaway. Brett Bannister, Cory Campos (6) and Alberto Concepcion. W - Campos (4-1). L - Fenton (2-3). 2B - UW, Tyler Davidson, Bryan Johnson; USC, David Gordon, Bill Peavey. 3B - UW, Br. Johnson. HR - UW, Michael Done (8), John Otness (2). T - 3:31. A - 483.
