USC Baseball Beats Loyola Marymount

USC is just 2-4 in Pac-10 play, but they picked up a nice non-conference win against Loyola Marymount by the count of 10-3 at Dedeaux Field on Tuesday.

The game story from USCTrojans.com:

"LOS ANGELES – The USC Trojans tied a season high for runs Tuesday with the 10-3 non-conference victory over the Loyola Marymount Lions at Dedeaux Field. Joe De Pinto went 2-for-2 with two RBI and three runs scored for the Trojans, who scored 10 runs last Friday at No. 13 California. USC improved to 11-18 on the season while Loyola Marymount dropped to 16-11. Brandon Garcia picked up the win for the Trojans with five innings in the start, allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts. LMU starter John Lally lasted just 2 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (one unearned) as he left the game due to an unknown injury. The Trojans took advantage of three unearned runs in the first. Ricky Oropesa lifted a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to left for the first run. Adam Landecker then hit a ground ball to score a run as Jonathan Johnson’s throw from second base for the attempted double play went wide of the bag to score De Pinto for the 3-0 lead. Bret Dahlson hit a bases-loaded, two-run single in the LMU second to make it 3-2 in favor of USC, but Garcia struck out Matt Lowenstein to end the inning. Oropesa hammered a deep double to right center for his second RBI of the game for the 4-2 lead in the third. With two away in the fourth, Garret Houts continued his recent hot streak at the plate with a triple to center and later scoring on De Pinto’s infield single. Three runs in the sixth put the game away for the Trojans for the 8-3 advantage, thanks to RBI singles from De Pinto and Matt Foat. USC hosts No. 11 Stanford in Pac-10 Conference action, Friday-Sunday (April 8-10). Friday and Saturday’s games with the Cardinal begin at 6 p.m. with a 1 p.m. start for Sunday’s series finale. All three games will feature a video webcast, along with Gametracker live stats, on usctrojans.com."

Of note, Ricky Oropesa is on an absolute tear. After a sluggish start, he may be the toughest out in college baseball right now. He is smashing the ball all over the field and has sustained an incredible average over the last 18 games.