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David Gordon Keys Season-Opening 5-2 Victory At UC Santa Barbara
Feb. 4, 2003 SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Senior David Gordon went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI Tuesday and the No. 6 USC Trojans opened the 2003 season with a 5-2 non-conference win at UC Santa Barbara. Junior Brian Bannister threw three scoreless innings to earn the win for the Trojans. Junior reliever Jon Williams struck out five of the six batters he faced as the Trojan pitching staff scattered six hits on the afternoon. USC took a 1-0 lead in the first when third baseman Michael Moon scored on an error by UCSB shortstop Josh Fulton. Matt Wilkerson tied the game for the Gauchos with a two-out RBI double, scoring Chris Malec in the bottom of the first. David Gordon used an RBI single in the fourth and a solo shot to left in the sixth to make it a 3-1 Trojans lead. In the top of the eighth with two outs, Matt Bonovich advanced to second on an error by UCSB's Josh McCanne during a pickoff attempt. USC second baseman Jon Brewster followed with a two-run homer to left for a 5-1 advantage. "I think the key was Bonovich beating out that infield single that allowed Brewster to hit that home run," said Gillespie. In the bottom of the ninth, the Gauchos put runners at second and third with no outs after a throwing error by Moon. Pinch hitter Chris Caraballo hit a grounder to freshman pitcher Bobby Paschal, who threw to first and kept the runners from advancing. Gabe Mann hit an RBI groundout to first, scoring catcher Chad Ziemendorf, and Blair Havens grounded to third to end the game.
The Trojans stranded nine runners, including the bases loaded in the fourth and seventh innings.
USC plays No. 16 Long Beach State this weekend with Friday's game at 6 p.m. at Dedeaux Field. Saturday's game will be played at Blair Field at 1:05 p.m. with the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcast live on usctrojans.com with Live Stats available for Friday and Sunday's games only. USC 100-101-020 --- 5-9-1 UCSB 100-000-001 --- 2-6-3 |
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