It felt like the calm before the storm Sunday afternoon, just not the one baseball fans were expecting. The No. 12 USC Trojans dominated the Iowa Hawkeyes 8-2 to complete the sweep, powered by a flurry of early home runs. The sweep came on the heels of a four-game losing streak.
“It was a great bounce back weekend,” said head coach Andy Stankiewicz.
After giving up a leadoff home run to Iowa’s senior shortstop Kooper Schulte, sophomore right-hander Andrew Johnson took control of the game.
This was the second game in a row where Iowa had the early lead, but Johnson was not rattled.
“I think I’ve given up three leadoff homers this year, but it puts me in a place where I’m ready to compete,” he said.
Johnson held Iowa scoreless for the rest of his outing, finishing with five strikeouts, four hits, one run and one walk over six innings.
USC’s lineup started hot on the chilly day. Iowa’s graduate right-hander Logan Runde gave up back-to-back walks to start his outing, setting up sophomore designated hitter Augie Lopez for a three-run home run. Giving Runde no room to breathe, junior catcher Isaac Cadena added a two-run shot to cap a five-run inning, giving the Trojans a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Stankiewicz was not concerned after Iowa’s early run. “They scored a run and we came back with five,” he said. “They were obviously excited with their start, and for us to come back in the bottom half of that inning and drop five that kinda enabled [Johnson] to settle in.”
The Trojans added on in the second when sophomore shortstop Maddox Riske hit his first home run of the season. Later in the inning, junior center fielder Kevin Takeuchi drove in junior first baseman Adrian Lopez with a single to extend the lead.
After the second inning, both offenses slowed down, failing to bring runners home.
Takeuchi had quite the game, both defensively and offensively. He made great catches in center field, stopping the Hawkeyes from scoring or getting hits. In the sixth, he reignited the offense with an RBI single, bringing home junior second baseman Abbrie Covarrubias, extending the score to 8-1. Takeuchi finished the day 2 for 4 with two RBIs.
As the season is entering its final stretch, the Trojans hope to maintain momentum. “What we’ve done well is play good defense, and we have to continue with that,” said Stankiewicz. “We have to be better at stringing good at-bats together.”
The Trojans hit the road next for four games, first in Long Beach today and three in Nebraska April 17-19.