It only took until Day Two for the list of undefeated Southern California teams to trim to just one (not including UC Santa Barbara, who has yet to play).
But the team with a still unblemished record is not No. 1 Cal State Fullerton or fellow top 10 squad, UCLA. Instead it is the USC Trojans, who have needed 26 innings to determine a pair of games with Northwestern.
USC isn’t the only team playing extra baseball early on. Five of the SoCal games went into extra innings this afternoon.
We’ve got your quick roundup of all the action, plus photo galleries from around the Southland.
Washington State 9, #1 Cal State Fullerton 7 (11 innings)
The Titans clawed back from a 7-3 deficit to tie the game in the eighth inning, but in the ninth inning when Fullerton had an opportunity to collect a walk-off win after J.D. Davis tripled with one out, the Titans couldn’t get the job done.
Instead, the Cougars got out of the jam and took a 9-7 victory when senior Jason Monda singled through the left side to score two runs. Davis had four hits, including a pair of triples and a homer, three runs and an RBI.
Check out a photo gallery of the game from CBD photographer Shotgun Spratling:
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USC 2, Northwestern 1 (15 innings)
The USC bullpen, which was much-maligned last season, pitched nine shutout innings (three by freshman Joe Paschke, five from Nigel Nootbaar) in relief of senior Bob Wheatley (6 IP, 7 H, ER, 2 BB, 3K). Freshman Joe Corrigan finally ended the game with a sacrifice fly to score Dante Flores in the 15th. Reliever James Guillen now leads the nation in wins, having picked up the W in both of the Trojans’ extra-inning affairs this weekend.
Pepperdine 8, St. John’s 4
Pepperdine got in the win column behind a strong outing from sophomore Jackson McClelland: 7 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 2 K. The Waves scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back. Brad Anderson homered and Austin Barrett collected three hits for the second straight game.
Utah Valley 5, Loyola Marymount 3
Tyler Cohen showed that he is still a freshman on Saturday. A day after doing a little bit of everything, Cohen’s errant throw in the ninth inning allowed the winning runs to score for Utah Valley. LMU’s middle infield David duo of David Fletcher and David Edwards had five hits and three stolen bases in the loss. Kade Andrus was 3-for-3 with a 2B, HR, 2 RBI and a SB for Utah Valley.
Cal State Northridge 2, Bethune-Cookman 1 (11 innnings)
New head coach Greg Moore got his first career win thanks to a Chester Pak RBI single in the 11th inning after Alexis Mercado hit a two-out double. Pak reached three times. Shay Maltese with 3.2 scoreless innings to get the win after Brycen Rutherford worked around four hits & five walks to only allow one run in 6.2 innings.
San Diego 6, New Mexico 4 (Gm 1)
In a resumption of Friday night’s fog-suspended game, San Diego used Johnny Wholestaff to pick up its first win of the season. Lucas Long picked up the win with two scoreless innings. Connor Joe and Cal State Northridge transfer Josh Goosen-Brown both homered and drove in two runs.
New Mexico 3, San Diego 2 (11 innings) (Gm 2)
In a game dominated by the Lobos, San Diego had an opportunity to steal a win. Andrew Daniel led off the ninth inning with a solo home run to tie the game — one of only three USD hits on the day. The Toreros then loaded the bases, but pinch hitter Hunter Mercado-Hood couldn’t get the run across. New Mexico scored the go-ahead run without getting the ball out of the infield in the 11th.
Here’s some photos from the action by CBD photographer David Cohen:
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Fresno State 8, UC Irvine 7 (13 innings)
For the second straight game, Irvine and Fresno State went to extra innings, like USC/Northwestern. And like the USC/Northwestern series, the win went to the team in red. The Bulldogs took a 7-6 lead in the 12th inning, but the ‘Eaters responded with a run to keep the game going. But they couldn’t do the same the next inning, despite a leadoff double by Chris Rabago. Grant Palmer had three hits and two runs for Irvine. Kevin Viers had four hits and two RBI for Fresno State.
#9 UCLA 12, Portland 1
A day after being shutout, the UCLA offense exploded for 12 runs. Brian Carroll set the table, reaching base all five plate appearances. Chris Keck had three runs and four hits, including a double and a triple. Grant Watson was tremendous: 7 IP, 3 H, UER, BB, 8 K.
San Francisco 6, UC Riverside 3
Nick Vilter homered and Francisco Tellez had another two hits and an RBI, but UC Riverside stranded 13 runners. Starter Ben Doucette didn’t make it through the fifth inning (9 H, 5 ER)
#10 Vanderbilt 6, Long Beach State 0
Vandy dominated throughout on Saturday to take the series. Jared Miller picked up the win: 6 IP, H, 0 R, 4 K. Carson Fulmer got the 3-inning save (2 H, 5 K). Michael Hill had two of Long Beach’s three hits.
San Diego State 5, San Jose State 3
The Aztecs picked up their first win. Starter Mike Robards (6.2 IP, 2 ER) picked up the win while Bubba Derby pitched the final 2.1 innings for the save. Ty France and Brad Haynal both had two RBI for San Diego State, but the top of the lineup (Greg Allen, Tim Zier, Ryan Muno) are now a combined 3-for-27 this year.
