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USC Baseball Hosts Sacramento State, Santa Clara

by usctrojans.com
Apr 18, 2024

THIS WEEK: The USC baseball team hosts a pair of nonconference opponents at Great Park in Irvine this weekend. Sacramento State comes in for matchups on Friday and Sunday, and the Trojans host Santa Clara on Saturday before travelling to Cal State Fullerton for a midweek contest on Tuesday.
 
GAME SCHEDULE:
Friday - USC vs. Sacramento State (Irvine, Calif.), April 19, 6:30 pm (USC Live Stream)
Saturday - USC vs. Santa Clara (Irvine, Calif.), April 20, 2:00 pm (USC Live Stream)
Sunday - USC vs. Sacramento State (Irvine, Calif.), April 21, 1:00 pm (USC Live Stream)
Tuesday - USC at Cal State Fullerton (Fullerton, Calif.), April 23, 6:00 pm (ESPN+)
 
SCHEDULE UPDATE: Starting against Washington, USC has moved its Saturday home games to 2 p.m. (excluding the regular-season finale against Utah, which remains at 1 p.m.). USC has home series remaining against Sacramento State/Santa Clara (April 19-21), Cal (May 3-5) and Utah (May 16-18). All four series will be at Great Park in Irvine.
 
BROADCAST INFO: All three weekend matchups against Sacramento State and Santa Clara will be broadcast on the USC Live Stream, and Tuesday's contest at Cal State Fullerton can be found on ESPN+. Links to the broadcasts are available on the baseball schedule page at USCTrojans.com.
 
FOLLOW: Fans can also follow the action through live stats on USCTrojans.com. Live, in-game updates will be available for all games from @USC_Baseball on X as well.
 
GET SOCIAL: Follow USC Baseball on social media to get updates on everything going on with the team this season. The Trojans can be found at @USC_Baseball on X, @sctrojans_baseball on Instagram and USC Trojans Baseball on Facebook.
 
SERIES VS SACRAMENTO STATE: The Trojans and Hornets have met just once in the two programs' histories. USC claimed the lone meeting last season, outlasting the Hornets 8-7 in a March 3 contest at Dedeaux Field.
 
SERIES VS SANTA CLARA: USC is 4-1 all-time vs. Santa Clara. The two schools last met for a three-game series in February 2022, with the Trojans winning two out of three to win the series at Dedeaux Field.
 
SERIES VS CAL STATE FULLERTON: The Trojans own a 19-23 all-time record vs. the Titans. USC won the previous meeting this season, a 6-5 victory at Cal State Fullerton. Over the last 14 meetings dating back to 2017, the two schools are an even 7-7 with no side winning more than two games in a row over that stretch.
 
TOP-20 DOUBLE: USC picked up a pair of top-20 victories over the UC Irvine over the last two weeks. The Trojans scored 24 combined runs in the two contests, taking down the then No. 12 Anteaters 12-5 on Apr. 9 before repeating the feat with a 12-4 victory at No. 17 UC Irvine on Wednesday night. Wednesday's win improved the Trojans to 5-5 on the season against ranked opposition and winners of five of their last seven against top-25 teams.
 
WEEKEND VS OREGON: USC dropped two-of-three at No. 18 Oregon last weekend, falling in the first two games before taking the series finale. In the finale, a 4-2 win, Austin Overn hit a homer, robbed a homer in center and accounted for three of the four runs USC scored. The USC pitching staff gave up two runs in the second inning and then held the Ducks scoreless the rest of the way. William Watson got the win with 5.0 IP, Jared Feikes tossed 2.0 scoreless, Xavier Martinez tossed a scoreless eighth and Josh Blum got the save with a scoreless ninth.
 
SERIES VS WASHINGTON: USC swept its series against Washington, beating the Huskies for the first time in two years. The three wins give USC wins in 6 of their last 7, 12 of their last 16 and series wins in 3 of their last 4 weeks. Since starting the season 3-11, USC is 12-4.
 
UCSD SHUTOUT: The Trojans posted their first shutout of the season on Wednesday against UC San Diego, holding the Tritons to just two hits in a 5-0 win at LMU. Tyler Stromsborg tossed 6.0 innings in the start, facing just two batters over the minimum, Michael Ebner tossed 2.0 hitless and scoreless relief innings and Josh Blum struck out three batters to close things out in the ninth. Kevin Takeuchi led the way offensively with three hits and three RBI in the game.
 
SERIES VS OSU: USC won both of its games against then-No. 2 Oregon State this past week, with the finale getting rained out on Saturday. The Trojans won the opener in dramatic fashion, picking up a 2-1 win thanks to a walk-off single from Brayden Dowd in the bottom of the ninth inning. Caden Aoki tossed 6.0 brilliant innings in the start as the USC pitching staff held the Beavers to one run on four hits. It was the first time Oregon State had been held to one or fewer runs since April of 2023.
 
The second game of the series was a blowout for the Trojans, with USC winning 17-4. The Trojans broke the game open with 10 runs in the fifth inning and the USC pitching staff again held the Beavers in check with four runs on six hits. It was the most runs Oregon State had given up since 2022 and the 13-run margin was the largest defeat for the Beavers since 2012. The two victories marked the first series win over Oregon State for USC since 2019. It also marked the second straight year that the Trojans have picked up a series win over a Top 2 opponent, with USC taking two-of-three from No. 2 Stanford last year.
 
PLAYER/TEAM NOTES:

  • The Trojans come into play this weekend having won 10 of their last 14 and 13 of their last 19. Since starting the season 3-11, the Trojans have gone 15-8.
  • USC is 10-7 in Pac-12 play and a just 1.5 games out of first place.
  • The Austin Overn triple machine keeps rolling as he has five triples this season, good for the most in the Pac-12 and fifth most in the country. Overn set USC's single season triples as a freshman last year with 14, and is now just one away from tying the program's career record at 20.
  • Overn also has 41 runs scored on the season, good for 2nd in the Pac-12. His 12 stolen bases are 3rd most in the Pac-12.
  • Jacob Galloway has been leading the Trojans at the plate all season, hitting .331 on the year with a team-high 29 RBI. Galloway also leads the team with a .969 OPS. He owns 9 Multi-hit games, 7 multi-RBI games and had a 22 game hitting streak earlier this year, all good for team highs. Galloway has reached base in 36 of 37 games so far this season.
  • Since being inserted into the starting lineup at Stanford, Brayden Dowd has been on a tear at the plate. He now owns USC's second-best batting average hitting .300, and in 23 games he has 8 RBI and 13 runs scored. Dowd was the hero in the opener against Oregon State, hitting a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth.
  • Caden Aoki has now put together three straight stellar starts following the worst start of his career four weeks ago against Arizona (2.2 IP, 9 ER). He had his best start of the season in a 5-2 win at Stanford, tossing 6.0 innings and giving up just one run on four hits and then matched that performance last week against Oregon State. After giving up a run in the second inning, Aoki allowed only one runner past first base the rest of his outing. He followed that up with 6.0 IP, 5H, ER, 2BB, 4K against UCLA. Aoki was through six scoreless innings before giving up a solo-homer in the seventh against Oregon State. He also had a career-high 8 strikeouts against the Beavers. Over his last three starts, Aoki has lowered his ERA by over 2 full runs.
  • Xavier Martinez leads USC with 19 pitching appearances this year, good for 2nd in the Pac-12 and 23rd in the country.
  • Trojan closer Josh Blum has struck out 28 batters in just 17.1 innings pitched this year, holding opponents to a .153 batting average. He has struck out 41% of the batters he has faced (28-of-68), and his 4 saves are good for fifth in the Pac-12.
  • USC is 5th in the Pac-12 with 34 stolen bases this year.
  • USC owns a .975 fielding percentage, 2nd best in the Pac-12.

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