LOS ANGELES -- Joe Pistorese threw a complete game and Shane Matheny added three hits as Washington State came from behind for a 4-2 victory over No. 6 USC Saturday at Dedeaux Field.
After spotting USC (16-3, 1-1) a 2-0 lead in the fourth, WSU (12-6, 1-1) answered with three in the fifth and that was enough for Pistorese, who allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out eight in picking up his third-straight win.
After getting the lead, Pistorese didn’t let the Trojans back in the game. He needed 12 pitches to get through the fifth and sixth innings then retired 13 of the final 14 batters to improve to 3-1 on the season.
USC struck first in the bottom of the fourth as Blake Lacey doubled home Dante Flores, who reached on a two-out single. Adalberto Carrillo followed with a pop up to short left-center that fell in no-man’s land, scoring Lacey for the 2-0 lead.
The Cougars answered in the fifth as Shane Matheny and Shea Donlin opened the inning with back-to-back singles. After a failed sacrifice attempt, Ian Sagdal singled to right, scoring Donlin from second. On the play Trojan first baseman Jeremy Martinez threw wide trying to get Matheny at home, allowing Donlin to score and moving Sagdal to third. P.J. Jones followed with a single to left, scoring Sagdal for the 3-2 lead.
WSU increased its lead to 4-2 in the fifth as Matheny singled home Ben Roberts from second after Roberts reached on his third walk of the game.
Offensively Matheny went three-for-three with an RBI, Sagdal was two-for-five with an RBI and a run scored, while Roberts was one-for-one with three walks.
Trojan starter Kyle Twomey (3-1) suffered the loss as he left after allowing three runs on six hits in five innings.
