Feb. 15, 1997

USC Comesback to Defeat Hawaii

HONOLULU - Third baseman Morgan Ensberg went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, as USC fought back from a 3-0 deficit to defeat Hawaii 4-3 before 3,006 Rainbow fans.

Seth Etherton pitched 8 innings allowing only one earned run on 5 hits to pick up his third victory of the season. Steve Immel came on in the ninth inning and pitched a scoreless inning to earn his first save of the season.

Trailing 3-0 after six innings, the Men of Troy scored three runs off Hawaii reliever Troy Yoshimasu to tie the game 3-3 after seven innings. Ensberg was the key to the Trojan victory with his 3-of-5 2 RBI performance at the plate, with a double and two singles. After holding Hawaii scoreless in their half of the seventh, USC scored the game winning run in the top of the eighth.

Hawaii scored all of their runs in the fifth inning, with timely hitting by catcher Lars Hansen (2-of-4 1 RS) and second baseman Daren Masanda (1-of-4 1 RBI). Hawaii also benefited from sloppy glove work by the Trojans, as USC committed six errors on the day.

Rainbow starting pitcher Dusty Bergman pitched 5.2 solid innings, allowing no runs on four hits. However the three Rainbow relievers combined for 3.1 innings allowing 4 runs on 3 hits.

The victory improves the Trojans record to 9-3 as Hawaii drops to 4-11. USC and Hawaii complete their weekend series, Sunday at 6 p.m. PST.

                              R  H  E
USC Trojans      000 000 310  4  7  6
Hawaii Rainbows  000 030 000  3  5  3
USC:  Seth Etherton, Steve Immel (9) and Eric Munson.  UH: Dusty Bergman,
Troy Yoshimasu (6), Ken MacKenzie (7), Jay Spurgeon (9) and Lars Hansen.
2B:  Greg Walbridge (USC), Morgan Ensberg (USC), Brian Ponchak (USC), Daren Masanda (H).
WP:  Etherton (3-0)  LP:  MacKenzie (0-1)  Save:  Immel (1).