Kurt Heyer pitched eight strong innings and collected his 25th career victory as 14th-ranked Arizona defeated USC 11-1 in the opening game of a three-game series at Dedeaux Field on Friday.
Arizona (35-15, 17-8 Pac-12) won its fifth straight road game and handed USC (22-26, 7-18 Pac-12) its ninth consecutive loss. The Wildcats scored a run in the first inning for the fourth game in a row and never looked back.
Heyer improved to 10-2 on the season and lowered his earned run average to 2.20. The right-hander allowed just one run on six hits, struck out four and walked only two.
Offensively, the Wildcats pounded out 12 base hits, led by Joey Rickard’s three hits and two runs scored. Alex Mejia drove in three runs while Bobby Brown and Robert Refsnyder added two RBIs apiece.
Arizona got on the board early with a run without a hit in the top of the first. Rickard was hit by a pitch to lead off the game and stole second, and Johnny Field then reached on an error. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Mejia drove in Rickard with the game’s first run on a groundout.
Still holding a 1-0 lead, the Wildcats broke things open in the top of the sixth. With two down, Refsnyder drew a walk and Seth Mejias-Brean reached on an infield single past the pitcher to put two on. Brown then roped a triple down the right-field line to drive in both runners and give UA a 3-0 lead.
Arizona added four insurance runs an inning later. Joseph Maggi and Rickard led off with singles, and reliever Matt Munson then walked Field to load the bases. Mejia followed with a high-chop groundout that drove in a run before the Trojans elected to intentionally walk Refsnyder to reload the bases.
Mejias-Brean then bounced into a fielder’s choice that forced the second out of the inning at home plate. With two down and the bags still packed, Brown hit a sharp grounder that first baseman Matt Foat was unable to handle, allowing the ball to scoot into right field.
Two runs scored on the play, which was ruled an error, and the Wildcats stole a fourth run when Brown drew a throw to second on a steal attempt and Mejias-Brean beat a relay throw to the plate to make it 7-0.
The Trojans ended Heyer’s shutout bid after loading the bases with three consecutive singles to open the bottom of the seventh. After a popout, Andres Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Dante Flores and cut the lead to 7-1.
The Wildcats were back at it in the eighth. With two on and two out, Mejia pulled a run-scoring double down the left-field line, and Refsnyder followed with a two-run double to right field to extend the lead to 10-1.
In the ninth, Brown walked and Riley Moore singled before Rickard delivered a two-out RBI single that made it 11-1.
Left-handed reliever Augey Bill pitched a clean ninth inning with a strikeout to close out the game for the Wildcats.
Ben Mount (1-7) suffered the loss for the Trojans, who used four pitchers in the game. Mount was charged with three runs, two earned, on six hits and two walks. The bullpen surrendered the other seven runs, three of which were unearned.
