UW 3, USC 2 (10)

SEATTLE - Troy Scott doubled home Jake Rife with the winning run in the bottom of the 10tb inning to give the Huskies a 3-2 win over USC and a sweep of the three game Pac-10 series at Husky Ballpark on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

With their sixth straight Pac-10 win the Huskies improved to 10-8 and 21-23 overall while the Trojans dropped to 10-11 and 22-23. The Huskies also won their first extra inning game of the season.

In the bottom of the 10th the Huskies benefited from a big error by second baseman Joe DePinto. Rife led off with a single and should have been forced out at second for the first out of the inning when Kyle Conley grounded to shortstop Grant Green, but DePinto dropped Green's throw, allowing Rife to reach second safely. Scott then came to the plate, and instead of going by conventional wisdom and laying down a sacrifice, he lined a 2-0 pitch from reliever Chad Smith (3-3) into right center field to plate Rife with the winning run.

A day after the Huskies prevailed 3-0 in a pitcher's duel, starters Andrew Kittredge of Washington and Robert Stock of USC hooked up in another duel. Kittredge went seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out three. Stock went seven innings as well, despite throwing 129 pitches through six and finishing with 139. He allowed two runs in seven hits and five walks. He struck out 10.

The game eventually belonged to the bullpen. The Huskies' Geoff Brown and Brian Pearl (1-3) did their part to keep the Trojans away from the plate, combining to go three innings, allowing two hits and two walks, while striking out three. Pearl escaped a bases loaded jam in the top of the 10th inning when he struck out Hector Rabago swinging for the final out.

Smith pitched well for the Trojans in his outing but got let down by his defense. He went two innings, allowing the one unearned run on two hits and one walk. He struck out three.

The Huskies got on the board first and took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Pierce Rankin hit his sixth home run of the season over the left field bullpen. The Trojans came back to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth when Alex Sherrod led off with a walk aand Green doubled. Ricky Oropesa drove in both runners with an opposite field double off the bullpen wall in left. The Huskies answered in the bottom of the sixth and tied teh game at 2 when Scott led off with his eighth homer of the season, an opposite field shot into the left field bullpen.

The Huskies return to action when they host the Oregon State Beavers from Friday, May 8 to Sunday, May 10. The opener will take place at Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners, at 6:30 p.m.