Starting the season with a 4-12 record— USC baseball’s worst 16-game start in its 135-year history — certainly wasn’t on second-year head coach Andy Stankiewicz’s agenda.
But the emergence of multiple unsung heroes, a revived offense and mound dominance boosted the Trojans (31-28, 17-12 Pac-12) to a nine-game winning streak heading into the Pac-12 Championship game, giving them the opportunity to erase early-season woes, win the conference’s final title and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans were mere outs away from accomplishing this feat, until an eighth-inning lead against No. 18 Arizona (36-21, 20-10) quickly dwindled away, effectively ending USC’s season and chance to break its nine-year NCAA Tournament drought.
“We came up short. And I know that’s not what anybody wants, but at the same time, I’m proud,” Stankiewicz said.
The path to the conference title game wasn’t all smooth and steady, on and off the diamond. In addition to the historically lackluster start, USC never truly had a home stadium. The reconstruction of Dedeaux Field — which sits on USC’s campus — forced the Trojans to host games at Great Park and Cicerone Field in Irvine, plus Page Stadium in Westchester.
“It was an adjustment for everybody,” Stankiewicz said. “It took some time to try to find our routine in all that travel, and I think that that’s a big part of baseball.”
Road fatigue aside, the rollercoaster season introduced fans to multiple dynamic freshmen. Infielders Kevin Takeuchi and Dean Carpentier, and outfielder Brayden Dowd all brought life to USC’s offense right out of the gate.
Hailing from Clarkston, Michigan, Dowd fit right into Stankiewicz’s system, making his presence known with a four-hit weekend at Stanford (22-33, 11-19), which earned him a starting role. When the Trojans needed him most — late in the season in a win-or-go-home setting — he delivered.
Dowd launched arguably the most important home run of the season — his first in a Trojan uniform — against California (36-19, 17-13) in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinal game; a go-ahead three-run blast which proved to be crucial as USC won 7-4. Dowd’s .324 batting average set him up for what will be a big sophomore campaign in 2025, the Trojans’ first in the Big Ten.
Takeuchi and Carpentier each posted similar stats, recording .289 and .287 batting averages respectively. They each scorched four round-trippers each.
Takeuchi also contributed to USC’s late-season magic, riding an eight-game hitting streak into the Pac-12 title game, including a four-RBI performance against Gonzaga (20-32, 14-10 West Coast Conference). Carpentier’s brightest spot came in early April when he hit his first three career homers in consecutive games, all wins.
“The expectation standard holds true whether you’re a freshman or senior, it doesn’t matter,” Stankiewicz said. “Those young men understood that. They realized that they have a responsibility — to themselves, to their teammates, to the families, to this University — to show up every day ready to go.”
Throughout the team’s abysmal start, one player consistently shined: sophomore catcher Jacob Galloway. With a team-leading .365 batting average in 2023 across limited at-bats as a true freshman, Galloway immediately unleashed his wrath on opposing pitchers to begin his 2024 season, tallying a 22-game hit streak spanning from the second game of the season to late March. While his production slid a bit as the season progressed, Galloway provided a jolt of energy into a USC lineup desperate for offensive production.
Sophomore outfielder Austin Overn’s 2024 season featured early trials and tribulations before he resurfaced into the five-tool, All-Pac-12 player that fans saw break out in 2023 as a newcomer. In addition to leading the Trojans with eight four-baggers, Overn stole 17 bases and hit five triples on the year.
Senior infielder Ryan Jackson hit .324 to lead USC’s qualified hitters, including seven knocks in postseason play. The former Nevada transfer built on his 2023 success, doubling his home run total and slugging at a much higher rate.
The Trojans’ pitching staff also saw immense growth as the season progressed. Initially, junior right-hander Caden Aoki, the Pac-12′s ERA leader in 2023, was USC’s only consistent starter. Yet he still experienced bumps in the road, including an early-March performance against Arizona where he gave up nine earned runs.
But when Aoki went down with an injury later that month, Stankiewicz needed to rely on his other hurlers to fill the void. Senior starter Tyler Stromsborg, who had trouble to begin the year, managed to register multiple quality starts, and the bullpen showcased some top-tier arms.
“[Stromsborg] kept getting better,” Stankiewicz said. “He kept doing his work, he believed in himself ... It could have been easy for Tyler to go, ‘Hey, it’s my senior year, let’s just get this thing over with.’ But he didn’t, he just refused to buy into that mentality and just got better.”
Junior righty Josh Blum notched 10 saves on the season with a sub-2.00 ERA in over 33 innings of work after moving into the closer role. Joined alongside juniors Fisher Johnson and Xavier Martinez, the Trojans’ relievers catalyzed the team’s late-season success and shut down opposing offenses.
Junior pitcher William Watson originally began the year in the bullpen, but made his mark down the stretch as a reliable starter, leading the team to victory in each of his final three appearances.
“[Watson] stepped up. Guys got hurt, the opportunity presented itself, and he grabbed it,” Stankiewicz said. “He was a huge part of our success down the stretch.”
When Aoki returned, he didn’t miss a step. In the Pac-12 Championship, he dealt over six innings of one-run ball and struck out eight Wildcats. While the team couldn’t hold on to the lead, his gem gave the Trojans the best shot at winning and advancing.
With a conference-leading four players named to the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team, USC left its mark on the league one final time. With a move to the Big Ten on the horizon, Stankiewicz and company will want to address certain facets of the team to compete with the likes of the nation’s premier squads.
“It’s exciting because now we get to kind of establish ourselves in another part of the country a bit more than we probably have done in the past,” Stankiewicz said. “It can’t be a transitional period, we’ve gotta go.”
While the 2024 season emulated some aspects of the 2023 campaign, the Trojans still managed to win at the right time and advance past pool play in the Pac-12 Tournament. While next season may have the same feel in terms of scattered home ballparks, USC will look to extend its historical prowess across the Midwest and enter the new conference with some pep in its step.
“We just kept pushing forward and just kept reminding the guys that our best baseball is in front of us, you’ve just got to stay the course,” Stankiewicz said. “Everybody wants to be playing their best baseball at the end — and we were.”
For the 12-time national champions, success in recent years has come at a premium. But with a determined head coach and glimpses of upside down the stretch, Trojan fans can feel optimistic about the direction of the program going forward with a lot to look forward to in future years.