Baseball
    Baseball Downs SDSU, 9-4
    Trojans win four-hour marathon.
    Greg Hanoian had three hits for USC against SDSU.
    Greg Hanoian had three hits for USC against SDSU.
    April 21, 1998

    SAN DIEGO - The No. 6 USC baseball team outlasted San Diego State, 9-4, in a game that lasted nearly four hours at Tony Gwynn Stadium on Tuesday night.

    The Trojans improved to 33-12 overall while the Aztecs fell to 23-19.

    The game was tied, 4-4, until the top of the eighth when senior 3B Morgan Ensberg crushed a solo home run to deep center field to break the tie.

    In the top of the ninth, USC scored four more runs, all with two outs. After the first two batters were retired, the next two Trojan hitters walked. Junior OF Greg Hanoian knocked a two-run double and junior 1B Robb Gorr crushed a two-run home run to center field.

    Senior RHP Jack Krawczyk pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and earned his 17th save of the season, a figure that leads the nation. Junior LHP/DH Jason Lane (5-1) went 2 1/3 innings and got the win.

    Hanoian went 3-for-4 with three RBI and two doubles, senior LF Jeremy Freitas was 3-for-5 and Gorr was 2-for-5 with three RBI.

    Both teams had its chances early to take control of the game. USC scored twice in the top of the first as Hanoian and Freitas had RBI singles.

    SDSU scored once in the bottom of the first, then Gorr walked with the bases loaded to make it 3-1 in the top of the second.

    The Aztecs then scored once in the second and two times in the third to take a 4-3 lead, but that would be it for the Aztecs. USC junior LHP Jason Saenz, the starter, was lifted in the third in favor of junior RHP Mike Penney, who kept the Aztecs in check for three innings.

    USC tied the game, 4-4, in the top of the fourth on another bases-loaded walk, this time to Ensberg.

    USC hit into three double plays and led 14 runners on base, while San Diego State hit into four double plays and left nine runners on base.

    The Trojans play UCLA this weekend (April 24-26) in a three-game series.

    USC 210-100-014---9-12-3

    SDSU 112-000-000---4-11-1

    Saenz, Penney (3), Lane (6), Krawczyk (8) and DePippo.

    Bernhard, Eppeneder (2), Halverson (2), Garber (4), Harang (4), Wanders (6), Seiler (7), Aguilera (7), Herrera (9) and Rogers.

    WP -- Lane (5-1) LP -- Aguilera (1-2) SV -- Krawczyk (17)

    HR -- USC: Gorr (9), Ensberg (13).