The USC Trojans baseball team opened up its 2022 campaign with a three-game series against Santa Clara at Dedeaux Field over the weekend. The Trojans pulled out a pair of close victories to begin their season, but took their first loss of the year on Sunday afternoon.
In front of an opening day crowd of over 1,300 on Friday night, USC wasted no time asserting itself offensively. In the bottom of the first, after a leadoff walk from redshirt sophomore center fielder Rhylan Thomas, sophomore shortstop D’Andre Smith belted the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for a two run homer.
That home run turned out to be the only scoring that the Trojans would get in their season opener; a bunt single from redshirt sophomore second baseman Tyresse Turner in the bottom of the second was the only other hit the team recorded. With the Broncos’ pitchers clearly ahead of the Trojan hitters, the pressure was on redshirt senior starting pitcher Isaac Esqueda to do the same on the bump for his team.
Esqueda wound up pitching a gem, giving USC five shutout innings with two strikeouts and three walks. The only hit the left hander allowed was off a bunt from junior center fielder Coleman Brigman in the third. Esqueda subsequently retired the next eight batters he faced to finish his night.
After his starter hurled 85 pitches in his season debut, head coach Jason Gill turned to redshirt junior Carson Lambert for some length out of the bullpen in the sixth. Lambert turned out to be just as dominant in relief, surrendering just one hit in four shutout innings, without allowing a Bronco to advance past first base, to earn the save.
Santa Clara got the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth, after a one out walk issued by Lambert, senior second baseman Dawson Brigman grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to finish off a 2-0 Trojans victory. Friday marked the first shutout win for USC on opening day in 17 years.
In game two of the series on Saturday afternoon, both pitching staffs appeared to have picked up where they left off the night before. Sophomores Skyler Hales for the Broncos and Tyler Stromsborg for the Trojans each had excellent outings on the mound. Both starting pitchers gave their teams five scoreless innings, with Stromsborg allowing five hits and striking out four and Hales holding USC to just two hits.
With the game still scoreless going into the sixth, Gill once again turned to his bullpen and brought in reliever Nate Clow. The sophomore had a rough outing on the mound. Senior third baseman Matt Jew, the first batter Clow faced, took him deep with a solo home run that gave Santa Clara its first run of the season and a 1-0 lead. Clow was responsible for two more Bronco runs in the frame and was pulled before he could even record two outs. Redshirt sophomore reliever Kyle Wisch walked home a fourth run with the bases loaded, but he did record the final two outs to get USC out of the inning.
The Trojans picked up two unearned runs on a throwing error and a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh but still trailed 5-2 one inning later. Smith, who reached base on a throwing error with one out, scored an unearned run on a base hit from redshirt senior left fielder Trevor Halsema to cut the deficit to two. Representing the go-ahead run, sophomore right fielder Carson Wells worked a four pitch walk to load the bases for redshirt junior catcher Tyler Lozano.
Lozano, still looking for his first hit to keep the line moving with two outs, did a whole lot more, hitting an absolute moonshot to left field for a go-ahead grand slam. Lozano did not hide his excitement either, flipping his bat nearly as high as the ball he had just hit and stomping on home plate to finish off his trot around the bases.
That two run cushion was more than enough for sophomore reliever Matt Keating, who struck out the final two Santa Clara batters to finish out a 1-2-3 ninth inning and seal the thrilling 7-5 win. Keating, who also recorded the final out of the eighth, was credited with the win.
In the third and final game of the weekend, the Trojans got a third good performance from their starting pitcher. Sophomore starter Jaden Agassi threw four innings of six hit, two run ball and struck out three. Agassi was not as untouchable as Esqueda and Stromsborg, but he did a good job of limiting the damage when he did get in jams.
He stranded runners in scoring position in the first and fourth innings, and, thanks to a perfect relay started by Halsema, the Trojans gunned down junior left fielder Michael O’Hara trying to score at home plate for the final out of the third.
“I think it’s great for their confidence,” Gill said about his starting pitchers this weekend. “It’s great moving forward. We still have to continue to get a little bit better on the mound, especially out of the bullpen where we’re still scuffling to figure out what our roles are, but I think we’ll figure it out here shortly.”
With USC ahead 4-2 going into the 7th, the Broncos finally found a way to put up a crooked number. Redshirt junior reliever Garrett Clarke and Wisch both struggled mightily, giving up a combined seven runs while recording only one out, allowing Santa Clara to build a 9-4 lead.
“They got hits, it’s not like we were walking the world or anything,” Gill said about what went wrong in that seventh inning. “They hit the ball, and I think some of it had to do with us learning how to handle those situations and putting a stop to the bleeding so to speak. We try to stop them and instead of it being a seven, maybe it’s a four or five. Then if you look at the scoreboard at the end, we’re either tied or we’re winning because we made a great comeback effort.”
However, with Saturday’s comeback at the front of their minds, the Trojans continued to battle. Redshirt sophomore third baseman Johnny Olmstead knocked in an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth, and USC then scored runs on a wild pitch and a passed ball to tighten the gap to 9-7 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
The Trojans continued their comeback effort in the bottom of the ninth, with two straight singles putting the tying run on base with no outs. However, a popout from Halsema followed by a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of sophomore catcher Garret Guillemette killed the rally and gave USC its first loss of the season.
Despite the loss, the Trojans are likely to be encouraged by the offensive production they got from the top of the lineup. Thomas, Turner and Smith, each of whom were hitting .143 entering Sunday, combined for nine hits in 13 at-bats in the loss.
“I think just in general Sundays are offensive days,” Gill said. “The wind’s blowing, it’s sunny, it’s a day game. I think we’ll start to settle in a little bit offensively, I think the first two games we were probably pressuring a little bit too much. Everybody wants to get off to a good start, and when you do that sometimes you try so hard that you don’t. So I think that we’ll settle in here, and our true selves will come out.”
With the series win, USC begins its season with a 2-1 record, and will host San Diego at Dedeaux Field for one game on Tuesday night.