University of Washington
USC
Lincecum Breaks Record, But Loses At USC, 10-8
May 16, 2004 | Baseball
May 16, 2004
LOS ANGELES - Despite breaking the UW single-season strikeouts record, Washington ace Tim Lincecum suffered a loss as USC salvaged a series split by beating the 13th-ranked Huskies, 10-8, Sunday at Dedeaux Field.
The loss broke the Huskies' five-game winning streak and dropped their record 32-16-1 overall and 14-7 in the Pac-10, good for second place, a half-game behind Stanford, which plays a night game at Arizona Sunday. USC improved to 22-27 overall and 8-10 in the conference.
Lincecum broke the record with three strikeouts in the first inning, moving his season total to 132 at the time, one better than the previous mark of 131, set in 1999 by Jeff Heaverlo. However, the accomplishment was tainted by the fact that USC scored four runs in the bottom of the first.
Lincecum fell to 8-2 on the season with the loss. In his five innings of work, the freshman from Renton, Wash., allowed nine runs (four earned) on seven hits while walking five and striking out five. He finished the game with 134 strikeouts on the season.
In the bottom of the first, after singles from Michael Moon and Jeff Clement put runners at first and third with one out, Moon came in on a Lincecum wild pitch. After a walk, a second strikeout and another walk loaded the bases with two outs, Blake Sharpe singled up the middle to drive in two more. A walk to Daniel Perales was followed by a bases-loaded free pass to Cyle Hankerd, forcing in the Trojans' fourth run. Moon struck out swinging to end the inning and give Lincecum the record with USC on top, 4-0.
Washington got one run back quickly as shortstop Nick Batkoski led off the second with a triple and came home on a John Otness sacrifice fly.
After a 1-2-3 third inning, the Huskies broke through with five runs in the fourth to take a 6-4 lead. Otness and freshman designated hitter Tyler Mach drove in runs with singles and, with two down and Otness and Mach aboard, right fielder Taylor Johnson blasted a long home run to right field to give Washington a 6-4 lead. It was the fifth homer of the season from Johnson, a junior from Vancouver's Skyview High.
The UW made it 8-4 with two runs in the fifth. Reliever Clayton Wentworth came in to replace starter Michael Friedman with Kyle Larsen on second after a two-out double. Batkoski then reached on a fielding error by third baseman Billy Hart before Otness drove in a pair of unearned runs with a double off the glove of Perales, USC's center fielder.
Two errors in the bottom of the fifth led to five unearned runs for the Trojans, giving them back the lead at 9-8. Joey Metropoulos led off with a chopper to short, but Batkoski misplayed the high hop for the error. A single put runners at first and third and Metropoulos scored on a long foul fly from Hart. After a second out, Perales singled to send homeBaron Frost.
After Cyle Hankerd reached on an error by Otness at third, Moon blasted his seventh homer of the season out to right field to reclaim the lead for the Trojans. In the seventh, USC made it 10-8 on an RBI single from Hankerd.
The Huskies return home for their final seven games of the regular season. Tuesday, the UW takes on NAIA champion Lewis-Clark State at 6:30 p.m. The Warriors have won 21 straight games. Friday through Sunday, Washington closes out the Pac-10 slate with a three-game series vs. UCLA before playing host to UC Irvine the final weekend of the regular season.
LINESCORE Pac-10 Conference USC 10, #13 Washington 8 Washington 010 520 000 -- 8 12 2 USC 400 050 10x -- 10 11 1 Tim Lincecum, Trent Baysinger (6), Will Fenton (8) and Aaron Hathaway. Michael Friedman, Clayton Wentworth (5), Josh Rummonds (8) and Jeff Clement. W - Wentworth (5-2). L - Lincecum (8-2). Sv - Rummonds (4). 2B - UW, Greg Isaacson, Nick Batkoski, Kyle Larsen, John Otness. 3B - UW, Batkoski. HR - UW, Taylor Johnson (5); USC, Michael Moon (7). T - 3:03. A - 413. Records: UW 32-16-1, 14-7 Pac-10; USC 22-27, 8-10 Pac-10.
