Trojans ready for mid-day tussle with Santa Barbara

The USC baseball team will try to continue its midweek success this season.

The Trojans are 7-1 this season during weekday games, punctuated by last Tuesday’s nine-run comeback win over the final four innings against the same UC Santa Barbara squad they’ll face today.

However, today, the Trojans (17-22, 3-12) will have to deal with a limited skeletal squad when they travel to take on the Gauchos (17-17) at 2 p.m.

College baseball depth is often an issue, and USC has not been immune this season.

Scholarships are limited in college baseball. Injuries can quickly thin the depth chart. But with the largest playing schedule in college athletics, baseball teams are also affected by class schedules.

Class conflicts will force USC to leave an hour later than originally planned and have caused some changes in the starting lineup.

“We’ve got some guys that are ailing and guys that have to attend class,” USC coach Chad Kreuter said. “I want to make a lineup out, but we’ve got guys beat up, so I have to wait to see. It will be very interesting.”

Kreuter planned to start pitcher Chad Smith but had to scratch the right-handed sophomore because Smith does not get out of class until 1:50 p.m. Instead of Smith, the start will likely go to junior Logan Odom, depending on how Odom’s arm feels today after he pitched in two of the three games against Oregon.

“Logan deserves a shot after the way he threw this weekend,” Kreuter said.

Kreuter said he had already planned to use multiple pitchers much like he has during the last four midweek games. In those contests, USC has used an average of five pitchers per game.

USC has won all four of those games but only by a combined five runs. Kreuter attributes the close games to the team’s inability to string together hits.

“We’ve scuffled a bit at the plate,” Kreuter said. “We’re hitting. It’s just at different times. The hits aren’t necessarily coming together. We’ve needed a clutch hit here or there and haven’t been able to do it.”

With only four upperclassman position players, a lot of the pressure hitting situations have come with young freshmen and sophomores at the plate. The coaching staff has been trying to repeatedly simulate these situations every day in practice.

“If you make it routine, it becomes easier because then it becomes automatic,” Kreuter said. “It’s something that comes with experience, and right now we’re in the middle of some growing pains.”

Kreuter blamed the inconsistency and inexperience of his young lineup for the team’s struggles, as the Trojans have gone 4-10 in the month of April. But he remained optimistic the team is capable of going on a strong run over the final 21 games of the season, beginning with today’s game.

“The Pac-10 is so strong this season,” he said. “If you get in the middle of the pack, with a solid non-conference record, you are going to likely get a call from the [NCAA] regional committee.”