USC drops two of three games against No. 13 Oregon

USC lost two of three games in a series against No. 13 Oregon this weekend at Dedeaux Field. 

The losses bring the Trojans to an overall record of 17-13 and a record of 6-6 in the Pac-12. 

Oregon improves to an overall record of 22-8 and a 8-4 record in the Pac-12. The Ducks will host UCLA for a three-game series next weekend, while USC will play LMU midweek.

USC won the first game of the series Friday by a score of 9-5. Oregon took an early 2-0 lead with RBI’s from sophomore outfielder Aaron Zavala and freshman infielder Josh Kasevich. The Ducks added another RBI in the fourth and redshirt junior infielder Ben Ramirez added an RBI for USC, cutting Oregon’s lead to 3-1. 

USC came back in the fifth, with redshirt freshman outfielder Rhylan Thomas, redshirt freshman infielder Tyresse Turner, freshman infielder D’Andre Smith and Ramirez all scoring to give USC a 5-3 lead. The Trojans secured the win after a homer from Turner in the seventh and an RBI from Ramirez in the eighth. 

Oregon tied the series by winning the second game decisively by a score of 13-4 Saturday. Oregon took an early lead again in the second game of the series, scoring seven runs in the second inning and five in the fourth, giving the Ducks a 13-3 lead after four frames. USC was not able to make a comeback despite Turner scoring in the third, redshirt senior outfielder Brady Shockey scoring in the fourth and freshman catcher Garret Guillemette scoring in the fourth and sixth innings.

In Sunday’s rubber game, USC was the team that jumped out to an early lead, scoring 2 runs in the first with RBI’s from Turner and redshirt junior infielder Jamal O’Guinn. 

“We just try to bring a lot of energy and try to rally behind each other on Sundays,” redshirt sophomore pitcher Alex Cornwell said. “It was kind of the same thing. We know that they’re a good team and we know who we’re playing and we know what we’re trying to do, so we just try to stick to our game plan as always and just stay within ourselves and stay with us.”

The final game of the series Sunday was back and forth, with USC scoring another two runs in the third and Oregon scoring in three straight innings to bring the score to 4-3 in favor of USC. Neither team scored in the fifth, sixth, or seventh innings. 

Cornwell led the USC defense Sunday, pitching seven innings, striking out five batters and allowing only three runs. 

“I gotta hand it to the defense,” Cornwell said. “I thought that they did really well and that really helps you as a pitcher. It gives you confidence to throw the ball over the plate and let them hit the ball because you know you have eight guys behind you, with you, doing everything they can to get outs and it really showed.”

Oregon ran away with the lead in the eighth, scoring four runs with two RBI’s from sophomore infielder Sam Novitske, and one RBI each from senior infielder Gabe Matthews and sophomore outfielder Tanner Smith. USC responded with an RBI from Shockey in the eighth to make it 7-5 but could not come back to win. 

“It’s weird because baseball is a strange game,” Cornwell said. “Sometimes things can go not your way and that’s not anything on your part or their part. It’s just the game. It’s a whole bunch of variables and ‘I don’t-knows.’ The game just got away from what it was. That’s just how baseball is and you just gotta live with it and learn and move on.”

USC will host LMU on Tuesday at Dedeaux Field. The Trojans and Lions have met twice this season, first for the season opening series and once last month. USC won the series 2-1 and the game 4-3.  

“We always take the positives,” Cornwell said. “We always take what we do well and carry it over into the coming week. We always acknowledge the things we need to work on. I know as a team, we are feeling good coming to host LMU. We know that we’re playing good baseball and we just gotta keep carrying that and keep just trusting ourselves and sticking with each other.” 

First pitch against LMU is Tuesday at 6 p.m.