There was another dog pile at Bailey-Brayton Field on Saturday afternoon, but this time the man on the bottom was Patrick McGrath. 

The sophomore first baseman hit a bloop single over the right side of the infield in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the Cougars a 4-3 victory over the USC Trojans. 

“I was at the bottom of that pile so I felt all the weight on that one, but it’s such a great feeling that my teammates love each other and never give up on each other,” McGrath said. “I know that sounds cliche but it’s so true so I love all of them to death.”

McGrath came up in the 10th inning with two outs, hoping to hit the ball hard somewhere to drive in the game-winning run. Redshirt sophomore Nick Tanielu led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice. After junior P.J. Jones struck out, the Trojans chose to intentionally walk junior Ian Sagdal to bring up McGrath, who made them pay.

 “I forget who I said it to, but right before he did that, I said Pat deserves this, he deserves to get a hit right here,” said senior starting pitcher Jason Monda. “He’s just a class act, a really good guy, and he certainly deserved that hit.”

Monda threw eight innings and allowed two runs on six hits, striking out six and walking one. He shut out the Trojans for the first three innings as the Cougars staked him to a one-run lead immediately in the bottom of the first. Monda gave up his only two runs in the top of the fourth, then settled down again for the rest of his time on the mound. 

McGrath said he was pleased with Monda’s performance. He couldn’t hide his appreciation for the pitcher and said he deserved the hit. 

“It’s so great coming from Jason,” McGrath said. “He’s one of those older guys who I look up to, and when he goes out there and his performance is like that on a consistent basis, it’s something we look up to and want to aspire to. Coming from him, that’s awesome and means the world to me.”

Finishing the complete game was definitely on Monda’s mind, but he said he understood when the coaching staff took him out. The Cougars put in freshman closer Ian Hamilton for the ninth inning, and the Trojans were able to tie the game and extend it into extras. 

Senior Jake Hernandez singled and then a pinch-runner advanced to second on a sacrifice, which set up sophomore Timmy Robinson’s double that was barely high enough to evade redshirt junior shortstop Trace Tam Sing’s reach. Hamilton struck out the next hitter, then sophomore reliever Matt Bower entered to finish the inning with a strikeout as well. 

Senior Kellen Camus pitched 1/3 of an inning in the top half of the tenth to earn the win. He is 5-0 this season. The victory was Camus’ 12th career win in relief, which is one away from the school record. 

The Cougars left a total of 11 men on base but managed to pressure the Trojans’ starter, Brent Wheatley, for three runs in six innings. Wheatley came into the game with a 2.82 ERA and a 4-1 record. 

“I’ve got to give credit to him,” McGrath said. “He was really good on the mound. We did leave some runners on base but I feel like for the most part, we had some really good at-bats today so I was really proud of my guys.”

The final game of the series is set to begin at noon on Sunday.