Stanford’s Gerut Homers to Beat USC

A game for the nation’s No. 1 college baseball ranking developed into a fight for a single run against unbeaten pitchers Friday night at Dedeaux Field.

One majestic shot--a home run over the scoreboard by Stanford’s Jody Gerut in the seventh inning--was all that marred a magnificent effort by USC right-hander Seth Etherton and provided Cardinal Jeff Austin with the slimmest of cushions.

Austin was less dominant than Etherton, who had a career-high 15 strikeouts, but came away beaten, 1-0, in a game that cut the Trojans’ lead in the Pacific 10 Conference South to half a game.

Both teams entered the game batting over .330, but the hitters appeared helpless against the two preseason All-Americans.

Etherton (8-1), a Trojan senior, gave up only four hits and walked none, continuing what has been a remarkable season. In 79 innings, he has 116 strikeouts and has given up only 52 hits.

USC managed one hit in each of the first five innings, but Austin (9-0) did not allow another until Eric Munson doubled to lead off the ninth. Morgan Ensberg’s sacrifice advanced pinch-runner Rod Perry Jr. to third base, but Austin struck out Jeremy Freitas and got Robb Gorr to fly out to right field.

“Etherton is a master of his craft and I did wonder if we would ever score,” Austin said. “When Jody hit the home run, it gave me a jolt.”

The homer was the 12th for Gerut, another of the nation’s top professional prospects. He pulled a hanging curve, one of the few pitches Etherton let get away.

“I don’t see how anybody could ask for a better performance than Seth gave,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “We hit the ball hard 12 times and came away with nothing. The loss is crushing because I felt like we performed extremely well.”

Stanford (26-4-1, 11-2 in conference play), ranked No. 1 by Baseball America magazine, will face the No.2-ranked Trojans (27-7, 13-3) again today and Sunday.

Baseball Notes

Rod Dedeaux, the coach who led USC to 11 NCAA championships in a 45-year tenure that ended in 1986, was chosen Coach of the Century by Collegiate Baseball magazine. Dedeaux, 81, had a record of 1,332-571-11 and was inducted into the College Baseball Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame in 1970.