After going 34-23-1 overall and 17-13 in conference play last year, USC baseball started its new season in the three-game MLB Desert Invitational in Arizona.
This three-day series served as an opportunity for players to compete on diamonds that they may call home down the road, with the games at Major League Baseball spring training stadiums Sloan Park and Salt River Fields.
The Trojans could not capitalize on the opportunity of playing on MLB.tv and MLB Network, going winless in three games across the weekend.
USC’s Friday night matchup against BYU was just the first of a disappointing set of games, as the Cougars took the first game of the season with a final score of 8-1. The last time the Trojans were held to one run was on April 30 of last season at Washington.
Junior pitcher Caden Aoki started the game and tossed five innings, recording six strikeouts, three walks, and three earned runs. Aoki led the Pac-12 in ERA last season (2.98) and was an All-Pac-12 selection, but could not find his way on the mound against BYU.
A three-run second inning and a four-run sixth inning helped BYU rally, while the USC batters managed to only record three hits and left nine on base. Senior infielder Ryan Jackson recorded the only RBI for the Trojans with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly.
Head coach Andy Stankiewicz said this wasn’t the weekend USC hoped for.
“We didn’t play what I like to describe Trojan baseball,” Stankiewicz said in an interview with USC Athletics. “We came in a little hesitant, not trusting our training. … I’m a little frustrated obviously, but I know we’re a much better team than what we’ve shown here.”
The second game also didn’t go according to plan. USC faced Grand Canyon University on Saturday and lost 8-1 once again.
Senior pitcher Tyler Stromsborg — whose 75.2 innings pitched last season led the team — started and managed to play through four innings, so USC had to use a total of six pitchers against the Lopes. Stromsborg recorded five strikeouts, two walks and three runs, all coming in the opening frame to force the Trojans to dig back from that deficit.
Sophomore catcher Jacob Galloway and sophomore infielder Ethan Hedges both recorded two hits while Galloway recorded the only USC RBI of the game off of a fifth-inning home run. Both accounted for the team’s only hits of the night.
After being held to one run only once last season, USC has now surpassed that mark two games in.
Stankiewicz said playing in a major league park made a difference.
“This is a big yard. We hit some balls, but when we’re playing in a big league ballpark … those become fly balls to the warning track,” Stankiewicz said. “Some of our guys are trying to be someone they’re not. … We got to get these young men to understand that it’s not just about offense but playing good defense, baserunning, all of it.”
The last game was not much different from the first two. The Trojans lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes Sunday afternoon 5-2. At this same point last season, USC baseball was 3-0 to start, as opposed to now 0-3.
Redshirt sophomore pitcher Eric Hammond started and tossed four innings, managing four strikeouts, two walks, and three earned runs.
USC was the first to break through on the scorecard with two runs in the fourth frame. But Ohio State answered back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. The Buckeyes combined for three runs across the fifth and sixth to flip the lead, and USC wasn’t able to dig out of the hole. In total, the Trojans left four runners on base.
Galloway was feeling it at the plate for the second straight game, with two doubles and a single. Sophomore outfielder Luca DiPaolo contributed the lone USC RBI, as the other Trojan run came around on a throwing error.
Stankiewicz said this weekend will be a learning lesson for the team.
“We didn’t have success this weekend but, learning from this, I told the guys, ‘If you continue to do what you’ve always done and you continue to have the same results, then that’s not real smart,’” Stankiewicz said. “There’s a lot of good baseball in front of us, I just want them to relax and just play the way we know they’re capable of playing.”
The Trojans will host UC San Diego at Loyola Marymount’s Page Stadium on Tuesday looking for their first win of the new season.