USC Baseball Rallies For 6-5 Win Over Utah

IRVINE, Calif. – The USC baseball team rallied for four runs in the eighth innings to take down Utah, 6-5, in the series opener at Great Park on Thursday night.
 
The Trojans erased a 4-2 deficit with the four-run eighth and Josh Blum closed it out in the ninth despite two USC miscues and a bases-loaded no outs jam. The win moves the Trojans to 25-27 overall and 15-12 in Pac-12 play, while Utah falls to 32-19 overall and 16-12 in conference action.
 
USC had the early lead, but Utah had a four-run inning of their own in the fifth and the Utes took a 4-2 lead into the eighth. Kevin Takeuchi and Austin Overn singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth and after a sac bunt by Ethan Hedges moved the runners up, Utah went to its closer Micah Ashman. Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek greeted Ashman with a game-tying single through the left side, scoring Overn and Takeuchi. Brayden Dowd followed with a double down the left-field line to plate Martin-Grudzielanek for the go-ahead score and Dean Carpentier doubled down the right-field line, scoring Dowd for what turned out to be the winning run.
 
Blum entered to start the ninth and after giving up a leadoff single, a pair of miscues in the field loaded the bases for Utah. Blum proceeded to strike out Kai Roberts, who came into the game third in the conference with a .366 average. Drake Digiorno hit a sac fly to center in the next at bat, and with two outs and two on, Blum got TJ Clarkson to ground out to the right side and end the game. It was the USC closer's seventh save of the season.
 
Overn and Martin-Grudzielanek each had three hits in the game, with Overn scoring three times and Martin-Grudzielanek driving in three runs.
 
Caden Aoki threw 4.0 scoreless innings in the start, giving up just two hits and no walks, while striking out four. After 3.0 innings from Mason Edwards, Xavier Martinez tossed a scoreless eighth and picked up the win as the pitcher of record in the ninth.
 
TOP PERFORMERS

• Austin Overn: 3-for-3, 3R, 2 2B
• Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek: 3-for-4, 3 RBI, R
• Josh Blum: S, 1.0 IP, H, 0ER, 0BB, K
• Caden Aoki: 4.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 4K

 
COMING UP
USC and Utah continue their series on Friday night and then close things out on Saturday afternoon. The Trojans will honor the 1974 NCAA Championship team prior to the game on Friday night at Great Park, and will honor its senior class prior to Saturday's afternoon contest. Links to follow all games can be found on the baseball schedule page at USCTrojans.com.