USC baseball has a rich history

I knew that 2015 was going to be a magical year for USC baseball once it was announced that former Trojan great Randy Johnson would be inducted into this year’s class of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

In early January, the “Big Unit” became the third USC player to be elected to receive the honor with a voting percentage of just over 97 percent, joining former Trojans pitcher Tom Seaver and current Philadelphia Phillies president Pat Gillick.

The five-time Cy Young award winner and former Daily Trojan staffer’s highly regarded distinction undoubtedly brings back memories of the program’s dominance over three decades under legendary head coach Rod Dedeaux.

Interestingly enough, the announcement of Johnson’s induction came just a day after the anniversary of Dedeaux’s passing in 2006.

If you look back at the timing of Johnson’s career at USC and connect the dots, it’s actually really fascinating to see all of the superstars that the program had produced in the Dedeaux’s final years as coach.

The 1983-1984 Trojans team not only featured the 6-foot-10 Johnson, but also performance-enhancing drug user and slugger Mark McGwire, who was later drafted that year 10th overall by the Oakland Athletics.

Another USC icon on that team was the 1985 Rose Bowl co-MVP and linebacker Jack del Rio. The newly hired coach of the Oakland Raiders actually caught Johnson’s pitches behind the place as a catcher in his days with the program.

Finally, former USC quarterback and 1988 Heisman Trophy    runner-up Rodney Peete also played third baseman for the Trojans. Peete was still on the team when Dedeaux announced his retirement in 1986, which marked the end of an era for the program after the “Houdini of Bovard” served for 45 seasons.

Dedeaux was the glue that held the USC baseball program together for so many years. Now, two decades later, manager Dan Hubbs, in his third year, is trying to put back together the pieces of a program that has an incredibly rich history and tradition of dominance.

Up until a couple days ago, the Trojans stood undefeated before dropping its first game of the season to UC Santa Barbara.

It’s too bad the No. 25 – ranked Trojans couldn’t pull this one-run game out, as they are in store for their toughest weekend yet at the Dodger Stadium, where the team will face a trio of the nation’s      top-ranked teams including No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 6 UCLA and No. 7 TCU.

Nonetheless, the stage will be set for USC this weekend and it will culminate in a game against its crosstown rivals at Dodgers Stadium on Sunday.

It’s also their golden opportunity to show the rest of Division I baseball that this Trojans team is for real and not another Dan Hubbs-coached group that has a strong start, but then slides off as the season goes on.

After starting out the year 12-0, the program is off to its best start since 1988, though we’ve seen this before from the Trojans.

In the 2013-2014 season, the team got off to a hot 7-0 start before going on to lose six of its next seven games and finish the season just five games over .500. Though this is not the ultimate goal of a program that has won more NCAA titles than any other school (12), it was a big step, as it was the first time they finished a season with more wins than losses since 2005. The year not only marked the last time the Trojans made it to the postseason, but also former skipper Mike Gillespie’s final season at the helm.

After narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament last season, this team is already well on its way to redeeming itself, though we might have said that about the 2013-2014 team that also got off to a triumphant start.

I think this year’s team is different, though, from those of the past. Yes, the Trojans have for the most part, pounded on what are dubbed as “Mickey-Mouse” teams, but that should not affect the team’s legitimacy.

They’ve already taken down a top-25 ranked team in Cal State Fullerton and their only loss came at the hands of the Gauchos, who are currently ranked the No. 24 team in the country.

We see college football and basketball programs fly out inferior teams every year just so they can start the season on a high note and gain some confidence early on. This tradition really isn’t much different in collegiate baseball.

By beating up on teams like Towson and Fordham, the team has created a sense of excitement around the program that will be necessary as it enters the more durable part of its schedule including Pac-12 play, which is always a grind.

Most importantly, USC has shown its ability to win close games largely due to some strong late-inning pitching and clutch hitting — the team already pulled out six out of its seven decisions that have been decided by two runs or less.

I’m already a believer in this year’s Trojans team, and if they can take two out of three in this weekend’s highly anticipated set against some of college baseball’s finest, it would justify my preconceived notions that USC can get back to the postseason.

Darian Nourian is a junior majoring in print and digital journalism. He is also the sports editor of the Daily Trojan. His column, “Persian Persuasion,” runs Thursdays.