USC defeats California to advance to Pac-12 baseball tournament final
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Freshman Brayden Dowd hit his first career home run and finished with four RBIs, Josh Blum threw two innings of scoreless relief for his 10th save and USC beat California 7-4 on Friday to earn its ninth straight victory and a spot in the Pac-12 tournament championship game.
USC (31-27), which advanced past pool play for the first time in program history Thursday, will play either Stanford or top-seeded Arizona for the final Pac-12 title on Saturday.
The NCAA and five major college sports conferences agree to settle antitrust allegations for nearly $2.8 billion over the next 10 years.
California (36-19) had the bases loaded with no outs in the third inning before USC starter Tyler Stromsborg struck out Rodney Green Jr. and got Peyton Schulze to hit into a double play.
USC went ahead in the fourth when Dowd sent a three-run shot over the right-field wall for a 3-2 lead. Dowd added an RBI groundout in the sixth.
Cal tied the score 4-4 with two runs in the seventh, but USC put a pair on in the bottom half before Austin Overn brought one home with a sacrifice fly.
USC added two insurance runs when Dean Carpentier tripled in a run in the eighth and scored on a single by Ryan Jackson.
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