Baseball enters crucial series with UCLA


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Freshman right-handed pitcher Michael Ebner threw 1.2 innnings in the win against Cal State Northridge. In the relief appearance, the South Pasadena native gave up four hits and one earned run. (Jaden Dhaliwal | Daily Trojan)

For USC baseball, it’s time to beat the Bruins.

The Trojans are preparing for a crucial weekend series against their crosstown rivals, which might decide where they finish in the Pac-12 this season.

UCLA has had USC’s number recently, taking four of the last five series against the Trojans. But that one series win for USC was last year, when they took two of three against the Bruins.

“Here we are, we got UCLA. It’s the rival, obviously,” said Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “It’s a big series because we’re playing UCLA, but it’s also a big series because we just lost three straight last weekend.”

Just as Stankiewicz said, the Trojans are coming off a weekend in which they were swept by Oregon State, dropping their Pac-12 record from 9-3 to 9-6. Not only is this a rivalry series, but it has serious implications for the Trojans in the Pac-12.

USC is currently tied with Oregon for fourth in the Pac-12, and UCLA now sits at third with an 8-5-1 conference record. If the Trojans take the series, they can jump UCLA in the standings. The Trojans could also jump more teams in the standings, depending on how other conference series go across the weekend.

Despite losing three of their last five games, the Bruins will pose multiple challenges for the Trojans this weekend. UCLA has four hitters with six or more home runs this season. While USC has been good against the long ball this season, only giving up 37 home runs in 36 games, two of three Trojan starting pitchers gave up a home run against Oregon State last weekend.

“Your pitches have to vary, you can’t get caught in throwing a fastball in a certain count,” Stankiewicz said. “Our pitchers got to trust their stuff and down in the zone, you miss down in the zone, you get hit sometimes. But you miss up in the zone, you get hit harder. And a lot of the time you hit home runs when you’re up in the zone.”

This will not be the first time USC and UCLA have faced off this season, though the results did not count toward the Pac-12 standings. The two squads played each other in early March, with the Bruins winning 5-3 when they were ranked No. 17 in the country. The Trojans gave up a home run in that game, but it was the Bruins’ pitching that helped seal the win.

“They’re going to throw a certain pitch and if we don’t make an adjustment offensively, they’re just going to keep doing it,” Stankiewicz said. “So we’ve got to be able to make some adjustments going into this series and get prepared for a lot of offspeed there down in the zone. And if we can put ourselves in a good balanced position and see it, I think we’ll be fine.”

The Bruins post a 3.65 team ERA, compared to USC’s 4.08 team ERA. The impetus will be on senior outfielder Cole Gabrielson and senior infielder Johnny Olmstead, the team leaders in RBIs, to push across those runs for the Trojans. 

But to put Gabrielson and Olmstead in those situations, the hitters before them have to get on base. Freshman outfielder Austin Overn, who is only behind Gabrielson for the team lead in on-base percentage, went 3-for-13 against the Beavers last weekend. USC’s leadoff man will look to right the ship against the Bruins as he is still looking for his 11th triple on the season, which would break the all-time USC single-season triples record.

These two teams are very different now than in that first matchup. The Trojans entered that game with a 5-4-1 overall record and have gone 17-8 since that game. On the other hand, the Bruins entered that game with an 8-2 overall record but have gone 12-9-1 since that game. 

“We’re a different team than we were two months ago. I think we’re a better team than we were two months ago,” Stankiewicz said. “I believe the guys know that as well. We’ve been through some fires … Hopefully all of those experiences, win or loss, puts our guys in a mental frame of, ‘Hey man, I’m more prepared to play UCLA, weekend series, now than I was two months ago.’”

As it is a rivalry series, the team is pulling out all the stops to attract fans. Football Head Coach Lincoln Riley, will throw out the first pitch for Friday’s game. Saturday’s game will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1998 National Championship team’s win — the last time USC baseball won a national championship. Despite all of the festivities, Stankiewicz emphasized that the team can’t get ahead of itself.

“You can’t let the emotion affect what you’re going to do,” Stankiewicz said. “We just got to stay within ourselves and play good fundamental baseball. If we do that, we’ve got a shot. If we don’t, we don’t have a shot. And it’s not that complicated. It really isn’t.”

USC recovered from their Oregon State sweep by beating Cal State University, Northridge Tuesday night 8-5, but UCLA will pose a tall task. The Trojans begin their three-game set with the Bruins Friday night at 7 p.m.