No. 7 USC Tops No. 1 Stanford, 5-1

First time Stanford dropped back-to-back games.

May 12, 1998

STANFORD, Calif. -

Junior Mike Penney (Laguna Niguel, CA/Santa Margarita HS) threw a complete game eight-hitter to lead No. 7 USC (39-14 overall, 21-9 in the Six-Pac) to a 5-1 win over host Stanford (41-10-1, 22-8) on Monday night at Sunken Diamond.

The Cardinal had clinched the Pacific-10 Conference Southern Division title on Saturday afternoon, but the Trojans responded to win the final two games of the series. It is the first in 1998 Stanford has lost a series, and dropped back-to-back games. The Southern Division champion Cardinal visit Northern Division champion Washington this weekend in the best-of-three Pac-10 Championship Series for the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The teams will meet on Thursday at 3 p.m., Friday at 1 p.m. and Saturday at noon, if necessary, at Husky Ballpark. USC finishes its regular season this weekend at Portland State (Thurs. & Fri. 7 p.m., Sat. 1 p.m.).

Stanford took a 1-0 lead on Monday thanks to a solo homer by John Gall (Portola Valley, CA/St. Francis HS) in the bottoof the first, but was held in check by Penney the rest of the way. The Trojan right-hander allowed just the one earned run while walking two and striking out a career-high nine.

USC then took the lead for good in the top of the second on an RBI single by Jason Lane (Sebastapool, CA/Santa Rosa JC) and a sacrifice fly from Jeremy Freitas (Hanford, CA/Fresno City CC). The Trojans later added one in the fourth and two in the sixth to pull away.

	
Linescore					R	H	E
USC             020	102	000	---	5	8	0	
Stanford	100	000	000	---	1	8	2
	Penney and DePippo; Hoard, Linville (4), Drew (7), Young (9) and Salter. WP - Penney (7-3). LP - Hoard (3-3). 2B - DePippo (USC), Lane (USC), Freitas (USC), Schrager (STAN). HR - Gall (STAN) 1st inning, none on. Records - USC 39-14 overall (21-9 in the Pac-10 Southern Division), Stanford 41-10-1 (22-8).