Baseball to take on Loyola Marymount
The baseball team hosts Loyola Marymount on Tuesday night, hoping to kick its season into gear. The Trojans take on the Lions for the second time this season — a 2-run home run from senior Timmy Robinson led USC to a 4-3 victory on the road at Page Stadium the first time the two teams met in late February.
The Trojans’ record currently sits at 11-11, but they have won four out of their last six games and will try to push their record back over .500 with a win against LMU.
“Just let the momentum roll,” Robinson said. “Take it one game at a time, stay together as a team, and pick each other up.”
After an encouraging series win against Cal to open up this season’s Pac-12 play, USC beat CSU Fullerton and had a three-game winning streak heading into the team’s last series against UC Santa Barbara. The Trojans struggled, dropping the first two games in Santa Barbara, but they returned to Dedeaux Field to salvage a win in the series finale.
After giving up 15 runs in the first two games of the UCSB series, head coach Dan Hubbs challenged the Trojans’ pitching staff to perform to their potential.
“That’s what it comes down to: If we pitch better, we’re going to go on our run,” Hubbs said. “If we don’t pitch better, we’re going to be right around .500 and hope that we win enough.”
Hubbs focused on the need to keep pitches low in the zone and limiting walks.
“With the guys who are out there, there’s enough arm strength and talent,” Hubbs said. “They just have to stay within themselves and not overthrow.”
Hubbs also told his pitchers to trust in their ability and the hard work they have been putting in between games.
“I’m handing you the ball for a reason because I think you can get this done,” Hubbs said, “And it’s on them to go out and do it.”
Redshirt junior pitcher Joe Navilhon, who earned the win in Saturday’s game, agreed with his coach and said it was up to the pitching staff to pick the team up.
“I think if we pound the zone and really compete, we have a good shot at winning a lot more games,” Navilhon said. “If we play our game and give our team a chance to win on the mound, our hitters have shown that they can score runs for us.”
Indeed, the Trojan bats awoke from their slumber in the series finale. Robinson led with 2 home runs and five RBIs as USC tallied 14 hits en route to a 9-5 victory. Now tied with junior catcher Jeremy Martinez in home runs — overtaking sophomore Adalberto Carrillo — Robinson said the Trojans just needed to take the field with confidence.
“It doesn’t matter who we play. We have to play our game … and we have to keep fighting,” Robinson said.
USC faces off next against an LMU team just recovering from a six-game losing streak, all within the span of one week in March. The Lions rebounded to win four of their next six games, however, and will look to avenge their early season loss to the Trojans on Tuesday before traveling to San Diego for a three-game set.
First pitch between the Trojans and LMU is set for 6 p.m. at Dedeaux Field.