The great experiment has begun.

USC baseball (2-5) started its home campaign at Orange County Great Park over the weekend, taking two of three from the Portland Pilots (3-3). 

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While a series win is always a good thing — especially when the series-winning team had lost five straight games to start the season — the way USC won raised some red flags.

The Trojans were shutout Friday night, and then squandered a 5-run lead Saturday before sophomore infielder Ethan Hedges hit a walk-off to salvage the win for USC.

If this weekend proved anything, it’s that home field will not be as much of an advantage as last season. This has long been the assumption since the Trojans would be splitting their home games between three parks, but USC was one or two plays away from dropping a series to a West Coast Conference program that has more losses in its history than wins.

Even if the Trojans don’t have a true home-field advantage like they did last year — sporting a 26-6 record at Dedeaux Field last season — they are still set up for success this season, under one condition: They have to figure out their road issues.

While USC’s home cooking was impressive last season, its record away from Dedeaux was abysmal. The Trojans played to a 6-15-1 record in true road games, which likely was the main reason USC did not make the NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

The Trojans may end up finding a groove at Great Park — the stadium has been decorated with USC insignias to act as Dedeaux’s proxy, with the columns around the concourse fitted with Trojan championship banners — but it’s hard for a college team to have their stadium in an Irvine park open to the public.

But, USC has to make do with what it has at Great Park.

“It’s our home. So I think that’s just a part of our mentality is understanding, yeah, this is our home field,” said Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz in an interview with the Daily Trojan after Sunday’s game. “We’ve got a clubhouse here. Great Park has done a great job of helping us feel at home as best they can. I think it’s just this part of the growth of our program. There can’t be any excuses. Just go play good baseball wherever we’re at.”

But when USC is playing more away and neutral site games than home games this season — likely to limit the number of times the Trojans have to make the trip down to Irvine — the issue of playing on the road persists.

While a bulk of their road losses came to some high-level tournament teams — the Trojans had a 1-8 record on road trips to Oregon State, Washington and Arizona — those struggles cannot persist to the same level this season if the Trojans want to compete in the postseason.

That will especially be the case next season when the Trojans have to make the trek down to Great Park while also making road trips to Big Ten country for conference matchups.

While a mere three Big Ten teams made the NCAA tournament last year, the stark difference between USC’s home and away record shows it’s not necessarily the quality of the opponent, but the place where the Trojans play on top of it.

It’s hard to be as bad on the road as USC was last season. There’s nowhere to go but up. But it’s also unlikely that the Trojans can match their home record under the current circumstances, even if they might try.

“Wherever our team goes, wherever my boys are going, that’s where our home is,” said sophomore catcher Jacob Galloway in an interview with the Daily Trojan after Sunday’s game. “As long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter where we’re playing. If we’ve got the same 40 guys, we can be wherever and that’ll be our home.”

If the Trojans want to make the NCAA tournament this season — and they certainly have the chops to in year two of the Stankiewicz era — they have to play much, much better on the road. Even if they play to a .500 — maybe even a .400 — record on the road this season, it would be an improvement. 

Win on the road, make Great Park their home, and the Trojans have a great shot at success.

USC has time before its first true road trip, taking on Stanford from March 15 to March 17. Until then, the Trojans have to find a way to turn their road struggles into a strength.

Thomas Johnson is a junior writing about USC’s move to a new conference and all of the implications surrounding the transition in his column, “Big Ten Bites,” which runs every other Monday. He is also an assistant sports editor at the Daily Trojan.