Baseball hosts three-game series against Pac-12’s best
The baseball team hopes to carry the momentum from Tuesday night’s 6-5 walk-off victory against Pepperdine into a critical three-game series against Utah.
Despite having a 10-15 overall record, the Utes are 7-2 in Pac-12, playing good enough to sit atop the conference standings along with Cal.
The Trojans improved to a 13-14 overall record in the tenth inning Tuesday after a walk-off single from senior centerfielder Timmy Robinson scoring redshirt sophomore Frankie Rios. The midweek game was a change of pace after the Trojans dropped two of three to Stanford the weekend prior.
Robinson, who was named a Pac-12 Player of the Week last week, credits both his and his teammates’ improved offensive production to the team playing more like a collective unit, and the batters’ primary focus is simply on making contact and getting on base. Robinson thinks this USC team has the talent to go on the winning run that head coach Dan Hubbs has been looking for, but expressed that the team will have to play far more consistently to do so.
“We are not here to compete with each others’ numbers; it is more what can we do to help the team win,” Robinson said. “If mine is RBIs, then that is my job, and everybody has their job. If we just stick to being a team and not worrying about individual stuff, I think that we will be fine.”
Hubbs believes that his team demonstrated its ability to overcome adversity in its extra inning win Tuesday, adding that the players may be feeling more comfortable in these high pressure situations because of the disproportionate number of games the Trojans have played that have been decided by 1 run this season already. Hubbs is hoping that adding a fully healthy senior pitcher Kyle Davis, sophomore pitcher Mitch Hart and freshman pitcher Marrick Crouse to the starting rotation later in the year will be the spark of talent and pitching they need to make it to the college playoffs.
“We want to be like that Virginia team was last year that got hot at the right time, got in and then wins the whole thing,” Hubbs said. “I think that talent wise we are capable of it. I think that on the mound we are starting to get healthy.”
The Trojans are preparing for a Utah team that Hubbs says maintains a lot of action on field by anticipating a large number of trick plays including the hit and run, the run and hit and the bump and run, which the Utes actively utilizes to stir the defense and create more offensive opportunities.
Utah travels to Los Angeles having lost its previous game Tuesday at Utah Valley University 4-10 but after sweeping Arizona in a three game home weekend series last weekend.
“I think that it will be a big weekend for us,” Hubbs said. “If we come out with a series win, I think that it will get us back on track as we go into Oregon.”
The first pitch of USC’s series with Utah is at 6 p.m. Friday at Dedeaux Field. The following two games will begin at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.