LOS ANGELES -- Starting right-hander Alex Blackford and a trio of relievers helped lead the 15th-ranked Arizona State baseball team to a 6-5 win Sunday at Dedeaux Field that clinched a road series victory.
The Sun Devils (22-10-1, 8-7) won their third consecutive Pac-12 series of the season despite dropping the series opener on Friday night, something an ASU team hadn't done on the road since 2007 at Washington.
Right fielder Trever Allen hit a solo home run to left in the top of the fifth inning to put ASU ahead 6-0 and record what proved to be the game-winning run, as USC (13-22, 6-9) rallied to score five runs over the following three innings.
Devils right-hander Alex Blackford (4-0) faced the minimum 12 batters over the first four innings and retired 11 consecutive Trojans until he issued a walk with one-out in the bottom of the fifth inning. He struck out five and walked one and allowed just one earned run on four hits in six innings to earn his fourth win of the season.
Right-handed reliever Darin Gillies took over with one out in the seventh inning and allowed just one base runner in 1 2/3 innings. He stranded three runners on base, including two in the seventh, and forced a fly ball to left field after an eight-pitch at-bat with two outs and the tying run on first base in the eighth inning.
Freshman right-hander Ryan Burr collected his seventh save of the season after closing out the ninth inning. He is now in sole possession of fourth place on the school's freshman single-season saves list, trailing Jason Jarvis (2007) by four and Mitch Dean (1976) and Zechery Zinicola (2004) by one.
ASU batted around and scored five runs in the top of the second inning behind a pair of two-run doubles by first baseman Dalton DiNatale and second baseman James McDonald, and an RBI single by Kasey Coffman to jump out to a 5-0 lead.
Allen's solo home run in the top of the fifth inning stretched ASU's advantage to six, but the Trojans countered with four runs in the bottom of the frame to cut it to two, 6-4. A one-out walk and a two-out single scored the first run of the game for USC in the inning, and a throwing error by catcher RJ Ybarra on a dropped strike three allowed the Trojans to tack on three more.
Left-hander Matt Dunbar issued two walks and a double to start the bottom of the seventh to load the bases with no outs before getting a strikeout to record the first out of the inning. He was then replaced by Gillies, who gave up a sacrifice fly to center field to make it a one-run game, but induced a popup to strand two runners on base and preserve the Devils' advantage, 6-5.
USC starting left-hander Kyle Twomey (2-4) was replaced after giving up five runs in the second inning and took the loss.
ASU next heads to Tucson on Tuesday to face Arizona for a midweek nonconference game. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
