Mark your calendars: This week marks an important milestone in my career as a Daily Trojan sports journalist. It’s not that this is the 10th edition of my world-renowned column, “Dugout Diaries” — though that’s certainly cause for celebration — nor is it that I notched my 70th DT byline with a tennis article on Wednesday.

No, dear reader, this week is special for one simple reason: I get to watch a USC baseball game.

Despite being well into my sixth semester at USC — not to mention as a massive baseball fan — I have never seen the Trojans play in person. I’ve graced the seats of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Galen Center dozens of times, bearing witness to stunning victories and heartbreaking defeats alike, but not once have I stepped foot inside Dedeaux Field.

Not because I didn’t want to, of course, but because I couldn’t. The baseball stadium has been under construction since 2023, forcing USC to travel an hour east to Great Park in Irvine for “home games” each of the last two seasons.

Thankfully, the wait is finally over. Friday evening, while the rest of campus is out “having fun” or “studying” for “midterms,” I’ll be watching our beautiful boys take on Pepperdine in the season opener.

And yet … where’s the fanfare? Where are all the other people excitedly talking about finally getting to see a Trojan baseball game? I know we aren’t exactly known for being the most dedicated of sports fans, at least not compared to the average SEC fanbase, but we’ve seen more success in baseball than anywhere else in the country; our 12 national championships are four more than the next-closest Division I school, LSU.

Oh, that’s right: We haven’t seen that success. Maybe our grandparents were around to witness the Rod Dedeaux dynasty of the ’60s and ’70s, but nobody my age has even been alive for a USC baseball conference championship, let alone a national title.

Yes, despite the unparalleled history of the USC baseball program — and the fact that this school loves nothing more than reminding us of its glory days — nobody seems to be aware of how good we once were. Several of my friends didn’t even know we had a team in the first place.

And sure, it’s tempting to chalk that up to the aforementioned lack of a home stadium. But USC soccer spent the last two years playing off-campus while Rawlinson Stadium was under construction, and everyone certainly seemed to know we had a soccer team back then.

The difference? In 2024, our soccer team lost one game all season and won the Big Ten regular-season title; the baseball team went 31-28 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the ninth straight year.

A plethora of championships, accolades and star players from decades ago, but nothing to show for it today. We’re like the USC football of college baseball.

However, like USC football, I believe in the future of USC baseball. The team just put together its best season in a decade, going 37-23 and earning its first postseason bid since 2015. Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz signed an extension back in August that puts him under contract until 2030, providing some stability for a program that has seen six different skippers in the past 20 years.

And while we’ll certainly mourn the loss of two-way star Ethan Hedges — he isn’t dead, to be clear, but getting drafted by the Colorado Rockies is close enough — the Trojans are bringing in the No. 18 recruiting class in the country, not to mention several players from the Mighty Modern Transfer Portal, where nothing matters and anybody can go anywhere. I love college sports!

I don’t expect us to be the best team in the country this year; for now, at least, the preseason polls have given that title to those Bruins across town. I also don’t expect baseball to suddenly become the most popular sport on campus because of a shiny new stadium.

But I can dream, can’t I? I can dream that our glorious king, Abbrie Covarrubias, will lead USC to its 13th national championship, bringing together hundreds of thousands of Trojan fans from across the world in celebration of the greatest sport of all time.

I can dream that this school will once again produce Hall of Fame-level talent, like when Mark McGwire and Randy Johnson played for USC at the same time in the ’80s — isn’t that crazy? — instead of 30 more Lars Nootbaars. No disrespect, Noot, but it’s a little sad that you’re one of the highest-profile MLB players to come out of this school since the turn of the century.

Whether or not those dreams come to fruition — probably not — I still can’t wait to walk down to Dedeaux and see my favorite school play my favorite sport while I write about it for my favorite newspaper.

I encourage you to do the same, too. Go watch USC play baseball this weekend. It’s not like you have plans on Feb. 14 anyway!

Bennett Christofferson is a junior writing about baseball’s biggest stories and controversies in his column, “Dugout Diaries,” which runs every other Thursday. He is also a sports editor at the Daily Trojan.