IRVINE, Calif. — Adam Landecker and James Roberts (pictured left) each had three hits to help USC defeat UC Irvine 5-4 Wednesday night at Anteater Ballpark.
Landecker and Roberts both had errors that allowed runs to score, but they redeemed themselves with six of the 12 hits USC (15-8) knocked.
Irvine (14-9) jumped on top in the first inning with a pair of runs. Jordan Fox tripled home Tommy Reyes and scored on a Jeff Stephens chopper that was misplayed by Landecker.
But the Trojans responded with three runs in the third inning. Garret Houts tripled to the right-centerfiled gap to score Roberts. The next batter, Garrett Stubbs, hammered a ball to right field that cleared the wall for Stubbs first career home run.
Irvine tied the game in the fifth inning, but USC immediately responded with a pair of runs the next half inning thanks to a big error. After Matt Foat fouled off a handful of pitches and earned a leadoff walk, Kevin Roundtree grounded an easy two-hopper to second base. But instead of a 4-6-3 double play, Tommy Reyes dropped the ball when he tried to transfer it for the throw to second base. A sacrifice bunt and back-to-back singles put the Trojans up 5-3.
Nick Hoover entered the game and was able to get back-to-back strikeouts to leave the bases loaded and keep USC from blowing open the game. The ‘Eaters cut it to a one-run deficit when Christian Ramirez hit an RBI tripled in the seventh inning, but USC reliever James Guillen entered the game and got a line out to strand the tying run on third.
Martin Viramontes pitched the final two innings to get the save for USC. Matt Munson picked up the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.
Ramirez and Connor Spencer both had two hits for the Anteaters, who will host Pacific in a three-game set this weekend. USC continues its seven game road trip Friday when the Trojans open a weekend series at Washington State.
Check out the photo gallery from Wednesday night’s UC Irvine/USC matchup below:
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