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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Freshman Brayden Dowd hit his first career home run before finishing with four RBIs, Josh Blum threw two innings of scoreless relief for his 10th save and USC beat California 7-4 to earn its ninth straight victory and a spot in the Pac-12 Tournament championship. USC, which advanced past pool play for the first time in program history on Thursday, will play either Stanford or top-seeded Arizona for the final Pac-12 title on Saturday. California (36-19) had the bases loaded with no outs in the third inning before USC starter Tyler Stromsborg struck out Rodney Green Jr. and got Peyton Schulze to hit into a double play. USC added two insurance runs when Dean Carpentier tripled home a run in the eighth and scored on a single by Ryan Jackson.
