No. 1: Brayden Dowd smashes a two-run home run
Taking the gold this week is sophomore outfielder Brayden Dowd, who absolutely smashed a ball into the stands to get a two-run home run on Tuesday night. Dowd gave USC the lead over ASU with this hit, breaking the tie and making the score 4-2 at the top of the fifth. Regardless of the score, this play is just insane. To just crush the ball that hard, and help your team secure the victory in the process, it just has to be the best play from this week.
No. 2: JC Stevenson runs second-fastest NCAA men’s indoor 60m ever in the prelims
When you can run this fast, you have to be at least No. 2, and there junior JC Stevenson ends up. Stevenson ran a 6.46 60-meter dash at the NCAA men’s Indoor prelims, which is the best ever time in the NCAA qualifiers and second-fastest NCAA men’s indoor 60m ever. I mean there isn’t much more I can say but just what an outstanding display of speed by the junior. Regardless of it being in the qualifiers, Stevenson proved himself to be one of the fastest 60m runners ever.
No. 3: Adrian Lopez’s two RBI double
Cracking the top three this week is sophomore infielder Adrian Lopez, who smacked a ball into left field that resulted in a two RBI double for the Trojans and tied them up with the Michigan Wolverines in the top of the eighth. The Trojans hadn’t scored a single run the entire day and their chances of winning seemed to be dimming, but Lopez showed up when his team needed him most by giving them the 2-2 tie. Lopez’s hit proved absolutely crucial as it was not only late in the game, but gave USC the spark it needed to eventually win 4-3. Any other week, this is a top two play, but we were really spoiled with highlights from many Trojans this week.
No. 4: Trojans win their section in 4x400 Men’s Relay
Coming in at No. 4 this week is actually four different athletes, junior William Jones, junior Garrett Kaalund, sophomore Jacob Andrews and graduate Johnnie Blockburger. The quartet combined to secure first place with a time of three minutes and 4.76 seconds in the men’s 4x400-meter at the NCAA Men’s Indoor Championship. But for anyone watching it live, this was not any ordinary race. Athletes from Arkansas and Texas A&M collided, leaving Arkansas unable to finish the event. Luckily, Jones was able to avoid it and keep the Trojans pushing. The unexpected challenges continued when, on the final handoff, the last runners nearly missed their handoff. However, USC capitalized on it with Johnnie Blockburger taking over first place right after the handoff and leading the Trojans to victory. A pretty wild race, but USC still came out victorious.
No. 5: Garrett Kaalund wins his section in the 200m
Rounding out this week’s Trojan Top 5 is Kaalund, who ran a 20.56 in the 200-meter at the NCAA Men’s Indoor Championship. The race seemed pretty even between the three runners through the first 100 meters, but Kaalund turned on the jets to beat out the competition in the second half of the race. Kaalund had a good run, finishing first place in his section and beating out other schools such as Baylor and LSU, which gave USC the overall lead in points over Auburn and helped the Trojans secure their first men’s indoor or outdoor national title since 1976.
Logan’s Trojan Top 5 comes out every week.