Extra Innings: USC baseball needs to clean up its mess before it’s too late

Tuesday afternoon, I witnessed the sloppiest inning of baseball ever.

Baseball is a game of failure. The winner of a matchup is decided by the team that can capitalize on those failures. And that’s how UC Santa Barbara beat USC on Tuesday.

In a 4-10 win, the game was decided in a half of one inning: The bottom of the fourth. The box score shows that UCSB plated 5 runs with one error. Though statistically correct, one error is far from the truth. There were four “errors” that weren’t illustrated by the E column on the scoreboard.

USC entered the bottom of the fourth inning leading 2-1. I was caught by surprise. The Gauchos are a solid, underrated baseball squad, and the Trojans playing them close, let alone leading, is an accomplishment. But my pleasant surprise didn’t last for long.

With one out, Santa Barbara played the equalizer from third on a ground ball to third that ate up senior Brandon Perez — error one.

A walk put runners on first and second, and a passed ball put both runners in scoring position — error two.

Then came the documented error — completely unacceptable. A routine ground ball, which would have been the second out, was squandered by freshman first baseman Emilio Rosas losing track of the base — bases loaded.

The ensuing at bat featured a deep fly ball to right field, which could have been the third out, but instead flew over the head of sophomore Jamal O’Guinn. It was a well-hit ball and wouldn’t have been on this list if O’Guinn’s first few steps were backwards. They weren’t. Losing several feet and seconds by taking his initial steps forward, he was beat — error three.

With USC trailing 2-4, head coach Dan Hubbs brought in freshman reliever Carson Lambert. That didn’t help, because pitching wasn’t the problem. At this point, if Perez, freshman catcher Tyler Lozano, Rosas and O’Guinn didn’t make those misplays the inning would be over and tied at 2. Sophomore starter John Beller was doing his job; his fielders let him down.

Lambert’s first batter drove in 2 runs with a double to center field, extending UCSB’s lead to 6-2.

The final “error” of the inning came on the next at bat. A sacrifice bunt, which didn’t yield a run, was turned into a base hit because Lambert picked up the ball with his glove — error four. You can’t do that. If you pick up a bunt with your glove, the runner is safe. That is one of the most elementary skills drilled into pitchers and catchers during pitcher-catcher practice.

The Trojans left the inning with a key double play that halted the tailspin they were in, but that put a band-aid on a bullet wound.

Big innings like this lose baseball games. Errors and misplays will happen; it’s baseball. The best teams find ways to mitigate errors from developing into innings like this. The score often becomes irreparable and the team morale takes a massive hit.

The talent and ability of this team is more than solid, but it lacks serious discipline. Someone needs to take action, step up and regroup USC. It doesn’t matter if it’s the coaching staff or a player; someone needs to say, “That’s behind us, move forward and let’s get out of this.” That would be the motto for innings like these and the season as a whole.

Looking down the stretch for USC, it is playing some tough competition. This weekend the Trojans face No. 7 Arizona State and will round out the season with No. 2 Stanford and No. 6 Oregon State.

What do all of these teams have in common? They will all annihilate USC if the Trojans continue to play this sloppy. Winning teams take advantage of messy teams.

Right now, USC baseball is a hot mess.

Sam Arslanian is a sophomore writing about sports. His column, “Extra Innings,” runs Fridays.