USC baseball will be without a true home this season.
After USC Athletics announced a string of renovations to their facilities — including Dedeaux Field, the normal home of the baseball team — the Trojans needed to find a place to play their home games.
The team announced today it would have multiple spots to play its ‘home games’ throughout the year: Orange County Great Park, Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine. Great Park will be the main venue, with 21 of USC’s 27 home games being at the park’s stadium with a 1,000-person capacity. The Trojans will play at LMU for three-midweek matchups, then play at UC Irvine for a series against Oregon State March 28-30.
“We have found a temporary home at Orange County Great Park in Irvine that we can truly make our own,” head coach Andy Stankiewicz said in a USC Athletics press release. “While we will certainly miss playing on the University Park campus, we look forward to spending time with the large contingent of Trojan fans down in Orange County.”
All of the 27 games will be “free and open to the public,” according to a USC Athletics statement.
The Trojans will be on the road or at a neutral site for 29 of their games, the first time since 2008 that USC has more road games on the schedule than home matchups. This includes two three-game tournaments filled with non-conference foes.
USC will play in the MLB Desert Invitational to open up its season between February 16-18 in Arizona, then compete in the Kubota College Baseball Series between March 1-3 in Arlington, Texas. Grand Canyon — Stankiewicz’s former school — highlights the Desert Invitational, with the Trojans also facing off against BYU and Ohio State. USC will then take on TCU and Texas A&M to open up March.
The non-conference schedule for USC is particularly tough, with the Trojans taking on five teams who competed in the NCAA Tournament in 2023. TCU made it the furthest of the five, getting all the way to the eight-team College World Series. Then add the five Pac-12 teams who made the tournament to USC’s schedule, and the Trojans will be playing 10 of the 64-team field during the regular season.
Despite the tough task of not playing at their normal home and scheduling multiple high-level non-conference matchups, the Trojans are on the rise as they enter Stankiewicz’s second year at the helm. USC went 34-23-1 last season but was not tabbed to compete in the NCAA Tournament after a poor finish to the season. However, it was the first time in history that a Pac-12 team won 17 games in conference play and was not selected for the tournament.
The Trojans added 24 players in the fall — 10 transfers and 14 freshmen — as they look to improve this season and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015. USC has not made it to the College World Series since 2001.
Once Dedeaux’s renovations are completed, the ballpark will be able to hold 2,500 fans. The new field will also include a new video board and audio system, with revamped hospitality options.
“The University and our Athletic Department have once again shown their commitment to USC baseball through this incredible investment in Dedeaux Field,” Stankiewicz said. “This stadium will provide our student-athletes with the world-class facilities they deserve.”
USC opens up its schedule against BYU on February 16 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona.