Currier Carries Trojans, 7-2

USC starter Rik Currier kept Georgia Tech’s hot-hitting offense off balance for 7 2/3 innings, leaving the Trojans one win away from advancing to the College World Series after a 7-2 victory Friday night at Atlanta.

Currier yielded two runs on nine hits in Game 1 of the best-of-three NCAA baseball super-regional at Russ Chandler Stadium. Currier (14-3) struck out six.

Anthony Lunetta and Josh Persell hit two home runs each for USC (42-18) and Seth Davidson added three hits.

Game 2 is today at 4 p.m. PDT.

The Yellow Jackets (50-15), ranked No. 1 in both final regular-season national polls, lost for the first time in nine games.

Loser Cory Vance (13-3) pitched seven innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits. Both of Georgia Tech’s runs came on Jason Perry’s second-inning home run.

“After a game like this, you just tip your hat to [USC],” said Georgia Tech Coach Danny Hall.

OTHER GAMES

Nebraska 7, Stanford 3--R.D. Spiehs pitched 6 1/3 strong innings and Adam Stern had three hits as the Cornhuskers (51-15) beat the Cardinal (45-15) in Game 1 of super-regional at Stanford. Last year, the Cardinal swept USC in two straight super-regional games.

South Carolina 6, Louisiana Lafayette 3--Kip Bouknight threw 6 2/3 perfect innings and Drew Meyer, who passed up a six-figure contract offer from the Dodgers in August, hit a grand slam in the seventh as the other USC won the first of a three-game super-regional series at Columbia, S.C., to move within a victory of its first College World Series in 15 years.

San Jose State 5, Houston 3--Brandon Macchi’s three-run homer in the third inning to help the Spartans (40-12) defeat the Cougars (47-17) in a super-regional series at Houston.

Florida State 9, Miami 2--Chris Smith hit a grand slam for the Seminoles and Blair Varnes limited the defending national champion Hurricanes to seven hits and two runs in seven innings at Tallahassee, Fla.

Varnes (11-2), the starter when the two teams met in last season’s championship game, retired 12 of 13 batters from the fourth through seventh innings.

Clemson 11, Mississippi State 4--Mike Calitri drove in three runs and Kevin Lynn allowed only three hits in 7 1/3 innings of relief as the Tigers (49-16) beat the Bulldogs (41-19) at Clemson, S.C.

Texas 7, Penn State 3--Texas turned a series of Penn State miscues into a big early lead and solid pitching by D.J. Jones and Ray Clark made it stand up at Austin, Texas.