USC baseball is garnering the most attention it has in a long time. 

Last year, the Trojans suffered eight losses before reaching 12 wins on the season. Tuesday night, USC (12-0) earned its 12th win with a 6-4 victory over UC Irvine (8-5), all without picking up a single loss — though it took several clutch hits in a back-and-forth battle to get there.

“It’s a really good start. Exciting baseball,” Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz said in a postgame interview. “Everybody did a good job understanding their roles and playing their roles well.”

The Trojans were coming off a four-game sweep of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (5-7), a series that tested them with two extra-inning battles. While the sweep over the Mustangs continued USC’s hot start, the Anteaters would be its toughest challenge yet, as the Trojans had yet to face a team with over a .500 record coming into the matchup.

Early hole forces offense to respond

UC Irvine Head Coach Ben Orloff’s pregame speech must have been effective, as his players came out crushing the baseball. In just the second at-bat of the game, junior infielder Zach Fjelstad ripped a double off redshirt sophomore pitcher Chase Herrell and was promptly driven in following the next at-bat to give the Anteaters the early lead. 

The scoring didn’t stop there, as junior outfielder Tommy Farmer blasted a two-run home run — only the second of the entire season for Irvine — to extend the lead to 3 before USC had even taken the batter’s box. 

Herrell earned the Trojan start for the third time this season. Early on, his performance seemed more reminiscent of his start against LMU, in which he allowed three runs, than his more recent start against Cal Poly, where he allowed zero. 

He allowed five hits, the same amount he’s given up in his previous two starts combined, which can be attributed to giving Irvine too many pitches over the heart of the plate. However, Herrell was able to hold the Anteaters scoreless through his last three innings pitched, giving the USC offense the chance to pick him up. 

Though the Anteaters built their lead quickly, the Trojans systematically chipped away at the deficit before taking their first lead of the game on a sacrifice fly from sophomore catcher Augie Lopez. Lopez continues to deliver for the Trojans, as his 11 RBIs on the season are second only to junior outfielder Kevin Takeuchi, who drove in the game-tying run. 

“The important [runs] were the ones that we got back early,” Stankiewicz said. “We’re able to get back in and take [the lead].”

Small-ball guides Trojans to victory 

From then on, the offenses went cold, with only two hits combined over the next two innings. In the sixth inning, UC Irvine tied the game at 4 in an unusual way: freshman reliever Gavin Lauridsen balked with a runner on third, bringing him home and tying the game. 

Though junior infielder Adrian Lopez went all day without a hit for just the third time this season, he still managed to have a massive impact: he worked three walks in the game.

Lopez’s most important walk came in the bottom of the eighth inning, when he got all the way to third base with one out following a single and a sacrifice bunt,  giving USC the chance to reclaim the lead. Though it wasn’t the fanciest way to pick up an RBI, sophomore utility Maximo Martinez’s groundout to third base was enough to bring him home and give the Trojans the game-winning run.

“It wasn’t the prettiest way to score,” Stankiewicz said. “Sometimes pretty isn’t what’s needed.”

Senior outfielder Jack Basseer obtained the team-leading ninth extra-base hit — his second of the game — with an RBI triple, providing an insurance run that put USC up 6-4 heading into the final frame. 

“Just trying to get the job done, just got to score a runner somehow, and one extra run there really makes a big difference going into that in the ninth inning,” Basseer said in a postgame interview. “It’s much more comforting and helps the pitchers.”

Junior pitcher Sax Matson entered in the ninth inning, staring down the top of the UC Irvine lineup that scored three runs in the first. Matson picked up two quick outs, but a hit-by-pitch sent the tying run to the plate; however, he struck out the final batter, securing the save and moving his squad to 12-0. 

Following Tuesday’s matchup, the Trojans are one of just two undefeated teams left in Division I baseball, along with the No. 3 Texas Longhorns (12-0). 

“It’s a testament to our hard work,” Basseer said. “The results are speaking for [themselves].”

The 12-0 start is USC’s best under Stankiewicz, and is approaching its best start in school history, only needing three more wins to tie the 15-0 record set by the 1998 championship squad. USC will get a chance to tie that record when it hosts Illinois (7-4) for a three-game series that will kick off Big Ten play starting Friday at 6 p.m.