It looked more like a baseball blooper video than a game between two top-ranked teams when the University of Southern California beat San Diego State 20-3 in front of 511 fans at Tony Gwynn Stadium last night.
The Trojans (29-10), ranked No. 7 by Baseball Weekly, used the long ball and a bunch of Aztec miscues to jump to a 13-2 lead after five innings. SDSU (23-10-1) committed five errors in the first four innings.
The Aztecs allowed two runs to score in the top of the second inning, when second baseman Stewart Smothers misplayed a deep fly ball by USC’s Wes Rachels into a three-base error.
“I saw it. I read it, but I read it wrong at first,” Smothers said. “I had to get back on it, but I couldn’t get there fast enough; therefore, I missed it.”
The defensive debautchery didn’t stop there. SDSU left fielder Steve Hagins and shortstop Jason Klatt committed errors to put runners on. Then Eric Munson blasted a three-run opposite field home run over the left field wall off Aztecs reliever Joe Bernhard.
“There was no excuse for us not being able to catch fly balls,” Aztecs head coach Jim Dietz said. “We really struggled defensively and made some mental mistakes. Those errors really concern me.”
The mistakes continued in the fourth inning when a throwing error by second baseman Tavares Comeaux put an extra runner on base. Once again the Trojans capitalized; this time shortstop Marc Mirizzi blasted a three-run home run.
“Early on we beat ourselves,” Aztecs catcher Jason Phillips said. “They hit the ball well tonight, and we couldn’t stop the bleeding.”
USC tacked on four more runs in the fifth to extend its lead. The rally was highlighted by a two-run single by catcher Jason Brown who would later add a grand-slam home run in the eighth inning off SDSU pitcher Trevor Gannon to finish 3 for 4 with 7 RBIs.
“Their hitters are OK,” Dietz said. “If you pitch them half-way decent, you will have success. When you make that many mistakes, both mental and physical, and make your pitcher throw that much longer, it makes that other team look that much better.”
Trojan pitchers had no such problems with SDSU. USC starting pitcher Mike Penney (1-0) limited the Aztecs to only four hits over the first five innings to earn the win. Four relievers combined to allow only four more hits.
SDSU finally broke through with runs in the fourth and fifth innings. First baseman Ryan Hammons’ ground out scored Steve Hagins in the fourth, and third baseman Alex Pelaez singled in Jason Klatt in the fifth.
They added one more run in the eighth, but that was it.
“I don’t think you learn much from a game like this,” Phillips said. “No one wants to get beat that bad.”
