USC baseball traveled to Minneapolis looking to do something it had not done in over 20 years.
The Trojans achieved the milestone in impressive fashion, sweeping Minnesota (20-21) and winning their seventh consecutive series in a row for the first time since 2001. The Trojans also extended their win streak to six straight games, matching a season-high.
“Just a good group — they’re playing hard [and] they’re staying together,” head coach Andy Stankiewicz said in an interview with USC Athletics via X, formerly known as Twitter.
It was USC’s third sweep of the season, the first time the Trojans have sweeps in three three-game sets since 2023, Stankiewicz’s first year as the coach.
On Friday, the Trojans’ offense exploded for 16 runs behind 17 hits to defeat the Golden Gophers 16-6. The Golden Gophers struck first, scoring three in the bottom of the first and two in the bottom of the second to take a 5-1 lead.
With the Trojans down four runs in the third, sophomore catcher Richard Tejeda and sophomore infielder Adrian Lopez launched two-run home runs to tie the game. Minnesota redshirt senior outfielder Josh Fitzgerald would respond with a solo home run of his own in the bottom of the third, but that was all the run support the Golden Gophers would get for the rest of the game. The Trojans continued to pour it on the Golden Gophers and scored 11 unanswered runs, with Lopez picking up three more RBI. USC freshman and right-handed pitcher Andrew Johnson took over in the bottom of the third and threw six scoreless innings to close out the game.
Saturday was a complete opposite from Friday night, with USC senior right-handed pitcher Caden Aoki tossing a complete-game two-hitter, helping the Trojans secure a 6-1 victory.
It was a pitcher’s duel from the beginning until redshirt junior infielder Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek broke the game open with a grand slam in the top of the fifth, putting the Trojans up 4-0 with his eighth homer of the season. Junior outfielder Jack Basseer ripped an RBI double down the third-base line in the sixth and then Martin-Grudzielanek added an RBI single in the seventh to finish the scoring for USC.
Aoki had a no-hitter going into the bottom of the eighth and surrendered his only run of the night in the ninth. Aoki ended the night with nine strikeouts and only gave up two hits in his two-hit complete game, USC’s first two-hit complete game since 2015.
“I don’t know what my pitch count was, but if [assistant coach Sean Allen] tried to come over and tell me I wasn’t going to finish it, I [would have given] him a little bit of a fight,” Aoki said.
The Trojans completed the series sweep on Sunday with a dramatic ninth-inning comeback to beat the Golden Gophers 3-2.
After trailing Minnesota 2-1 all game, USC managed to get clutch hits from Lopez and sophomore catcher Andrew Lamb in the top of the ninth. Graduate outfielder Kade Higgins then knocked in Lamb to tie the game at 2-2. The rally continued as sophomore outfielder Brayden Dowd beat out an infield single and junior infielder Ethan Hedges knocked in the go-ahead run.
“Sometimes, you’re on barrels pretty good [and] sometimes you’re not. You just got to figure out a way to keep fighting through it when you’re not,” Stankiewicz said. “The boys did a nice job of that [Sunday].”
The Trojans’ overall record improved to 29-14 and 14-7 in Big Ten play. Currently, USC is ranked fourth in the Big Ten behind Iowa, UCLA and Oregon.
USC returns to sunny Southern California for the next two weeks where it will take on CSUN on Tuesday at 6 P.M. and host UCLA for a three-game series next weekend at Great Park.
“The grind doesn’t stop, but that’s the fun part about the game,” Stankiewicz said.