LOS ANGELES — Sean Silva had the best performance of his short USC career as he combined with Brent Wheatley for a one-hitter to best Arizona State ace Trevor Williams. Behind the stellar pitching, the Trojans manufactured a 5-0 win Friday night at Dedeaux Field.
Silva, a junior college transfer from Fresno City College, shut down the No. 15 Sun Devils through six innings — his longest outing in a USC uniform. He picked up his first win as a Trojan after he allowed only one hit, one walk and two hit batsmen while striking out four. Wheatley followed Silva with three scoreless innings to pick up his second save of the season.
USC manufactured single runs in the second and third innings to take a 2-0 lead and never looked back.
Kevin Swick led off the second inning with a double to right-centerfield and scored after a pair of groundouts. In the third, AJ Ramirez had a leadoff single. After a sacrifice bunt, he came around to score on a Greg Zebrack single that second baseman James McDonald got a glove on, but couldn’t keep in the infield.
USC took a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning. Turner Clouse singled the opposite way to left field and Greg Zebrack followed with a liner down the left field line for a double. Close scored on an Adam Landecker sacrifice fly and Zebrack came home when Arizona State left fielder Jake Peeveyhouse couldn’t make a running catch on a James Roberts’ drive toward the line.
The Trojans added another insurance run in the eighth inning on a safety squeeze by Garrett Stubbs after Timmy Robinson executed a hit and run flawlessly to put runners on the corners. USC also left a pair of runs on the board when it had two runners hosed at the plate by ASU right fielder Trever Allen to end the seventh and eighth innings.
Arizona State threatened in the ninth inning, loading the bases with two outs, but Wheatley was able to get a fly out to end the game.
Zebrack finished with three hits while Swick and Ramirez both had a pair of hits. Michael Benjamin led off the fourth inning with a single for Arizona State’s only hit of the game.
Check out the 20-shot photo gallery from Friday night’s series opener:
[scrollGallery id=120]
—
