Baseball wins series over Seton Hall, prepares for UCI

The USC men’s baseball team won its second series of the season, winning two out of three games against Seton Hall. The Trojans are now 7-3 to start the year, scoring at least 10 runs in four of those wins.

Coming into the series against the Trojans, the Pirates were 3-3 and on a two-game losing streak, but they snapped their short skid with a 6-3 win against USC Friday. The game got off to an ugly start for USC in the first inning when Seton Hall scored 4 runs off junior pitcher Kyle Hurt. The Pirates got all 4 of their runs on just three singles, capitalizing on two walks and a hit by pitch.

A positive for the Trojans was sophomore first baseman Clay Owens’ second home run of the year in the sixth inning, a solo shot. Junior lefty Isaac Esqueda had a clean relief appearance, giving up only 1 run in 4.2 innings pitched.

USC would recover from its loss the next day with its first shutout of the year in a 3-0 win. Junior lefty John Beller had one of the best performances of his career with seven shutout innings, finishing with six strikeouts and lowering his season ERA to 1.13.

“We kinda just came into today with a gameplan of keeping the ball down, throwing strikes and letting our defense work, and that was kind of what we wanted to happen,” Beller said. “There were some amazing plays out there … that just helps me get the confidence right back.”

The Trojans finished with 3 runs on seven hits, two of which came from junior shortstop Ben Ramirez, who tallied two doubles and also scored a run.

On Sunday, USC had its third-largest win of the season in a 10-1 blowout. The Trojans scored in every inning but the third, fifth and eighth, finishing with 10 runs on 14 hits with no errors.

“Everything worked well,” head coach Jason Gill said. “It starts on the mound, right, when you can throw strikes and put up a lot of zeros … that gives your offense a little bit of confidence going out there every inning and not feeling like they have to play catch up.”

The Trojans put up 3-run innings in the second and sixth frames. Redshirt sophomore lefty Alex Cornwell had a solid performance with six innings pitched, surrendering only 1 earned run.

“[Cornwell was] getting ahead of hitters, [and] he’s still learning as well,” Gill said. “When he gets to finishing hitters off he’s going to be pretty dangerous.”

Freshman center fielder Rhylan Thomas picked up two knocks — including a triple — and one RBI. Junior third baseman Casey Dana led the Pirates in hits with two, including a home run, but it wasn’t near enough for Seton Hall. 

The Trojans have scored 76 runs in 10 games while giving up only 31. Gill hopes to continue USC’s momentum as the Trojans prepare to play their first Pac-12 opponent in less than two weeks.

USC will continue its 11-game homestand against UC Irvine Tuesday. The Anteaters are 5-6 on the season coming off a series loss at Washington. So far this season, junior outfielder Jake Palmer has been hitting over .400 for UCI with 8 RBIs. 

Gill had high praise for the Anteaters and knows it’ll be a tough test for his team.

“Obviously a very talented team, we had a chance to match up with them in the fall,” Gill said. “They took it to us a little bit, so I’ll be interested to see how our guys come out on Tuesday.”

The Trojans will play UC Irvine at Dedeaux Field Tuesday at 6 p.m.