With five weeks left in the regular season, it’s crunch time for USC baseball.
At this point in the 2024 season, USC was 17-13. The team still had an outside shot at the NCAA tournament but stumbled down the stretch, finishing 14-15 to end the season. Fast forward to 2025, and the Trojans are sitting at 23-12.
As USC took two of three from Penn State over the weekend in a crucial Big Ten matchup for both teams, who entered the weekend holding near identical records, it’s the perfect moment to step back and evaluate where this program stands. This coming weekend serves as a litmus test for the Trojans, and the next few weeks will decide the fate of this 2025 squad.
So far, it’s fair to say USC has exceeded expectations. Maybe those expectations were too low to begin with, but for a program that hasn’t qualified for the NCAA tournament since 2015, it was incumbent on third year head coach Andy Stankiewicz to steer the team back toward familiar territory.
Here’s where I stand: USC baseball is on track to become a dominant force again, and this season is just the beginning. The program hasn’t been receiving the respect it deserves, but joining the Big Ten is precisely the fresh start USC needed. Facing opponents with passionate fan bases like Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State will reignite national interest in Trojan baseball.
The truth is, USC lost its footing in the Pac-12 over the past two decades. While UCLA, Stanford, Oregon State and Arizona rose to prominence after 2000, USC fell behind. USC has been overshadowed not just by other schools in the state, but by the culture of California itself. Los Angeles is a win-or-be-forgotten city. With the program falling out of contention and surrounded by constant distractions, USC baseball had to return to its roots: toughness, discipline and a proud legacy.
The move to the Big Ten offered the program a chance to redefine itself, compete against fresh talent and reconnect with a once-proud but now diminished fan base. The Big Ten’s substantial media partnerships give USC baseball more national exposure than the Pac-12 networks ever could. Regular competition across the Midwest and East Coast introduces the program to new audiences and new recruits.
Younger USC baseball fans might not realize their team is the most decorated program in NCAA history with 12 national championships. The Trojans won six titles in the 1970s, three in the ’60s and one each in the ’40s and ’50s. Their most recent win came in 1998, when longtime head coach Mike Gillespie led them to the title, the team’s first post-Rod Dedeaux championship. Since Gillespie ended his 20-year tenure in 2006, USC has cycled through five head coaches.
The last title came in the previous century, prompting an all-too-familiar question: when will USC return to its glory days?
Stankiewicz has made his mission clear: bring USC baseball back. When he took over in 2023, the Trojans hadn’t posted a winning record since 2016, excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. In his first year, he guided the team to a 34–23–1 finish. After a sophomore slump in 2024 (31–28), his third campaign has the Trojans sitting at 21–11 in their first season in the Big Ten.
If the season ended today, USC would be a fringe NCAA tournament team.
Stankiewicz deserves tremendous credit for how far the team has come. He’s helped develop sophomore outfielder Brayden Dowd into a legitimate star, boasting a .462 on-base percentage. And by now, everyone knows junior infielder Ethan Hedges, who entered this past weekend batting .415 — good for 33rd in the country—and is now at a robust .390.
The Trojans also have a few statement wins this year: an upset over No. 19 Vanderbilt, a series win against Michigan and a victory over Arizona State. Stankiewicz’s words from after that Vanderbilt win on March 1 still ring true:
“We’ve got a long way to go,” he said. “I don’t really spend much time on the doubters. I don’t think any of us do.”
Pitching remains a concern, but USC has discovered unexpected standouts like sophomore righty Brodie Purcell, owner of a 1.14 ERA, and junior ace Caden Hunter, who’s 6–1 with a 3.65 ERA on the season.
The team plays with a blue-collar, rough-and-tough mentality. You wouldn’t expect that from a squad based in Southern California, made up mostly of SoCal kids, but they play with the grit and grind of a Midwest team. It’s fitting for a program now playing most of its games in Big Ten country.
USC baseball is no longer just chasing its past — it’s building a new era, and its Big Ten debut is the spark that could launch the Trojans back into national relevance.
All this points to one thing: USC baseball is making a comeback. I’m not saying they’ll make a full return this year, but hey, the Trojans ‘have proven people like me wrong before, and they seem to enjoy doing exactly that. Keep your eyes on SoCal — and I’m talking about more than just the weather.