Too little, too late.

That was the story of the game for the Beavers, who found themselves down 5-0 heading into the ninth inning. The Beavers put a rally together that scored three runs, but they couldn't come all the way back. They had runners on the corners with two outs and Ryan Ortiz at the plate, but Ryan couldn't duplicate the heroic experience from Game 3 against UCLA last week.

Mike Stutes started and went seven complete innings for the Beavers, giving up all of the Trojans' offensive production: five runs on eight hits. He walked six and struck out four. The Beavers played errorless defense, but there were some questionable defensive decisions in the bottom of the fourth that could have prevented runs from scoring.

Chris Hopkins was 2-5 with two RBI's. One of the hits and both RBI's came in the ninth inning on a clutch bloop base hit to right field. Hopkins came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, and quickly fell down 0-2. He fouled a few pitches off, then blooped one into shallow right.

Daniel Robertson was 3-for-4 on the night and was responsible for the third RBI-- his second home run of the season that put the Beavers on the board, prevented a shutout, and got the ball rolling in the ninth. 

Ortiz, Solomon, and Wong also had hits on the night.

The Beavers left nine men on base, including the two men left stranded in the top of the ninth.

The Beavers move to 25-21 on the season and 11-11 in the Pac-10. They desperately need two straight victories to take the series from the Trojans and secure a spot in the post-season.

GO BEAVERS!

--JB--