University Southern California Trojans
Trojans Host USC/Public Storage Baseball Classic This Weekend
February 17, 2004 | Baseball
Feb. 17, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
LOS ANGELES - The USC baseball team (1-2) - winner of 12 NCAA championships, more than twice as many as any other school - will play five games in the next six days. The Trojans travel to UC Riverside (4-7) on Tuesday (Feb. 17) for a 5 p.m. nonconference game and host Rikkyo University (Japan) in an exhibition game on Wednesday (Feb. 18) at 2 p.m. This weekend, the Trojans will host the 2004 USC/Public Storage Baseball Classic involving No. 19 Notre Dame (0-0), San Diego State (6-8) and Louisville (0-0). On Friday (Feb. 20), Notre Dame will play San Diego State at 2 p.m. with USC taking on Louisville at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday (Feb. 21), Louisville will play San Diego State at 1 p.m. with USC and Notre Dame playing at 5:30 p.m. On Sunday (Feb. 22), Notre Dame and Louisville plays at 9:30 a.m. with USC taking on San Diego State at 2 p.m. All USC games, except Wednesday's game, will be broadcast live on usctrojans.com. Game Tracker live stats will be available for all six games of the USC/Public Storage Baseball Classic on usctrojans.com.
RANKINGS - USC is ranked No. 20 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 23 by USA Today Sports Weekly/ESPN. Notre Dame is No. 10 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 16 by USA Today Sports Weekly/ESPN and No. 19 by Baseball America. Louisville and San Diego State are not ranked.
UC RIVERSIDE NOTES - UC Riverside is 4-7 this season after sweeping BYU last weekend. Head coach Jack Smitheran is 1,068-754-3 in his 35th season at UC Riverside. The team is batting .275 while its pitching staff has a 5.40 ERA. Tuesday's starter Matt Thiessen is 0-0 with a 13.50 ERA (1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 2 SO). The Trojans defeated the Highlanders, 9-4, in the only meeting between the two schools last year on April 1 at Dedeaux Field. USC leads the all-time series by a 13-2 margin.
LOUISVILLE NOTES - Louisville will open the 2004 season on Wednesday at Cal State Northridge before traveling to the USC/Public Storage Baseball Classic. Head coach Lelo Prado is 509-342-2 in his 15th season at Louisville. The Cardinal went 34-23 last year and return 19 letterwinners. Senior outfielder Mark Jurich is a 2004 NCBWA Preseason All-America third team selection. USC leads the all-time series by a 2-0 margin.
NOTRE DAME NOTES - No. 19 Notre Dame opens its 2004 season this weekend at the USC/Public Storage Baseball Classic. Head coach Paul Mainieri is 731-439-1 in his 13th season at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish went 45-18 last year and reached the NCAA First-Round Regional. Saturday's starter Tom Thornton was 5-1 last season with a 1.81 ERA in eight starts. USC leads the all-time series by a 2-1 margin.
SAN DIEGO STATE NOTES - San Diego State is 6-8 this season after losing two of three last weekend against Santa Clara. Head coach Tony Gwynn is 35-40 in his second season at San Diego State. The team is batting .276 while its pitching staff has a 4.76 ERA. USC leads the all-time series by a 55-21-3 margin.
LAST WEEK - The Trojans opened the 2004 regular season by dropping two of three against No. 9 Long Beach State (1-3, 6-4 and 2-6). APRIL 15 AT NO. 9 LONG BEACH STATE - The 49ers took the series with a four-run eighth to break a 2-2 tie. Jason Vargas threw eight innings and allowed only one hit, a home run by USC's Joey Metropoulos in the first. Vargas struck out nine batters and also went 2-for-3 at the plate. APRIL 14 VS. NO. 9 LONG BEACH STATE - Blake Sharpe went 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBI while Bobby Paschal earned his first win of the season by throwing six innings and allowing only one run on five hits. Former head coach Rod Dedeaux celebrated his 90th birthday with a pregame ceremony that featured three members of the major league baseball Hall of Fame: Tom Seaver, Tommy Lasorda and Vin Scully. APRIL 13 AT NO. 9 LONG BEACH STATE - Jered Weaver was the story for Long Beach State after recording 14 strikeouts, including an amazing feat by striking out the first 10 Trojan batters he faced. The Trojans could muster only two hits on the night as the go-ahead run came in the sixth for the 49ers after USC pitcher Josh Rummonds hit a batter with the bases loaded.
PAC-10 PRESEASON POLL - In a preseason poll of the Pac-10 coaches, USC was picked to finish fourth in the conference. Stanford (seven first-place votes) was picked to win the conference followed by Arizona State (one first-place vote), Arizona (one first-place vote), USC, Washington, California, UCLA, Oregon State and Washington State.
TROJANS ON THE NET - All USC baseball games this season will be broadcast live on www.usctrojans.com. USC students Pete Dalis, Dylan Milner, Kevin Shaw and Dave Bataller will handle the majority of the broadcasts while baseball sports information director Jason Pommier will handle selected road games.
COACH'S CORNER - Mike Gillespie, in his 18th season as the Trojans' head coach, has a 674-386-2 (.636) career record and has led USC to the 1998 national championship, five conference titles (1991, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002), 14 trips to the NCAA Regionals in 17 years (reaching the regional finals 12 times), and trips to the 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2001 College World Series (Troy finished as the nation's runner-up in 1995). He was named the 1998 National Coach of the Year, the Pac-10 Coach of the Year four times (1991-95-96-2002) and the West Region Coach of the Year twice (1996-98). The starting leftfielder on USC's 1961 NCAA-winning team, he is one of just two men who have both coached and played on championship teams. Gillespie also was named by the United States Olympic Committee as the baseball coach of the year after serving as the head coach for the 2000 U.S. National Team, which posted a 27-3-1 record and the best winning percentage in club history (until it was surpassed by the 2003 squad). During his tenure at USC, Gillespie has coached 21 players who have played in the major leagues, including Aaron Boone, Bret Boone, Geoff Jenkins, Jacque Jones, Mark Prior and Barry Zito.
SUPERMAN IN METROPOULOS - Junior designated hitter Joey Metropoulos (Jamul/Monte Vista HS) will be counted on to produce some power numbers. This season, he is batting .222 (2-for-9) with a home run and two RBI. His first homer came on Feb. 15 at No. 9 Long Beach State in a 6-2 loss. Metropoulos, a 16th-round selection by the Detroit Tigers in the 2001 draft, batted .321 last year (67-for-209) with 11 home runs and 41 RBI. He earned 2002 Baseball America Freshman All-America honors after batting .352 with 13 home runs and 65 RBI. He showed his power with a pinch-hit three-run homer on March 8, 2002, against TCU at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Tx. The homer hit the top of the Round Rock Express' clubhouse in left field, estimated to be around 475-500 feet away from home plate.
SHARPE AS A TACK - Sophomore transfer Blake Sharpe (Moorpark/L.A. Pierce College) earned the starting shortstop position in the fall and has shown his offensive skills early in the 2004 season. Sharpe leads the team with a .545 batting average (6-for-11). On Feb. 14 against No. 9 Long Beach State, he went 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBI in a 6-4 win.
I LIKE IKE - Pitcher Ian Kennedy (Huntington Beach/La Quinta HS), nicknamed "Ike," is the first freshman to be the Trojans' No. 1 pitcher since Randy Flores in 1994. Kennedy was impressive in his first start on Feb. 13 at No. 9 Long Beach State, throwing five innings and allowing one run (unearned) on one hit with three walks and eight strikeouts. He was a member of the 2002 U.S. Junior National Team and started for the team at the 2002 IBAF World Junior Championships in the bronze medal game, but did not get a decision in a 12-3 win (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 10 SO).
PASS THE TEST - Sophomore pitcher Bobby Paschal (Northridge/Chaminade HS) earned his first victory on Feb. 14 against No. 9 Long Beach State by throwing six innings and allowing one run on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Paschal went 3-7 last season with a 5.43 ERA, making 13 starts in 16 apperances. In 69 2/3 innings, he allowed 73 hits, walked 30 and struck out 67 batters.
ALL-AMERICAN CATCHER - Catcher Jeff Clement (Marshalltown, Iowa/Marshalltown HS) earned national attention as a high school senior when he set the national high school career mark with 75 home runs and continued his home run prowess last year at USC in his freshman season. Clement earned 2003 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors and was named Collegiate Baseball Freshman National Co-Player of the Year. He batted .298 (62-for-208) and led the Trojans in home runs (21), RBI (53), walks (32), runs (53) and slugging percentage (.649). This year, Clement earned 2004 Baseball America Preseason All-America first team and NCBWA Preseason All-America first team honors. During the South Alabama series (Feb. 14-16) last year, he hit four home runs and eight RBI (two home runs on Friday and two on Saturday), which earned him Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week and Pac-10 Conference Player of the Week honors. During the week of March 18-23, he went 7-for-16 (.438) with three home runs, a double and nine RBI, along with five walks and eight runs scored against San Diego and Arizona, earning him Pac-10 Conference Player of the Week honors for the second time. On March 21 at Arizona, he hit two home runs in the same inning as the Trojans scored eight runs in the third. Clement registered three home runs in the May 16th game against Washington State in a game that was broadcast regionally on television.
M FOR MONO - Jeff Clement was diagnosed with mononucleosis in late January and is listed as day-to-day until he can receive medical clearance to play. He will be restricted to designated hitter duties and will be unable to catch for an indefinite period of time.
MEET YOU IN WILLIAMSPORT - USC has three players who played in the Little League World Series. Junior pitcher Matt Cassel (Northridge/Chaminade HS) played in the 1994 LLWS. In the 1996 LLWS, catcher Jeff Clement played for Marshalltown, Iowa, while shortstop Blake Sharpe played for the Moorpark, Calif, team.
FROM THE GRIDIRON TO THE DIAMOND - Cassel and sophomore outfielder Billy Hart (Tustin/Mission Viejo HS) have the distinction of being USC's latest football/baseball athletes. Cassel played as a quarterback and tight end on the 2003 national championship football team while Hart served as a backup quarterback. In January, Cassel joined the baseball team for the first time. Hart played in 42 games last season for the Trojans, batting .238 (20-for-84) with a home run and four RBI.
90 CANDLES - Before the Feb. 14 regular season home opener against Long Beach State, the USC baseball program celebrated former head coach Rod Dedeaux's 90th birthday in grand fashion. Three members of the major league baseball Hall of Fame (Tom Seaver, Tommy Lasorda and Dodgers' announcer Vin Scully) spoke during the ceremony. Seaver was a pitcher at USC in 1965. Former Trojan and major leaguers Roy Smalley and Don Buford, along with former Dodgers' owner Peter O'Malley were also present.
30 CANDLES - The 2004 season marks the 30th season of Dedeaux Field. The first game took place on March 30, 1974, as Russ McQueen threw a no-hitter in a 7-0 win against California. With a capacity of 2,500, Dedeaux Field has been used in the production and filming of several motion pictures, including "Mr. Baseball," "The Big Leaguer," "A League Of Their Own," and "For Love Of The Game."
BASEBALL HALL OF FAME - On Feb. 1, 2003, the USC Baseball Hall of Fame opened to the public for the first time. The Hall of Fame is the final part of the $4 million Dedeaux Field renovation project that includes a new locker room, seating pavilion on the first base side and stadium seating. All 12 national championship trophies will be permanently displayed as well as the awards won by former Trojan and current Chicago Cub pitcher Mark Prior during his 2001 national player of the year season. The major league uniforms of former Trojans are also on display.
OPERATION: OMAHA - From 1948 to 1978, USC dominated the world of college baseball with 11 national championships in 17 appearances at the College World Series (the 1948 CWS was held in Kalamazoo, Mich., with the CWS moving to Omaha, Neb., in 1949). After the 1978 season, the Trojans went through a drought and did not return to Omaha until 1995, when Troy reached the national championship game. Since 1995, the Trojans have made four trips to Omaha in the last nine years (1995-1998-2000-2001), winning their 12th CWS title in 1998. USC has the most wins (74) at the CWS and is second for most appearances (21) behind Texas (30).
2003 SEASON RECAP - The USC Trojans finished the 2003 season with a 28-28 overall record and finished in a tie for fifth place in the Pac-10 Conference with an 11-13 mark. The Trojans failed to reach the postseason for the first time in 10 years.
