No. 20 USC (15-0, 3-0 Big Ten) took down Illinois (7-7, 0-3) 5-3 on Sunday afternoon at Dedeaux Field, completing a sweep in their first conference series of the year. With the victory over the Fighting Illini, the Trojans matched their best start in program history, coming even with the 1988 squad.
“We’re a group of guys that are really close to each other, and we all know that we’re playing really good baseball,” said junior first baseman Adrian Lopez. “We’re not trying to do anything special.”
Five different USC pitchers carried the squad across the finish line, with freshman right-hander Diego Velazquez earning his first victory of the 2026 campaign. The Fighting Illini got out to an early lead against Trojan right-hander Andrew Johnson, who allowed three hits and a pair of runs in the opening frame of the contest.
Junior second baseman Michael Farina ripped an RBI double as the second hitter of the game before freshman first baseman AJ Putty singled to left and drove him in just two at-bats later. Johnson managed to settle down throughout the remainder of his two-and-two-thirds innings of work, allowing just two more hits and collecting four strikeouts, bringing the right-hander’s total on the day to five.
Out of the bullpen, Velazquez worked one-and-two-thirds scoreless innings behind Johnson. His biggest moment of the afternoon came against the first batter he faced, escaping a bases-loaded jam by getting Farina to fly out to center field.
Junior right-handers Sax Matsen, Garren Rizzo and Adam Troy combined to work the last three-and-two-thirds innings, striking out four and allowing just two hits. Illinois scored just once after the first inning, scraping across an unearned run in the eighth.
For Matsen, it was his second consecutive day on the mound, completing the series with three-and-two-thirds innings of shutout baseball. Lopez had high praise for the southpaw, who now holds a 1.42 ERA on the season across 12.2 frames.
“He’s been nails,” said Lopez. “He’s just coming in there and doing his job…not trying to do too much, which is good. It’s been really good playing behind him.”
Despite trailing for the first time in the series on Sunday, the USC lineup remained confident in themselves.
Senior right fielder Jack Basseer woke the bats up emphatically with a long home run to left field in the second, his team-leading fourth bomb.
USC took back the lead in the bottom of the fourth after junior infielder Dean Carpentier sent a two-run single up the middle to make it 3-2. The lead was extended again an inning later on an RBI groundout to shortstop via Basseer.
The right fielder scored twice and increased his team-leading OPS to 1.833. He is also hitting .353, the third-best mark on the team.
Sophomore third baseman Maximo Martinez brought home the fifth and final run of the day for the Trojans in the sixth, singling through the right side of the infield off of left-handed senior Reed Gannon to score Carpentier.
“We knew, coming out here on a Sunday, that [Illinois was] going to salvage any type of way they can,” said Lopez. “We expected them to come out swinging. The offense got off to a slow start…but Jack Basseer came up huge.”
With a chance to make history and secure the first ever 16-0 start in USC baseball history, the Trojans will host Long Beach State on Tuesday evening. The Dirtbags are 4-10 so far this year, currently 0-2 in conference play.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. PT.