Trojans stay undefeated with a series sweep of Oakland

The Trojans came roaring back on Saturday after a tough win Friday night to topple the Oakland Golden Grizzlies 11-1 in game two of the weekend series, propelling them to first place — the last undefeated team in the Pac-12.

Led at the plate by junior AJ Ramirez and on the mound by junior Kyle Twomey, USC completely dominated Oakland, scoring 11 runs on 16 hits. Twomey earned his second win of the season, throwing seven complete innings while only giving up four hits and allowing one run, one walk and six strikeouts.

USC started with offensive success, with junior Timmy Robinson delivering a sacrifice fly out to score a run in the bottom of the first. The Golden Grizzlies got on board in the top of the third after a leadoff double by sophomore Tyler Pagano and a one-out single by freshman Matt DiLeo.

The Trojans then ran away with the game, putting up nine unanswered runs to confirm the win, tallying two in the fourth, two in the fifth, one in the sixth and four in the seventh. Five Trojans had multi hit games, junior Blake Lacey, junior AJ Ramirez, sophomore Jeremy Martinez,  Robinson and redshirt sophomore Reggie Southall.

Head coach Dan Hubbs is particularly complimentary of Twomey, who has gracefully stepped up as a key starter among the Trojans’ staff.

“Kyle threw pretty well his first performance, but I thought he had better command at his fast ball today against an aggressive team and was able to get some quick outs with his fast ball and able to move the ball in and out,” Hubbs said. “Because of that, I think he was able to utilize the challenge and cause some ground balls.  You could tell by the swings [Oakland] was taking, the fowl balls going to the right side and the fact that they were frozen inside a lot on two strikes, [Kyle] can really be a force.”

Twomey attributes his success on Saturday night to settling into the season and solid mental preparation before the game.

“I think in the bullpen this week I made sure I was spotting up because I was really excited this week,” Twomey said. “I was probably a little over-amped up last week, which is why I had a little more trouble with command, but I was much more comfortable going into Friday’s game so I was able to hit my spots more and throw the ball in.”

The Trojans’ defensive showing on Saturday represented an immense improvement compared to Friday night’s game. Though USC still managed to secure the win after coming back from a four-run deficit, the Trojans struggled defensively, committing five errors in a five-run fourth inning lead by junior starter Brent Wheatley, who wasn’t on his A-game that night. Sophomore Bernardo Flores managed to do damage control, entering in the fifth inning and throwing 3.2 innings of one-hit baseball; he came up with a career-high seven strikeouts and zero walks.

USC gradually snuck up on Oakland after being down 6-2, tacking on two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, one in the fifth and three in the sixth, putting the Trojans in the lead to win the game 8-6.

To bounce back from Friday’s rocky start, Hubbs conferenced with the team about staying focused and always coming out ready to play.

“We talked a lot about needing to be more focused and more prepared,” Hubbs said. “You can’t come in and win the game just because you’re you; you have to play well. We talked about getting our rest Friday night and coming back intense and focused and being prepared to make the plays and get the big hits, so I think the kids came more prepared Saturday than Friday. I think the kids really answered the bell well and played a really good game.”

Twomey also felt the Trojans had a fierce return on Saturday.

“You’re not going to play well all the time, but we did eventually manage to find a way to compete all nine innings [on Friday] so that’s huge,” Twomey said. “Tonight, I knew I needed to pitch efficiently and keep the tempo up and I knew these guys would play well behind me, and they did on defense and with the outs. I think that was a great response from the way we played [Friday] and going into Sunday’s game.”

Looking ahead, the Trojans will travel to Fresno State to challenge the Bulldogs this Tuesday. The Bulldogs are currently .500 for the season, with a 3-1 record at home.

To keep up the Trojans’ hot streak, Twomey feels the team must concentrate on executing and playing smart.

“I really hope we can keep this good thing we have here going and to do that we need to play fundamental baseball,” Twomey said. “If the defense continues to play good defense and the offense continues to move guys over and get them in, then I think we will be just fine. We have good starting pitching, and we have good guys in the bullpen and guys who can close the game. We’re going to try and continue this momentum into Tuesday and the rest of the week.”