Southern Cal wallops Hawaii
POSTED: Monday, March 15, 2010
Southern California's offense woke up against a Hawaii baseball team suddenly in need of starting pitching.
Ricky Oropesa went 5-for-5 with two doubles, and Matt Foat homered and drove in three runs to lead USC to a 12-2 rout of Hawaii yesterday at Les Murakami Stadium.
A day crowd of 2,310 saw the Trojans offense beat up a quartet of Hawaii pitchers for 17 hits. Nine of those went for extra bases, including an RBI double by Foat that chased Hawaii starter Matt Sisto after just 2 1/3 innings.
“;Not much you can say about today,”; Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. “;It starts with pitching and Sisto was not very good and we couldn't get anything going offensively.”;
Sisto, who dropped to 1-3, allowed four runs on six hits. In his last two starts, he has given up 12 runs in 8 1/3 innings.
His struggles come at a bad time for the Rainbows, who will be without senior Nate Klein for at least “;a couple of weeks,”; according to Trapasso.
Klein left Friday's game in the second inning with an undisclosed injury to his throwing shoulder.
Junior Josh Slaats, who has an 0.52 ERA in three starts, was originally scheduled to start Friday's game, but had to sit after complaining of discomfort in his pitching elbow.
Trapasso didn't rule out Slaats starting tonight as long as he's cleared by a doctor.
If not, the Rainbows (7-8) will likely go with sophomore Connor Little (0-0, 7.36), who hasn't pitched in the series.
Whoever gets the start will have to face a Trojans lineup that teed off on the Rainbows yesterday.
USC (8-8) got contributions from everyone, including leadoff hitter Joe De Pinto, who doubled, tripled and drove in two runs.
“;The big one in our lineup who has been quiet for the last week and a half is De Pinto,”; USC coach Chad Kreuter said. “;He carried us the first week or so and quieted down, but it looks like his swing is back.”;
Oropesa had a hit off of every UH pitcher and finished his day with a two-run double in the eighth.
Foat followed Oropesa's hit with a two-run homer off reliever Derek Brown, who made his pitching debut for the 'Bows.
Hawaii's two runs came on solo homers by Kevin Macdonald and Kolten Wong. Wong, who finished 2-for-4, went deep for the first time this season to become the ninth different Rainbow to hit a home run.
“;I just got the right pitch and put the right swing on it,”; Wong said. “;I was just trying to get my team back in the game, but USC played a real good game today and we just have to tip our hats to them.”;
Kevin Couture (2-0), who threw seven shutout innings against Pepperdine last Tuesday, got the win for the Trojans. USC held UH to two runs or less for the second straight game.
“;Couture has had back-to-back great outings,”; Kreuter said. “;He pitched his heart out until he ran out of gas, and the guys that came in did a great job.”;
USC led 7-2 in the bottom of the sixth when Hawaii got the first two men in the inning to reach base. David Freitas walked and Collin Bennett singled to chase Couture.
Hawaii couldn't convert one of its few scoring chances, as Chris Mezger came in and struck out Macdonald and Kevin Fujii to get out of the jam without allowing a run.
“;We're just not stringing together hits,”; Wong said. “;We have people on base, but we're not getting any hits to drive guys in.”;
The Rainbows will try to earn a series split against the Trojans in the finale of the series tonight at 6:35.
USC 12, Hawaii 2
| USC | AB | R | H | BI | Hawaii | AB | R | H | BI | |
| De Pinto 2b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Montplaisir lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Landecker ph/2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Brackenridge lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Glenn cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Garcia ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Oropesa 1b | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | Wong 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Foat lf | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Doi 2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sherrod rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Freitas dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Houts ph/rf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Bennett cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Hart 3b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Koissian ph/rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Garcia dh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Macdonald 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Kent ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Torigoe ph/1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Roundtree c | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Kitamura 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Castillo c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Chevalier 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wrenn ss | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Fujii c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bast ph/ss | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Roquemore rf | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Almadova cf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Totals | 43 | 12 | 17 | 12 | Totals | 33 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| USC | 022 | 102 | 140 | — | 12 | 17 | 0 | |||
| Hawaii | 011 | 000 | 000 | — | 2 | 7 | 0 |
LOB—USC 7, Hawaii 7. 2B—Oropesa 2, De Pinto, Foat, Hart, Bast. 3B—De Pinto. HR—Foat, Roundtree, Wong, Macdonald. SF—Glenn. SB—Oropesa. CS—Roquemore.
| USC | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Couture (W, 2-0) | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Mezger | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Odom | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Hawaii | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Sisto (L, 1-3) | 2 1/3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Moore | 3 2/3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Allianic | 1 2/3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Brown | 1 1/3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Umpires—Steven Corvi (Plate); Ken Eldridge (First); Kevin Daugherty (Third).
T—2:56. A—2,310.
