On Friday, #4 Stanford baseball defeated USC 22-3 to clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 regular season championship. Stanford improves to a 36-14 overall record and a 20-9 Pac-12 record while USC falls to a 25-27 overall record and an 8-21 Pac-12 record. Joey Dixon (5-3) was the winning pitcher for Stanford while Isaac Esqueada (1-6) was the losing pitcher for USC.
This one was one-way traffic in favor of the Cardinal from the opening inning. After Dixon held USC scoreless in the top of the 1st inning, Stanford scored three runs in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a two-run homer to left center from Carter Graham that brought home Brock Jones and a double to right field from Braden Montgomery to bring home Brett Barrera. Barrera hit a double right after Graham’s home run. 3-0 Stanford lead.
Stanford would add three more runs in the bottom of the 4th inning to make it a 6-0 lead thanks to a three-run homer to right center from Jones. Jones drove in Eddie Park and Adam Crampton. Park was hit by a pitch from Esqueada to get on first base after which Crampton hit a single to left field to advance Crampton to third base.
After Dixon held USC scoreless in the top of the 5th inning, Stanford went back to work in the bottom of the inning as Montgomery hit a solo homer to left center before Drew Bowser did the exact same thing. After those two home runs in the 5th, it was an 8-0 Stanford lead. They were in a groove.
After Dixon once again held USC scoreless in the top of the 6th inning, Stanford continued to pile on in the bottom of the 6th. No mercy. Thanks to Park getting walked and Crampton and Jones both hitting singles, the bases got loaded with no outs in the bottom of the 6th. Graham and Barrera both flied out to right field to bring in two runners before Montgomery hit a triple to bring home Jones. Kody Huff would strike out to end the 6th inning, making it an 11-0 Stanford lead.
USC would score one run in the top of the 7th inning, but Stanford responded in the bottom of the inning with an eight run explosion punctuated by a grand slam to left center from Barrera and a three-run home run to left center from Trevor Haskins. The first run was scored by Drew Bowser courtesy of a passed ball that also advanced Tommy Troy to second base. 19-1 Stanford lead.
In the top of the 8th inning, Max Meier came in to pitch for Joey Dixon, who had given up just one run in seven innings of stellar pitching. Meier would give up one run in the top of the 8th, but aside from that, no damage. In the bottom of the 8th, Stanford scored three more runs. Joe Lomuscio hit a single to bring home Owen Cobb and Adam Crampton for the first two runs. Charlie Saum hit a double to left center to bring home Graham. 22-2 Stanford lead at the end of the 8th inning. USC would add one more run in the top of the 9th inning, this time with Tommy O’Rourke on the mound, making it a 22-3 final score.
Stanford absolutely dominated USC in this one. Much like Tuesday night’s performance at Santa Clara. Stanford hit the ground running from the opening inning and did not look back. USC was rocked by a potent Stanford lineup and on top of that, Stanford’s pitching was fantastic as well.
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
