Huskies Pour It On Late To Rally Past USC, 7-3

Saturday, May 7

Los Angeles, CA

6:00 PM

University of Washington

26-16, 12-8

USC

21-23, 10-10

Washington

USC

Photo by: Washington Athletics

May 08, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Washington Athletics

LOS ANGELES – Washington scored three runs in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh to rally and beat USC, 7-3, Saturday night at Dedeaux Field in Los Angeles to even up the vital Pac-12 series at 1-1.

Four Huskies (26-16, 12-8 Pac-12) had multiple hits and the team totaled 13 on the night to overcome a 3-1 deficit. Chris Baker 3 for 5 with a pair of RBI triples and Levi Jordan was 2 for 4 with a career-high tying three runs batted in.

Five UW relievers combined to throw seven shutout innings to keep USC's (21-23, 10-10) potent offense in check and off the scoreboard long enough to allow the Huskies to rally. The rally and win moved the Huskies into a first-place tie in the Pac-12 standings as Utah lost 4-3 to Washington State Saturday night in Pullman.

Spencer Jones (4-2) came into the game with one on and nobody out in the second and went on to retire 10 of 13 batters he faced. He went 3 1/3 innings, allowed one hit and struck out two to pick up his fourth win of the season.

Troy Rallings came on in the seventh inning and recorded the final 7 outs to pick up his Pac-12 leading 15^th save of the year.

USC wasted little time getting on the scoreboard Saturday, jumping to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. They got the first run when Timmy Robinson grounded into a 6-4-3 double play with runners on the corners. The Trojans got their second run after there were two outs on a RBI double by AJ Ramirez that scored Jeremy Martinez -- who singled -- all the way from first.

Washington responded in the top of the second to cut USC's lead in half to 2-1. MJ Hubbs reached on a one-out single to left, moved to second on a ground out and came around to score on a clutch two-out single by Jordan.

USC touched up Husky starter Joe DeMers for another run in the third on back-to-back doubles, sending the freshman to the bench after just two innings of work. Corey Dempster started the inning with a double off the wall in left field and David Oppenheimer followed by pushing a ground ball just inside first base for a double of his own, making the score 3-1.

Demers faced 11 batter in his shortest outing of the year. He gave up five hits and walked one in 2-plus innings.

The Huskies bailed DeMers out by scoring three runs in the sixth to take the lead for good. UW sent seven batters to the plate and were aided by a big USC error that kept the Huskies' hopes alive. After Joey Morgan and John Naff reached after one out, Hubbs hit a hard ground ball to shortstop that could have been an inning-ending double play, but instead Brandon Perez booted the ball and Morgan scored all the way from second.

After Willie MacIver reached on an infield single to load the bases, Jordan hit a ground-rule double the opposite way to right field that drove in two runs and gave the Huskies the 4-3 lead.

The Huskies tacked on two more runs in the seventh to expand their lead to three runs. Baker tripled home KJ Brady, who started the inning with an infield single, and Morgan chased Baker home on a sacrifice fly to left-center to make the score 6-3.

Baker tripled home AJ Graffanino in the ninth inning for an insurance run and 7-3 lead.

Rallings, who entered the night leading the NCAA in earned run average, went the final 2 1/3 innings to slam the door shut on the Trojans and lower his ERA to 0.62. He allowed a runner on base in each inning he worked – including two in both the eighth and ninth innings – but he was able to wiggle out of trouble each time. He struck out Ramirez out to end the game – his fifth strike out of the game.

The Huskies and Trojans conclude the series Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. start.

Washington 7 (26-16, 12-8), USC 3 (21-23, 10-10)

UW 010 003 201 –- 7 13 0
USC 201 000 000 –- 3 9 2

LOB: UW 6, USC 11. Joe DeMers, Spencer Jones (3), Will Ballowe (6), Alex Nesbitt (7), Greg Minier (7), Troy Rallings (9) and Joey Morgan; Kyle Davis, Marrick Crouse (9) and Jeremy Martinez. W – Jones (4-2). L – Davis (4-7). SV – Rallings (15). HR – none. 3B – UW, Chris Baker. 2B – UW, Levi Jordan; USC, AJ Ramirez, Corey Dempster, David Oppenheim, Jeremy Martinez. Time – 3:11. Attendance – 573.