In an overall successful season, Trojan baseball has come to an end after qualifying for NCAA Regionals. Following 14-1 and 9-0 losses in the Corvallis Regional Finals against the No. 8-ranked Oregon State Beavers (45-13-1), USC’s season finished after standout performances and series in the team’s inaugural Big Ten season.

The Trojans’ foray into the NCAA tournament this year was USC’s (37-23, 18-12 Big Ten) first time since 2015, ending a decade-long drought. Even within regionals, the Trojans were slated at the 3-seed, but immediately came out with a statement 13-1 win against No. 22 TCU, before ultimately falling to Oregon State.

The first game in the matchup ended in a 14-1 loss for USC, one defined by incredible offensive performances by the Beavers. After a scoreless first inning, the Beavers came out hot at the top of the second, scoring four runs off of three bunts and a single.

Oregon State continued to dominate through the rest of the first game, and in their decisive 9-0 victory in game two the next day. The second game was a tale of the Beavers’ pitching staff, with starting Oregon State pitcher — redshirt freshman James DeCremer — pitching five shutout innings. DeCremer allowed only two hits in the first five innings, something that sophomore relief pitchers Eric Segura and Laif Palmer continued. The pair only allowed one hit in the last four innings.

USC’s only run in both games came after a triple by junior outfielder Jack Basseer in game one, who was then batted home by freshman utility player Maximo Martinez.

“We had a hard time controlling their arms,” said USC Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “The fastball was pretty hot.”

On the offensive side, Oregon State once again dominated, scoring nine runs with four home runs and convincingly sending the Beavers on their way to the NCAA Super Regionals.

“Coming here and competing in this environment, it’s a good thing. It’s all good steps. It’s all part of the process,” Stankiewicz said about USC’s performance in Regionals in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Sometimes people get impatient. We want everything to happen now, and certainly I’d love to be going to a super regional. Didn’t happen, but it’s going to happen, and we’re just going to keep moving in the right direction.”

Overall, the Trojans finished fourth in Big Ten rankings behind a host of ranked teams in No. 5 Oregon (42-16, 22-8) and No. 13 UCLA (45-16, 22-8), as well as Iowa (33-22-1, 21-9). USC put up a series win against Trojan crosstown rival UCLA, scoring 24 total runs over the course of their games. Additionally, USC held an eight-series win streak during the season, as well as non-conference wins against now-No. 2 Vanderbilt and now-No. 23 UC Irvine.

As for standout players, junior infielder Ethan Hedges had an incredible two-way season, as both a hitter and a relief pitcher. Hedges led the team in both OPS and home runs, earning a 1.081 OPS with 14 home runs on the season. His batting led to decisive victories for the Trojans, most recently against Saint Mary’s (14-36) in which Hedges hit two home runs in USC’s 6-4 victory.

Additionally, sophomore outfielder Brayden Dowd and sophomore infielder Adrian Lopez have been electric from behind the plate over the course of the season, with OPS marks of 0.970 and 0.950, and 10 and eight home runs respectively. Lopez most recently hit a two-run walk-off double against Washington (29-28, 17-13) to keep USC in the Big Ten Tournament.

“We’re getting better and better,” said USC sophomore second baseman Abbrie Covarrubias in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “We’ve got the right group of guys to do great things and the right coaching staff, and we truly believe that as long as we trust our coaches and trust our plans, that we’re going to continue to get better and better and get where SC needs to be.”

Now, as the team hopes to recharge over the summer, the program says goodbye to three players, in senior pitchers Caden Aoki and Fisher Johnson, as well as graduate outfielder Kade Higgins. Aoki was named to the All-Corvallis Regional Team for his bout at the NCAAs, another accolade to a resurgent season for the right-handed pitcher. Aoki put up a season-high 10 strikeouts against Vanderbilt, to go along with a season ERA of 3.99.

The team has a newly renovated stadium in Dedeaux Field waiting for them for the 2026 season, part of USC Athletics’ construction plans for Rawlinson Field and the Bloom Football Performance Center.

Trojan baseball will return next spring for Stankiewicz’s fourth season, with a promising core of veterans as well as any new acquisitions over the course of the summer. The revival of the program, in hopes of once again making it to the tournament, will continue into the 2026 season.