Trojans win 16-inning game at Washington to tie series

After battling 16 innings in what was the longest recorded game in the history of USC baseball,  the Trojans (21-6) managed to defeat the Washington Huskies 3-2 after a scoreless game through the 16th inning, tying the series at 1-1.

USC earned this impressive win at Huskie Stadium after suffering a disappointing loss the night before, falling 5-1 as the Trojans failed to find their offense.

During Friday’s game, the Trojans were held to just one run for the first time all year. The Trojans got on board in the third inning as junior AJ Ramirez led off the inning with a double to right field. Redshirt sophomore Reggie Southall offered a sacrifice bunt, and then Ramirez came home on an RBI single from redshirt sophomore Bobby Stahel.

After gaining an early 1-0 lead in the top of the third, the Trojans allowed the five subsequent Husky runs to go unanswered. The Huskies came away with the game during the bottom of the sixth when shortstop Chris Baker smacked a first-pitch homerun out to left field, bringing in three runs and putting the Huskies in the 5-1 lead.

Trojan reliever junior Brooks Kriske entered to relieve starter junior Brent Wheatley (2-1) with one out and a runner on third and was able to make two outs without any further damage.

On Saturday, the Trojans once again struggled to get hot behind the plate before rallying in the top of the 16th inning, highlighted by a key single from sophomore Corey Dempster that gave the Trojans the 1-0 lead. Junior Timmy Robinson then followed with a two RBI single that put USC in a 3-0 lead. These three runs were essential, given the Huskies threatened a comeback in the bottom of the inning with a   two-run homer from infielder Brandon Bishop to pull within one.

Despite the Trojans’ inability to score runs through the majority of the game, head coach Dan Hubbs believes today’s win displays the tenacity and resilience of his team.

“Coming out with [Saturday’s] win really shows the resolve of this team,” Hubbs said. “We had a tough loss [Friday] and we had to scrape and claw to get the win. We didn’t have the best offensive game, we hit some balls that didn’t fall and it would’ve been really easy to get frustrated. It shows a lot of mental toughness to fight through offensive problems.”

The Trojan defense, which has seen some problems so far this season, really stepped up during Saturday’s match to hold the Huskies to zero runs through 16 innings. Junior starter Kyle Twomey went seven complete innings, striking out four and stranding multiple Husky runners to keep them off the board.

Hubbs echoes the fact that his defense managed to compensate for a less than impressive offensive showing.

“So far this season our defense has been able to slide a little bit because we’ve been able to put a good number of runs of the board, but that wasn’t the case on [Saturday] and it says a lot that our guys were able to respond to the challenge,” Hubbs said. “Blake Lacey made two really huge defensive plays that basically saved the game. The game says a lot of what we’re capable of defensively.”

Junior Tyler Gilbert threw two scoreless innings for the Trojans before giving way to junior Marc Hubberman, who threw the first one, two, three inning of the game in the 12th for the Trojans and threw a career-high 6.2 innings with five strikeouts.

Given the Trojans’ trouble with the bullpen coming through and preventing runs so far this season, both Friday and Saturday’s games reflect improvement and resolve.

“Between Gilbert and Hubberman, there was basically a complete game threw by the relievers,” Hubbs said. “For the rest of the season, I think we’re really going to need more of what we saw this weekend. We just need to keep improving in the pen and continue to do a good job like we have this weekend.”

Hubbs believes that to carry on the Trojans’ success in the weeks ahead, the team needs to continue to push themselves on offense.

“We need to do a better job of getting pitches to hit and executing,” Hubbs said. “Conditions were tough this past week with a ton of wind and the guys were trying to do much with the ball and were then unable to get on base. If we can do a better job of being able to fight through difficult conditions, we’ll be able to keep securing wins.”

The Trojans return to Dedeaux Field on Tuesday to host the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at 6 p.m.