COLLEGE BASEBALL: SAUGUS GRADUATE REMAINS IN TROJANS' PITCHING ROTATION.

Byline: HEATHER GRIPP

Staff Writer

A year after being the most successful part of the USC baseball team's weekend pitching rotation, Tommy Milone is notably absent from the first few weekends of this season.

The Trojans want to make it clear Milone, a Saugus High graduate, hasn't been demoted and he could return to the weekend rotation.

'That's a real good chance," USC pitching coach Dave Lawn said.

Milone earned his second win of the season Tuesday when he allowed six hits in six innings in a 5-2 victory over Loyola Marymount. The sophomore left-hander is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA, 12 strikeouts and two walks in 12 innings.

The Trojans had intended to start Milone last Sunday, but his high pitch count in season opener earlier in the week forced a change of plans.

'We wanted to win the very first game the most," Lawn said. 'So we started him against Cal Poly. By virtue of using up the maximum pitch total in that game, we weren't going to bring him back for the weekend. He did pretty much the same thing this week, so he won't start this weekend. He'll probably start (Tuesday) against Pepperdine, so we'll go from there.... We've got probably four or five guys who are interchangeable."

USC faces No. 17 San Diego this weekend. The Trojans entered the series with a 3-2 record.

Clutch Curtis: Hart product John Curtis was Cal State Fullerton's second-leading hitter during the Titans' season-opening sweep of Stanford last weekend. Curtis, a senior catcher, hit .556 with five RBIs in the three-game series.

Curtis and the No. 12 Titans play at UNLV this weekend.

Susdorf producing again: Hart graduate Steve Susdorf entered the weekend leading Fresno State in RBIs, having driven in four runs on four hits through the Bulldogs' first four games.

Fresno State plays at Stanford this weekend, then faces Cal State Northridge on Tuesday

Not their day: If not for Saturday doubleheaders, The Master's College would be off to a pretty good start. The Mustangs are winless on Saturdays, having lost doubleheaders the past two Saturdays, but are undefeated any other day of the week.

The Masters' tries to end the Saturday losing trend today, but it won't be easy. The Mustangs travel to Riverside for a doubleheader against Cal Baptist starting at 11 a.m. Cal Baptist is the defending Golden State Athletic Conference champion and is off to another successful start at 8-0.

The Master's improved to 3-4 by defeating Claremont 7-4 on Tuesday, the final tuneup before today's GSAC opener.

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