Arizona baseball suffered its first series sweep of the season after giving up seven runs in one inning in back-to-back games.
The No. 22 Wildcats (22-9 7-5 Pac-12 Conference) also saw their six-game win streak end at the hands of No. 9 USC. The Trojans (25-6, 7-2) won 10-9 on Saturday after winning 13-6 on Fridayand 4-1 on Thursday.
“We’re scoring runs; that’s not the issue,” Arizona coach Andy Lopez said. “You can’t give up seven runs in an inning. My God, you can’t do that in a church picnic and feel good. You do that at a church picnic, you go home and you don’t want to pray. I mean, give me a break.”
The Trojans opened the third game with a single and a walk but only scored once in the first inning, on a sacrifice fly. USC scored seven runs in the opening inning of the second game of the series, knocking out UA starter Robby Medel (1-3) after seven batters.
On Saturday, Arizona starter Tyger Talley (3-0) lasted 3.2 innings, gave up eight hits, seven earned runs, walked two and struck out none.
The Wildcats scored two runs with two outs in the second, after first baseman J.J. Matijevic doubled in a run, and utility player Cody Ramer drove in another on a single.
Arizona utility player Bobby Dalbec hit a three-run home run over the batter’s eye in the third inning. Dalbec has seven home runs this season, the most since former Wildcat Rob Refsnyder hit eight in 2012.
USC scored seven runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly: two doubles and a single.
“We put up some good runs these past two games, and we just need to find a way to hang up zeroes and keep us in the ball game,” Arizona second baseman Scott Kingery said.
Arizona responded with a run in the home half of the fourth. Kingery tripled and was driven in by shortstop Kevin Newman.
USC scored again on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. The Wildcats threatened in the bottom of the inning, as Moore led off with a double and Matijevic walked, but they couldn’t score.
In the seventh, Ramer drove in a run and another scored on a throwing error. In the eighth, Arizona tied it when pinch hitter Tyler Krause hit a sacrifice groundout. USC took back the lead in the ninth on a two-out single.
Ramer made his second start of the season on Saturday and went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. He had one hit in six at-bats coming into the game.
“I thought I was seeing the ball well for not getting many at-bats,” Ramer said.
Kingery was 3-for-5 with two runs and a triple on Saturday. On Friday, he was 5-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two runs and two RBIs.
Arizona changed the lineup for Saturday’s game. Kingery, the leading batter in the country going into the series, moved from lead off to the second spot.
Lopez said the lineup change was because catcher Riley Moore was hitting about .220 in conference play. He said he just put the top five hitters in the Pac-12 in the first five slots.
“Damn good coaching,” Lopez said, laughing. “I asked Kingery in about the fifth inning, ‘Do you pitch? Because the way you hit, I’m starting to think about putting you on the mound.’”
Kingery said he liked the lineup change.
“We’re switching it around, getting some people some different roles and getting Ramer out in left field,” Kingery said. “He had a couple knocks today, so that was good — anything we can do to change it up and score some runs.”
Up next for the Wildcats is a trip to No. 10 ASU this weekend.
_______________
Follow James Kelley on Twitter.
