April 16, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 1 Arizona State University baseball team held off a rally to defeat USC 5-4 on Friday in front of a crowd of 4,279 at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark. The Sun Devils improve to 29-3, 7-3 in the Pac-10, on the season with the victory.
Seth Blair started and went 6.2 innings, allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out seven to earn the win and move to 6-0 on the season. Mitchell Lambson went 2.0 innings of shutout relief, and Jordan Swagerty got the final out for his ninth save of the season.
USC took an early lead with a run in the first, but the Sun Devils jumped back on top in the second on a two-run, two-out single by Raoul Torrez.
ASU added two more runs in the fourth, as Zach Wilson drove in a run with a groundout and Johnny Ruettiger followed him with an RBI single. Kole Calhoun then hit a solo home run to right, his fourth of the year, in the fifth to put the Devils on top 5-1.
The Trojans began to chip away at the lead from there, scoring two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh. They had their leadoff man reach base in both the eighth and ninth innings, but they were unable to score on the Sun Devil bullpen.
In the eighth, Lambson retired three straight after issuing a leadoff walk. Then in the ninth, after the leadoff man again drew a walk against Lambson, he sent down the next two Trojan hitters before Swagerty came on and struck out Joe DePinto to secure the victory.
The Sun Devils will continue their three-game series with USC on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark.