No batting practice? No problem for USC baseball.
The Trojans put together a complete performance of impact hitting and high quality pitching to avoid the series sweep against Michigan State, winning 10-3 on Sunday.
The Trojans had 16 hits in their win on Sunday, and it might just be because of how late the team arrived at Irvine Great Park.
“The bus came in later, so we were a little bit confused,” USC sophomore second baseman Abbrie Covarrubias said. “The coaches said, ‘No batting practice,’ and it was good because it kept us off our feet.”
Sunday’s finale was a complete 180 from the past two games of this series. Michigan State shut USC out 5-0 Friday night behind seven innings from potential Big Ten Pitcher of the Year junior Joseph Dzierwa. The Spartans then run-ruled the Trojans in eight innings 15-5 on Saturday.
USC has only been run-ruled one other time this year, coming at the hands of the other Michigan team in Ann Arbor: there, the Wolverines won 11-0 in seven innings.
“We scored three out of the gate and then we went away offensively, we can’t do that,” USC head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. “We looked a little tentative at the plate, not as aggressive, and we’ve just been trying to get the guys to kind of change their mindset.”
The mindset of the Trojans’ lineup certainly did indeed change, and that showed in the first inning on Sunday. The first four USC hitters all recorded singles, with redshirt junior shortstop and three-hole hitter Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek dropping down a perfect bunt that hugged the third base line just enough for him to beat it out for a base hit.
Michigan State pitcher Nolan Higgins tried to throw out Martin-Grudzielanek at first, but his throw sailed to the fence, allowing sophomore center fielder Brayden Dowd to score the first run of the game for USC.
The Trojans’ cleanup hitter, sophomore first baseman Adrian Lopez, then hit a high chopper over the head of the Spartans’ junior third baseman Randy Seymour to drive in junior third baseman Ethan Hedges and make it 2-0 USC.
USC had no runs in the second inning, but struck again in the third in similar small-ball fashion. Hedges led off the inning with a surprise bunt down the third base line for a single that caught Seymour off guard.
Hedges then went on a hit-and-run scenario and Martin-Grudzielanek came through, lining one down the left field line for a double.
With runners on second and third, Lopez hit one hard deep into the hole at shortstop that freshman Dayton Murphy couldn’t make a throw on, and USC went up 3-0.
Sophomore left fielder Andrew Lamb dropped down a bunt, Higgins overthrew first base again and Martin-Grudizelanek scored to give the Trojans a four run advantage.
An out later, Covarrubias drove in both Lopez and Lamb on a double deep into the right center field gap to make it a four run inning for USC and a 6-0 lead.
All of this offense made it easy for sophomore lefty Mason Edwards to settle in on the mound starting the game for USC. It was his second start since being sidelined for a month due to injury.
Edwards was only able to record one out last Sunday against UCLA after allowing three runs, but he seemed much more confident this time.
The first six batters in the Spartans’ lineup were set down in order, with the first three batters flying out and the next three striking out.
“Against UCLA, adrenaline, energy and expectations are high and I was just moving too fast,” Edwards said. “Last weekend I couldn’t land any offspeed, but this weekend it was working well with me and it let the fastball play.”
Stankiewicz said that Edwards has been working on developing his changeup with pitching coach Sean Allen recently and his arsenal looked amazing Sunday, as he allowed just one baserunner through three scoreless innings and recorded five strikeouts.
USC used five different arms after Edwards to hold down the lead. Meanwhile, the Trojans offense tacked on three more runs in the fifth thanks to a single and two home runs.
Junior right fielder Jack Basseer launched his seventh home run of the season to bring it to 7-0. Freshman catcher John Elliott then hit an RBI single past Murphy to add on more insurance before Dowd launched a two-run home run to right field for his ninth of the year to cap the lead at 10.
The Trojans looked for a run-rule win themselves heading into the seventh inning, but Michigan State stuck around by scoring two runs in the top of the inning and one in the eighth.
Sophomore Brodie Purcell shut the door on the Spartans’ offense to end the game, which was the final matchup for USC in its temporary home for the last two seasons in Irvine Great Park while construction on Dedeaux Field finishes up.
While Michigan State snapped USC’s streak of eight straight series wins, the Trojans did avoid their first series sweep since they lost their first ever Big Ten series to then-No. 10 Oregon.
USC will now turn its attention to the final conference series of the year where the team will travel to Washington to face the Huskies, who are two games behind the Trojans in the Big Ten standings.