COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP: TROJANS TAKE SOLE POSSESSION OF FIRST PLACE.

Byline: Daily News

Stanford entered Saturday's Pacific-10 Conference game as the No. 2 team in the nation, but that didn't intimidate USC in the least. The Trojans scored six runs in the first inning en route to a 16-11 victory at Sunken Diamond Stadium.

Freshman Joey Metropoulos' three-run homer highlighted the first-inning scoring spree. Michael Morales followed with a two-run triple to right-center and Michael Moon hit an RBI single for the Trojans (20-15, 6-2), who moved into sole possession of first place in conference.

The Trojans scored five times in the second inning to take an 11-0 lead. Metropoulos finished 3 for 5 with three RBI, and teammate David Gordon was 4 for 5 with two doubles and four RBI.

Freshman Matt Chico allowed seven runs on seven hits in five innings of work to earn his fifth victory of the season for USC, which concludes the series today at 1 p.m.

--UCLA 10, Arizona State 2: Behind the pitching of Wes Whisler and the bat of Josh Arhart, the host Bruins (15-21, 2-3) bounced back from an extra-inning loss Friday to defeat the 16th-ranked Sun Devils at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Whisler allowed two runs in seven innings with two strikeouts to improve to 3-1 on the season. After yielding both Sun Devils runs in the second, the freshman gave up two more hits before he was replaced by Mike Castillo in the eighth. Whisler has allowed three runs in his past two starts and has dropped his ERA to 3.94.

Arhart hit his second home run of the year, a leadoff shot in the seventh, and finished 3 for 4 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Teammates Ryan Rasmussen (3-5, RBI), Adam Berry (2-4, RBI) and Ryan McCarthy (2-4, 2 RBI) each contributed to the Bruins' 11-hit attack.

The Bruins hope to hand ASU its first conference series loss of the year today in the finale at 1 p.m.

--Loyola Marymount 10, Pepperdine 9: Jonathan Higashi, a Chaminade of West Hills graduate, hit the game-winning single in the bottom of ninth inning for LMU (15-21, 8-5) in the West Coast Conference game at George Page Stadium.

Freshman Joe Frazee led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk against Pepperdine reliever Greg Ramirez and was sacrificed to second by pinch hitter Joe Silva to set up Higashi's clutch hit.

Chris Kelly hit his 11th home run of the season and teammate Rock Mills added a three-run shot for Pepperdine (19-19, 8-4), which plays the series finale today at 1 p.m.

--CS Northridge 9, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 4: Matadors starter Andy Davidson, a Hart High of Newhall graduate, gave up 12 hits but allowed just three earned runs to earn his fifth victory of the season and lead the Matadors (25-12, 6-2) to the Big West victory at Matador Field.

Eric Verbryke hit his second home run in as many games and finished 3 for 4 with three runs scored and two RBI. Teammate Tim Arroyo also homered and was 2 for 5 with three RBI for CSUN, which concludes the series today at 1 p.m.