USC Baseball Nears All-Time Best Start
The USC Trojans baseball team is now 14-0, leaving them just one win away from tying the program's all-time best start to a season. The historic undefeated streak is generating significant buzz on campus and in the college baseball world.
The record in question is a 15-0 start, set by the 1988 USC squad. That '88 team, which featured future NFL quarterback Rodney Peete, eventually finished the season 36-26 and made it to the NCAA postseason. After their impressive 15-0 start, however, they immediately hit a three-game losing streak. This year's Trojan team, currently ranked No. 20 nationally, just completed a three-game sweep of Illinois to match the 1988 record. The record-tying victory was a 5-3 comeback win where the Trojans erased an early 2-0 deficit. The win also moved them to 3-0 in Big Ten conference play. The opportunity to break the 38-year-old record will come against Long Beach State at Dedeaux Field. Following that, the Trojans have another midweek home game against San Diego before traveling for a three-game Big Ten series at Northwestern. Under the leadership of fourth-year head coach Andy Stankiewicz, a former MLB player, the team is one of only two undefeated teams left in Division I baseball, alongside the Texas Longhorns. Stankiewicz has emphasized to his team that while the start is exciting, they have a "long way to go." The team's success has been a full-team effort. In the record-matching win against Illinois, Jack Basseer hit a solo home run and Dean Carpentier delivered a go-ahead two-run single. The bullpen has been a major strength, not allowing a single earned run in 10.1 innings during the Illinois series. Pitching has been a cornerstone of the streak. Junior lefty Mason Edwards has been particularly dominant, starting the season with four consecutive scoreless starts and a 0.00 ERA over 24.0 innings pitched. The team's collective ERA was a stingy 1.54 through their first 13 games.
