Baseball prepares for UC Santa Barbara

At 10-9, the baseball team has turned the corner after winning its past three games against strong pitching opponents Cal and Cal State Fullerton.

But junior outfielder Corey Dempster and junior infielder David Edson, who have progressed nicely after being inserted into the Trojans’ lineup versus Cal, will certainly have to maintain the team’s recent ability to generate runs and wins against talented pitchers when they travel to UC Santa Barbara, which is 16-3 and 11-1 at home.

USC defeated UCSB in the Lake Elsinore NCAA Regional 12-3 last year but lost both its games against the Gauchos in the regular season by 1 run. Coincidentally, players and coaches are desperately hoping to buck this 1-run-game trend this season, having already lost seven of 13 games that were decided by 1 run.

Subsequently, in a sport that can oftentimes be decided by one swing of the bat, players are perhaps rightfully optimistic about their ability to stay in games against strong pitching opponents. Further, they believe that if their own starting pitching staff can continue to accumulate wins and combine with their recent surge in hitting production, they will change those 1-run losses to wins and build upon their current 2-1 conference record.

“The [starting] pitchers are keeping us in the game, for the most part, but we have not been winning that 4-3 game; we lose 5-4,” head coach Dan Hubbs said. “The fact that they are all 1-run games means that we need to maintain production from the offense and the pitchers need to win their battles.”

Hubbs hopes that this team’s recent win streak is the manifestation of significant lineup changes that he had to make in order to improve an offense that struggled to take advantage of scoring opportunities with runners on base and a starting pitching staff that had continuously failed to win their starts. Dempster and Edson were put into the hitting lineup, and sophomore pitcher Brad Wegman and redshirt junior pitcher Joe Navilhon made their first collegiate starts during Friday’s and Saturday’s Trojan victories against Cal.

After allowing 3 runs in the first inning on Friday, Wegman settled in and pitched five strong innings as the team answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the first and scored seven in the second to secure Wegman’s second victory of the season.

Navilhon followed that performance the following day by pitching four quality innings and allowing 2 runs. Hubbs was pleased with both pitchers, who succeeded in throwing strikes with four strikeouts each and minimized giving up free bases.

Hubbs has experimented with seven different starting pitchers already this season. Furthermore, freshman pitcher CJ Stubbs added to this current production from an influx of new talent when pitching six innings and only allowing 1 run in USC’s 3-2 win over Cal State Fullerton on Monday.

“I think we are doing a lot better at executing and getting contact,” Hubbs said. “When we have a guy in scoring position and when we are with a runner on third with less than two outs, over the past couple of weeks, we have been fantastic.”

Freshman first baseman Dillon Paulson believes that the recent contribution from freshman players comes from the help and bond they have received from the veterans on the team.

“I think that we are where we should have been at the start of the season,” Paulson said. “If we keep playing the way that we are playing now, there is no one that is able to beat us.”

The series against the Gauchos kicks off at 3 p.m. on Thursday at Santa Barbara. The teams play again at 3 p.m. on Friday, and the rubber match will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Dedeaux Field.