Baseball

Home run keys series win

By Mike Cisneros
Assistant Sports Editor

In one of the most dramatic wins of the season, the No. 3 USC baseball team went hitless for six innings on Saturday, only to break up the no-hitter and put the game away against Arizona with a towering home run by Jeremy Freitas.
It was the sixth home run of the year for Freitas, and it gave the Trojans (10-3, 2-1 Pacific 10 Conference) a 4-1 win against Arizona (17-2, 1-2). The Wildcats were handed their second loss of the year in the second game of the three-game series at Dedeaux Field after losing to USC, 10-3, on Friday. Arizona came back to win the third game of the series, 3-2, on Sunday.
"My first at-bat, I only hit a grounder to first base," Freitas said. "I thought, `If I see that pitch again, I'm going to be ready.' And then he threw the pitch. It felt really good."
"It feels great to win like this," USC starting pitcher Mike Penney said. "It was an emotional roller coaster, but the hitters came through."
Arizona starting pitcher Rob Shabansky had a no-hitter going through six full innings and only allowed two runners to reach base on two walks. Shabansky also struck out four of the first eight batters he saw and finished with five strikeouts.
However, all pitchers make mistakes at some point, and Shabansky made his in the bottom of the seventh inning. USC first baseman Robb Gorr came up first in the seventh and hit a bouncer to third base that was bobbled, and Gorr barely beat out the throw to give the Trojans their first hit.
After Trojan catcher Eric Munson, who finished 0-for-3 on the day, tried to bunt and popped out to the catcher, the crowd became restless for another hit. Gorr stole second, and third baseman Morgan Ensberg followed with a single to left field that brought Gorr home to tie the game.
The run must have shaken Shabansky just enough, as the next pitch was an inside fastball that he kept too high, and Freitas knocked it over the right-center field fence to give USC the 3-1 lead -- one the Trojans would never relinquish.
"These things do happen in baseball," USC Head Coach Mike Gillespie said. "But they've gotta get 27 outs. (The pitch to Freitas) was one of the few mistakes that (Shabansky) made."
The Trojans had their fourth run in the inning on a error-laden play by Arizona. After designated hitter Jason Lane fouled out for the second out of the inning, right fielder Brad Ticehurst came up and hit a bloop single to shallow left field. When trying to take second base on the hit, Arizona third baseman Omar Moraga overthrew second base, and the ball rolled into shallow right field.
Ticehurst kept running toward third base and was waved home. However, the throw to the plate by Arizona right fielder Colin Porter sailed way over the catcher's head and out of the stadium.
The Wildcats' only run came early in the second inning. Trojan pitcher Penney, who got the win for USC after going seven innings and giving up only one run on five hits, was shaky in the first couple of innings. He gave up two singles and a sacrifice hit by Arizona designated hitter Russ Brown to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
However, Penney settled down for the rest of the game, throwing five more shutout innings, and even retiring 13 batters in a row at one point.
"I felt good today," Penney said. "I was a little shaky at first, but I just tried to keep us close and let the hitters come through."
Also, USC closer Jack Krawczyk collected the 31st save of his career and fifth of the season to tie the Pac-10 career save record, which is also held by Washington's Brent Merrick from 1993-1996.
The first game of the series was almost identical to the second, but with a bit less drama.
Arizona starting pitcher Darrell Hussman was solid through six innings, as Shabansky was in the second game, and gave up only two runs. However, he was blasted in the seventh inning for six runs.
Highlighted by Munson's three-run home run in the seventh inning, the Trojans beat Arizona, 10-3, in the conference opener for both teams.
It was the first loss of the season for Arizona, who was riding a 16-game winning streak. The Wildcats were also averaging 14 runs per game prior to Friday's game. The team's lowest run total until that point had been five.
The seventh inning was bad for Arizona in the first two games of the series, since a no-hitter was broken up and USC scored a total of 10 runs in that particular inning.
"(Arizona's) gotta feel very unlucky in the seventh inning," Gillespie said.
USC starting pitcher Seth Etherton (4-0) got the win for the Trojans after going eight innings, giving up one unearned run on four hits and pitching nine strikeouts. Etherton also lowered his team-best earned run average to 1.20.
In the final game of the series, Arizona prevented a USC sweep when pinch hitter Russ Brown knocked a double off Trojan reliever Jack Krawczyk in the top of the ninth inning to score the game-winning run for the win, 3-2.
The Trojans were held to only four hits on the day as Arizona starting pitcher James Johnson shut down USC, going eight innings, giving up two runs and striking out eight.
Arizona reliever Ryan Moskau pitched the final inning to record his third save of the season.
Krawczyk took the loss after taking over for USC reliever Jason Lane, and starting pitcher Jason Saenz -- who went 6 2/3 innings and gave up two runs to Arizona.