Heading into a pivotal set of weekend games, USC and Purdue baseball found themselves on vastly different trajectories.

The No. 21 Trojans had been swept in two of their past three series, putting them in danger of falling out of the national rankings for the first time since early March. Meanwhile, the Boilermakers had won six straight series and were knocking on the door of the top 25 — potentially in line to take USC’s spot with a few more wins.

However, the weekend series was played at Dedeaux Field, where opposing teams come to die: Only one team — No. 6 Oregon State — of 14 has managed to win a single game at the Trojans’ new-and-improved home stadium all season.

That trend was no different over the weekend, as USC (34-11, 16-8 Big Ten) swept Purdue (28-15, 15-9) in three games for a critical resume boost against one of the Big Ten’s top teams. With the sweep, the Trojans leapfrogged the Boilermakers in the conference standings, moving into fourth place with just two series left in conference play.

“The guys enjoy being at home in front of their folks and their friends and their family, and they seem to obviously be playing pretty good baseball,” Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz said in a postgame interview Friday. “We’ll take it.”

Trojans escape with win in back-and-forth opener

Junior pitcher Mason Edwards hasn’t dealt with much adversity in his 2026 campaign. The National Pitcher of the Year semifinalist holds the lowest ERA and batting average allowed in the Big Ten, and entering Friday’s opener against Purdue, he had given up three earned runs just once in 10 starts.

So when Edwards gave up three runs and four baserunners in the second inning alone — including just his third home run allowed all season — USC seemed to be in trouble.

A 2-0 lead from junior outfielder Kevin Takeuchi’s first-inning homer had quickly turned into a 3-2 deficit, and an early Edwards exit would force the Trojans to rely on a struggling bullpen that had just given up 20 runs in three games against No. 16 Nebraska (33-11, 17-4).

However, Edwards returned to form over the next three innings, allowing zero hits after the second frame. He finished the night with 12 strikeouts in an otherwise strong outing.

“[It’s good] any time that you can face adversity and figure out a way to fight through it and still compete, which he did,” Stankiewicz said of Edwards’ outing. “We felt good about it.”

Freshman pitcher Diego Velazquez followed suit with two clean innings of his own, allowing the Trojan offense to retake the lead in the sixth on an RBI single by junior infielder Adrian Lopez and an error from Purdue senior catcher Jackson Bessette.

The Boilermakers fought until the finish, loading the bases in the final two innings but failing to score both times: Sophomore pitcher Andrew Johnson induced a groundout from his lone batter faced in the eighth, while redshirt junior pitcher Adam Troy struck out red-hot redshirt senior infielder Aaron Manias to earn his 11th save and lock down a 4-3 win for USC.

Govel flirts with perfection in scoreless gem

While Edwards has earned much of the attention surrounding the Trojans’ pitching staff, sophomore pitcher Grant Govel is enjoying a spectacular season in his own right, with a 2.69 ERA that ranks third in the Big Ten and a 0.81 WHIP that leads the entire country. That success reached its peak Saturday, when Govel came just five outs away from perfection.

Govel dominated the Purdue offense through his first seven innings, racking up eight strikeouts without allowing a single batter to reach base. Though he allowed back-to-back Boilermaker singles with one out in the eighth, dashing his hopes at history, Govel made it out of the frame unscathed to finish with eight scoreless innings in the longest start of his collegiate career. He later earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors for the third time this season.

Stankiewicz said the game should provide a significant confidence boost for Govel, who had struggled mightily against the Cornhuskers in his previous start, giving up seven runs in three innings.

“That’s a tough offense, one of the top leading offenses in the conference,” Stankiewicz said in a postgame interview Saturday. “For him to do what he did today, that should tell him how good he is.”

USC’s offense did more than enough to support Govel’s gem, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning and later extending it to 5-0 on a two-run home run from Takeuchi. The junior outfielder later scored on a wild pitch to cap off an impressive four-game stretch in which he hit three homers, drove in 10 runs and scored seven of his own.

“He has a good feel for what he’s gonna see in the at-bat, and when he gets that particular pitch, he’s ready for it,” Stankiewicz said of Takeuchi. “Sometimes, the game will reward you.”

Redshirt sophomore pitcher Chase Herrell pitched the ninth in relief of Govel, who threw over 100 pitches for the first time. Herrell allowed a lone Purdue run but got the job done, securing the Trojans’ 6-1 victory.

Homer-happy offense propels USC to sweep

After both squads’ bats were fairly quiet in the first two games of the series, they erupted Sunday afternoon, combining for seven home runs. Purdue smacked two of those in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead, seemingly revving up to avoid a sweep, but USC answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame and never looked back en route to an 11-4 win.

Four different Trojans hit homers Sunday — tied for their most in a game this season — and seven recorded RBIs, led by Adrian Lopez, who hammered a three-run shot in the eighth inning to provide USC some significant insurance. He was joined in homering by junior catcher Isaac Cadena, senior outfielder Jack Basseer and sophomore catcher Augie Lopez, the latter of whom leads the team with 14.

On the mound, freshman pitcher Gavin Lauridsen earned his second start of the season but struggled to contain the Boilermakers, allowing three earned runs in two innings. Similar to Govel, Johnson came in and bounced back in a major way from a rough start against Nebraska, giving up just one hit across five scoreless innings.

Junior pitcher Sax Matson and Troy combined to pitch the final two innings, keeping Purdue at bay — despite one more home run for the Boilermakers — to clinch the series sweep.

Riding a four-game win streak, USC once again has momentum on its side as it looks to finish the season strong and make its case to host one of the NCAA Tournament’s regionals. The Trojans will get another chance to bolster that case when they hit the road to play UC Irvine (18-23, 9-12 Big West) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.