Baseball falls to Virginia in regional final


The No. 15 Trojans fell 14-10 to No. 30 Virginia in 11 innings in the regional final early Monday morning. The Trojans’ NCAA tournament appearance was their first since 2005. In their four games at the Lake Elsinore Regional, the Trojans scored a total of 35 runs and had 34 runs scored against them. They finished the regional 2-2.

The team’s offensive power kept them competitive. As was evident in the 12-11 win over SDSU and second Virginia game, USC’s offense constantly challenged the other team to try and match the offensive production.

Standouts for the Trojans this past weekend were senior catcher Garrett Stubbs, sophomore first baseman Jeremy Martinez and redshirt sophomore shortstop Reggie Southall, who were all named to the All-Regional Team.

Stubbs was also named the Lake Elsinore Regional MVP. Not only did he demonstrate an outstanding performance behind the plate, but he also had a solid performance at the plate going 9-for-16 (.563) with three RBIs and four runs.

Catching all 36 innings of the regional, Stubbs was sliding and blocking behind the plate to back up his pitchers and keep them out-of-jams. When they began to feel uneasy and issue a walk, Stubbs kept calm and dialed in for the next batter.

Martinez went 7-for-19 with 10 RBIs. Martinez was most successful in Sunday’s game, driving in eight of USC’s 22 runs. His approach at the plate was focused and collected, and paid off when he hit the ball.

The Trojans opened up the Lake Elsinore Regional against No. 30 Virginia. Junior starter Kyle Davis had a no-hitter going through six innings, but it wasn’t enough to stop the No. 3 seed, who scored two runs off of Davis in the seventh. It was the longest no-hitter held by a Trojan since Rik Currier tossed one in a       five-inning, rain-shortened game vs. Mississippi State in 2000.

USC had a number of opportunities, but couldn’t seem to match the Cavaliers’ hitting as they lost 6-1.

On Saturday afternoon, the Trojans needed a win against   No. 13, top-seeded UC Santa Barbara, to stay alive. They found their overwhelming 12-3 win from junior starter Kyle Twomey.

Twomey tossed 7.1 innings, allowing three runs in seven hits, while walking three and striking out three.

The offensive attack started slowly in the top of the third with an RBI double from Stubbs. USC then scored once in the top of the fifth, twice in the top of the seventh and once in the top of the eighth. After eight full innings, USC led 5-3.

In the top of the ninth, the Trojans’ offense exploded and chalked up seven runs on the board. This would serve as a preview to the highly offensive day the Trojans would have on Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon, the Trojans faced fourth seed SDSU in another elimination game. It was a back-and-forth offensive game that would have any baseball fan on the edge of his or her seat. USC overcame an 11-7 deficit to win 12-11.

SDSU came out to a quick 3-0 lead, but by the sixth inning, the Trojans would claim a 7-3 lead. With their Rally Buckets on full display, the Aztecs jumped ahead 8-7 in the bottom of the sixth and then extended their lead to 11-7.

The Trojans one-upped SDSU and pulled out their Rally Chairs in the bullpen. USC scored five unanswered runs to go up 12-11 in the top of the ninth.

Every Trojan in the line-up recorded at least one hit, with Martinez going 2-for-6 with a team-high of four RBIs. His            two-out, two-RBI single in the ninth gave USC the go-ahead run.

With only about an hour of rest, the Trojans were right back on the field to face Virginia once again.  Through four innings of play, the game had already lasted about two hours. As the clock ticked on, it seemed as if the game was never going to end. Then when Sunday became Monday, the game went into extra innings.

This wasn’t the only extended regional game; the Rice vs. Houston game went a total of 20 innings and lasted six hours and two minutes, concluding just past 2 a.m. CDT, with Rice winning 3-2.

After about a 40-minute first inning, USC led 5-4. USC — with a little help from their Rally Chairs — took control of the game with a 9-6 lead through five innings, but Virginia wasn’t about to go away without a fight. The Cavaliers tied it up 9-9 in the eighth.

As the game dragged on, USC started to feel the effects of 10 hours of baseball. Virginia took full advantage of coming through the winner’s bracket and busted open the game in the top of the 11th by scoring five runs to make it 14-9.

In rhythm with the rest of their weekend, the Trojans mustered up enough power to get one run on the board in the bottom of the 11th to make it 14-10, proving that they wouldn’t go down without a fight, but it just wasn’t enough to battle both fatigue and the Cavaliers. Late in the game, Virginia capitalized on Trojan errors to tie and then win the game, ending USC’s season.

The Trojans finished the season with a 39-21 overall record and finished second in the Lake Elsinore region.